Repost on wheel bearings for Sebring

I posted about a week ago in reference to my 2002 Chrysler Sebring. I
need some input again. A couple of months ago I noticed that when the
car was moving I hear a sort of humming sound coming from the front
end that gets louder as I go faster. I thought that since my tires
were old and fairly worn, that the sound was coming from them. I
ended up replacing the tires, but the sound still remains. I posted
this problem to you guys last week and I, along with some others in
this forum believe the sound to be front wheel bearing related.
I ended up jacking the car up in the front and removing both front
wheels, brake calipers, and pads. I put the car in neutral and
rotated each hub to try and pinpoint a defective wheel bearing. I
couldn't really detect any problems checking it this way and kind of
thought that maybe the bearings aren't bad after all, but it still
leaves me with the same problem and no solution. Let me also say that
I drove the car and tried to see if there was any difference in sounds
as I drove through turns both left and right, but I couldn't really
tell.
I ended up calling the local dealer's service department and spoke
with a service manager there. I relayed all of this info to him and
without looking at my vehicle he still believes the problem to be with
the wheel bearings. I did state that one thing that I could have done
was to jack the car up and grab the tire at the 6 and 12 o'clock
positions and sort of rock the tire in and out to check for some
possible play in the wheel. I have not done this as yet.
I asked him what his service guys would do if I were to bring the car
into his garage and he said that they would most likely just replace
BOTH wheel bearing hub assemblies and that should take care of it. He
claims that it is not uncommon for that car to have bad bearings. (I
even told him that the car only has 52,000 miles on it, but he didn't
seem phased by it).
What troubles me is that I asked him what if his guys replaced both
bearing assemblies and that wasn't the problem and would I be charged
for the new bearings or would they put my old parts back on. He just
kind of laughed.
So now I'm kind of in limbo here. I don't want to take it to a dealer
and get raped. I'm still thinking its the wheel bearing assemblies
and at roughly $70 each I think that I'm going to replace them myself
and cross my fingers that that was the problem.
The other problem is I'm not sure of how difficult this will be. I
replaced a hub assembly on my wife's old 94' cavalier years ago and it
was surprisingly easy. I have the "Haynes" Sebring maintenance manual
and I'm not too impressed with how they explain this particular
procedure. Is there some sort of an online website that might have a
better step by step manual or tutorial on replacing these hubs? The
one in the Hayne's manual talks of unbolting ball joints and
separating them for access etc, but the description and pictures suck.
Thanks.
Rich

> wrote in message
ups.com...
>I posted about a week ago in reference to my 2002 Chrysler Sebring. I
> need some input again. A couple of months ago I noticed that when the
> car was moving I hear a sort of humming sound coming from the front
> end that gets louder as I go faster. I thought that since my tires
> were old and fairly worn, that the sound was coming from them. I
> ended up replacing the tires, but the sound still remains. I posted
> this problem to you guys last week and I, along with some others in
> this forum believe the sound to be front wheel bearing related.
> I ended up jacking the car up in the front and removing both front
> wheels, brake calipers, and pads. I put the car in neutral and
> rotated each hub to try and pinpoint a defective wheel bearing. I
> couldn't really detect any problems checking it this way and kind of
> thought that maybe the bearings aren't bad after all, but it still
> leaves me with the same problem and no solution. Let me also say that
> I drove the car and tried to see if there was any difference in sounds
> as I drove through turns both left and right, but I couldn't really
> tell.
> I ended up calling the local dealer's service department and spoke
> with a service manager there. I relayed all of this info to him and
> without looking at my vehicle he still believes the problem to be with
> the wheel bearings. I did state that one thing that I could have done
> was to jack the car up and grab the tire at the 6 and 12 o'clock
> positions and sort of rock the tire in and out to check for some
> possible play in the wheel. I have not done this as yet.
> I asked him what his service guys would do if I were to bring the car
> into his garage and he said that they would most likely just replace
> BOTH wheel bearing hub assemblies and that should take care of it. He
> claims that it is not uncommon for that car to have bad bearings. (I
> even told him that the car only has 52,000 miles on it, but he didn't
> seem phased by it).
> What troubles me is that I asked him what if his guys replaced both
> bearing assemblies and that wasn't the problem and would I be charged
> for the new bearings or would they put my old parts back on. He just
> kind of laughed.
> So now I'm kind of in limbo here. I don't want to take it to a dealer
> and get raped. I'm still thinking its the wheel bearing assemblies
> and at roughly $70 each I think that I'm going to replace them myself
> and cross my fingers that that was the problem.
> The other problem is I'm not sure of how difficult this will be. I
> replaced a hub assembly on my wife's old 94' cavalier years ago and it
> was surprisingly easy. I have the "Haynes" Sebring maintenance manual
> and I'm not too impressed with how they explain this particular
> procedure. Is there some sort of an online website that might have a
> better step by step manual or tutorial on replacing these hubs? The
> one in the Hayne's manual talks of unbolting ball joints and
> separating them for access etc, but the description and pictures suck.
> Thanks.
> Rich
>
Do you know a shop that has an on-the-car balancer that will spin the
wheel, tire, et al while all is still on the car? If so, a bad bearing
should *sing a tune* when spun at those balancer-speeds, whereas the other
wheel (assuming its bearing is good) will spin much quieter. HTH, s

