Wheel bearings, should they wear out this fast?

[khilgers]

So when I did my 5 lug swap on my car 5 years ago I purchased 4 BRAND NEW nissan hubs and bearings. Last winter I had to replace the drivers side front bearing since it was starting to droan at high speeds. Cool, no problem it happens, right? Well now last night I was doing some brake work and noticed that my passenger side front bearing is now starting to sound questionable.

Is it just me or do you guys wear out wheel bearings pretty quickly? I do about 6 drift events per summer, so the car is driven pretty hard. My camber is also at -3, which isn't that crazy.

[dsastr_clan]

i attend pretty much every single drfit event we have here plus i drive my car pretty hard all year long, i have not the craziest camber but i have never replaced my wheel bearing they are fine. have u ever wrecked your car?

[NINJASPY]

5 years is a long time, you could drive 100k miles in 5years. And you mention you drive pretty hard. So I would say that is not hard to believe that they are going out. Take into account, weather, driving habits, wide wheels spaced out far, etc. You could also try to retorque the axle nuts.

[essforteen]

Try repacking your bearings with new grease You may not have to replace!

[khilgers]

^^ That was gonna be my first attempt at fixing the problem. I was reading this about repacking them:

http://zilvia.net/f/chat/295274-nissankats-ls1-s14-build-thread-2.html

As for extra mileage on the car, since I did the 5 lug swap I have only put about 20K on the car over the span of those 5 years. I'm sure the way I drive, plus camber, plus wide wheels could be to blame. Just wanted to see if other were having problems.

[slider2828]

Its not about quality its about load... If you have heavy negative camber with a really small offset like 0, that increases the load on the hub cause problems... Also 5 years is a long time, if you let it sit, water sometimes does get into them, causing the grease to liquify and reduce protecton for the bearing and lubrication....

[khilgers]

yeah that makes sense. I know I ran 9.5 +18 for the first 3 years, but have now been running 20MM spacers up front with more camber. I'll try repacking them and go from there. Any other suggestions for grease besides the NEO grease that's almost $40.

[slider2828]

NEO is the best... But yeah think about it if you lift something with your are that is further than what your elbow is designed for, you basically going to put a LOT of pressure and stress on your elbow and cause wear much much faster. YOu running +18 and now a 20mm spacer which puts you at -02, you are basically going to wear it out period... After awhile you are going to pitting on your bearings...

You gotta pay to play... I would hate to think how much you pay for tires.....

[RightWheelDrive]

I had to change my bearings 2 years since new. I put them through daily driver pothole abuse and track days. Wider wheels affect the life but coilovers/stiff suspension also reduce bearing life. Energy transfers through the bearing before it makes you bounce in your seat. The more harsh the ride, the more harsh the wear on the bearing.

[Def]

Yep, offset, suspension, even lower profile tires take their toll on bearing life.

5 years with some hard usage in there doesn't sound unreasonable for OEM bearing life at all. When you run R-comps on the track it's not unheard of to go through bearings every season or two due to brake heat plus huge side loading going to the bearing.

[codyace]

Yep, offset, suspension, even lower profile tires take their toll on bearing life.

5 years with some hard usage in there doesn't sound unreasonable for OEM bearing life at all. When you run R-comps on the track it's not unheard of to go through bearings every season or two due to brake heat plus huge side loading going to the bearing.

For sure. The Sentra race car goes through a set every year.

[Homer_Simpson]

I got a set of junkyard front hubs in 02 that had all the grease dried out. I repacked the bearing with new bearing grease and they are still working fine now. I put the bearings on at 89k miles and now I have 188k miles.

[KoukiMonsta]

spacers help to speed up the process....think about it your putting more "leverage" on the hubs.

[Black Lion]

yeah it all depends on the abuse i saw some last for a long time but when that grease dies out then that can be it

[undesiredshoe]

They should be torqued to spec too, if they are on too tight or loose, it will also cause them to wear faster.