Wheel bearing replacement

How to tell a bearing is worn

• A hum or a drone that grows louder as the speed rises. It is often clearest at open-road speeds.
• The noise changes in corners. If it grows louder when turning left, the fault is often on the right, because the weight then shifts onto the right-hand wheels. Turning right, it is the other way round.
• A badly worn bearing grinds or rasps, and vibration may be felt in the steering wheel or the floor.
• The ABS or ESP light comes on.
• When the wheel is rocked at the top and bottom on the lift, it has play.

The same hum can also come from the tyres. Studded tyres and unevenly worn tyres drone in a way that is hard to tell from a bearing. So we locate the noise before we replace anything.

When the bearing is replaced

There is no manufacturer interval for a wheel bearing. It is replaced when it has play, makes noise or shows damage. How long one lasts varies a great deal. Knocks from potholes and kerbs, water and road salt getting past the seal, and mistakes in an earlier fitting all shorten its life.

Once a bearing has started to hum, the noise does not go away. It usually grows gradually, but how fast is hard to predict.

Wheel bearings do not have to be replaced in pairs. If the other bearing on the same axle is just as old and also has play, we tell you that and the price of replacing it before we start.

How the work is done

1. We road test the car and listen to where the noise comes from and how it changes in corners.
2. On the lift we spin the wheels by hand, rock them and look at how the tyres have worn. That is how we tell a bearing noise from tyre, brake and CV joint noises.
3. We remove the wheel, the brake caliper, the brake disc and the ABS sensor. On a driven wheel we also undo the hub nut and free the driveshaft from the hub.
4. If the bearing is part of the hub, we unbolt the old hub and fit the new one. A pressed-in bearing we replace with a press, and for that we often take the bearing housing off the car. We do not drive a bearing in with a hammer, because the blow damages the new bearing.
5. We reassemble and tighten the hub nut and the other fixings to the manufacturer's torque. Nuts and bolts specified as single-use are replaced with new ones.
6. We check that the ABS sensor gives a signal and read the fault memory.
7. We road test the car and make sure the noise has gone.

How long it takes

Replacing the bearing on one wheel usually takes about an hour, and from just under an hour to a couple of hours depending on the design. A bolt-on hub is quicker to replace than a pressed-in bearing, and parts rusted in place make the job longer. If the part has to be ordered, we tell you when the car will be ready as soon as you book.

What the price depends on

The price depends on:

• Front or rear wheel. The design and the work differ between the front and the rear. On a driven wheel the driveshaft also has to be freed from the hub.
• Design. A bolt-on hub or a pressed-in bearing. A separate bearing kit is often the cheaper part, but fitting it takes more work.
• Parts. Original and aftermarket parts differ in price.
• Rust. On a car driven on salted roads the driveshaft can rust into the hub, the bearing into its housing and the ABS sensor into its seat. Freeing them takes time, and a sensor rusted in place can break.
• Other findings. With the wheel off we also see the condition of the brakes and the CV boot. Repairing them is not part of the bearing price.

We check the car and tell you the price before the work starts. If something else that needs repair turns up once it is apart, we call you before going on.

Wheel bearings and the inspection

The inspection checks the wheel bearings at both the front and the rear. The inspector checks for play with the play detector and by hand, and spins the tyre while feeling at the spring whether the bearing runs smoothly. Under Traficom's inspection rules, excessive play, a bearing that is too tight and a damaged bearing are all grounds for failing the car. If the fault is dangerous, the car also gets a driving ban.

According to Traficom's statistics, inspections in 2025 recorded 126 260 failing faults on front axles and 51 338 on rear axles. Together they are 22.7 % of all failing faults. Front axles also drew 54 334 repair notices and rear axles 13 731. The statistics do not say how many of the faults concerned wheel bearings, because ball joints and control arms, for example, belong to the same groups.

If a bearing is already humming, it is worth replacing before the inspection. After a failure you face a re-inspection on top of the repair.

What you can check yourself

• Drive on a quiet road with the radio off and listen whether the noise changes with road speed. If it changes when you shift gear or lift off the throttle, it usually does not come from a bearing.
• Somewhere safe, weave gently from side to side. If the noise grows when turning one way, tell us which.
• Run a hand over the tyre tread. Saw-tooth or other uneven wear can cause the same hum.
• Note whether the ABS or ESP light is on.

Play in a wheel is hard to check without a lift, so leave that to us.

When not to drive the car

With a mild hum you can usually still drive, but book a time soon. Do not set off on a longer drive if

• the hum has turned into grinding, rasping or knocking
• the steering wheel or the whole car vibrates
• the car pulls to one side or a wheel has play.

A bearing worn right out heats up, and at worst it can seize or break up while driving. The wheel can then start to wobble and the car becomes harder to control. If you suspect this, call us before you set off.