Was booking my car in for a service, and said to them that I also wanted the front wheel bearings repacked. They quoted me $120 extra to do this - this seems excessive to me - I didn't think it would be a lot of work (was considering doing it myself), do any of you guys know? Didn't want to argue with them because I'm not sure how much time this should take.
Problem is, I've had really good service from this place in the past so don't want to go elsewhere.
Thats a little excessive. If you dont mind getting your hands dirty, you could have the front bearings cleaned and repacked in about 45mins. Its not hard if you've been shown the correct method of how to pack them properly.
Sounds more like you've been quoted to have them replaced not repacked - cos they're not specialty items - just run-of-the-mill taper rollers. And the biggest reason for the failure of bearings is too much grease - not too little.
remove wheels, brake calipers & mounts, rotors.
clean the bearings and check them out for wear. repack and refit to hubs. fit new seals.
refit all parts.
$120 doesn't sound too bad a price. Mechanics have to feed their families too you know... :fraz:
All the comments are valid.. including the one about mechanics have to live as well..
But if you want to learn about your car, for about the same amount of money you could buy two sets of new bearings and seals (one set for each side), a tin of wheel bearing grease and an aftermarket manual, such as Gregorys, Haynes, etc..
Read up on the job.. do it yourself.. next time you'll know.. and you've got the service manual to venture further next weekend and do other stuff on your car
Just one more thing Pauly..
Tear up your oldest T shirt so you've got some nice clean cotton rags..
Find an old hubcap, a cheap paintbrush, some kero or petrol to wash bearings and the inside of the hub, and you're on your way..
Clean is good with bearings.. Very clean is very good..
$120 is roughly what I paid ford to do the job. It was in for a service anyway and the car had the squeeeeks so I gave them the go ahead. So to answer your question... it's a bit steep for what's being done but consistent with pricing I've seen. They should last the life time of the car when done.
Thanks for all the input everyone. I have had the car a few months, and this job was meant to be done at 100,000Ks but wasn't. Was up to 117,00Ks when I bought it and it's now up around 122,000Ks. We're driving from Brissie to Cairns in the next couple of weeks and I won't get time to do it myself b4 we leave - I will have the time once we're up north so think I'll just wait til then. The bearings aren't making any noise or anything at the moment.
just for those interested in the price i work at a bearing joint... the bearing sets you need are Timken sets which are superior in quality and they should only cost around $20 a side including the grease seal.... any decent bearing joint would know the parts you needed of the top of thier heads and it is cheaper than an automotive joint because they normally buy in much largher quantities
When I did my wheel bearings, timken bearings were like $35 or so a side.
and for the record, that was from Autobarn. The local bearing shop wanted over $50 a side!
Timken bearings, e series $17 Ea side from NRAP (north ringwood autoparts on ebay),(ebay.com.au>search >seller>nrap)
tub of good wheel bearing grease less than $10, any manual gregorys,haynes,ellery and 40 minutes.
Totally cost $44 including a 3/4 full tub of wheel bearing grease for next time.
Apart from the cost benefit,doing them yourself gives you a sense of satisfaction!
Go FOR IT!
and they also have the right unijoint to fit my car as ford cant seem to get the right ones to fit
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