On Aug 9, 8:14 am, "sdlomi2" > wrote:
> > wrote in message
>
> ups.com...
>
>
>
> >I posted about a week ago in reference to my 2002 Chrysler Sebring. I
> > need some input again. A couple of months ago I noticed that when the
> > car was moving I hear a sort of humming sound coming from the front
> > end that gets louder as I go faster. I thought that since my tires
> > were old and fairly worn, that the sound was coming from them. I
> > ended up replacing the tires, but the sound still remains. I posted
> > this problem to you guys last week and I, along with some others in
> > this forum believe the sound to be front wheel bearing related.
> > I ended up jacking the car up in the front and removing both front
> > wheels, brake calipers, and pads. I put the car in neutral and
> > rotated each hub to try and pinpoint a defective wheel bearing. I
> > couldn't really detect any problems checking it this way and kind of
> > thought that maybe the bearings aren't bad after all, but it still
> > leaves me with the same problem and no solution. Let me also say that
> > I drove the car and tried to see if there was any difference in sounds
> > as I drove through turns both left and right, but I couldn't really
> > tell.
> > I ended up calling the local dealer's service department and spoke
> > with a service manager there. I relayed all of this info to him and
> > without looking at my vehicle he still believes the problem to be with
> > the wheel bearings. I did state that one thing that I could have done
> > was to jack the car up and grab the tire at the 6 and 12 o'clock
> > positions and sort of rock the tire in and out to check for some
> > possible play in the wheel. I have not done this as yet.
> > I asked him what his service guys would do if I were to bring the car
> > into his garage and he said that they would most likely just replace
> > BOTH wheel bearing hub assemblies and that should take care of it. He
> > claims that it is not uncommon for that car to have bad bearings. (I
> > even told him that the car only has 52,000 miles on it, but he didn't
> > seem phased by it).
> > What troubles me is that I asked him what if his guys replaced both
> > bearing assemblies and that wasn't the problem and would I be charged
> > for the new bearings or would they put my old parts back on. He just
> > kind of laughed.
> > So now I'm kind of in limbo here. I don't want to take it to a dealer
> > and get raped. I'm still thinking its the wheel bearing assemblies
> > and at roughly $70 each I think that I'm going to replace them myself
> > and cross my fingers that that was the problem.
> > The other problem is I'm not sure of how difficult this will be. I
> > replaced a hub assembly on my wife's old 94' cavalier years ago and it
> > was surprisingly easy. I have the "Haynes" Sebring maintenance manual
> > and I'm not too impressed with how they explain this particular
> > procedure. Is there some sort of an online website that might have a
> > better step by step manual or tutorial on replacing these hubs? The
> > one in the Hayne's manual talks of unbolting ball joints and
> > separating them for access etc, but the description and pictures suck.
> > Thanks.
> > Rich
>
> Do you know a shop that has an on-the-car balancer that will spin the
> wheel, tire, et al while all is still on the car? If so, a bad bearing
> should *sing a tune* when spun at those balancer-speeds, whereas the other
> wheel (assuming its bearing is good) will spin much quieter. HTH, s- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

figured out that the problem is the passenger wheel bearing. Wasted,
I repeat...WASTED my entire day trying to get this part removed. I
absolutely cannot get the three star head bolts that hold the hub
assembly on this thing off. Tomorrow I take this piece of @#%*! to
the dealer for the raping. Thanks american auto manufacturers. My
next vehicle will be foreign.
****ed off!

On Thu, 09 Aug 2007 12:40:41 -0700,
wrote:

>
>figured out that the problem is the passenger wheel bearing. Wasted,
>I repeat...WASTED my entire day trying to get this part removed. I
>absolutely cannot get the three star head bolts that hold the hub
>assembly on this thing off. Tomorrow I take this piece of @#%*! to
>the dealer for the raping. Thanks american auto manufacturers. My
>next vehicle will be foreign.
>****ed off!


I hate to be the bearer of bad news but every foreign manufacturer
also tightens the nuts and bolts on their cars as well. I don't quite
understand how you can blame the manufacturer because you don't have
the tools you need to repair your vehicle.

Steve B.

On Aug 9, 6:10 pm, Steve B. > wrote:
> On Thu, 09 Aug 2007 12:40:41 -0700,
> wrote:
>
>
>
> >figured out that the problem is the passenger wheel bearing. Wasted,
> >I repeat...WASTED my entire day trying to get this part removed. I
> >absolutely cannot get the three star head bolts that hold the hub
> >assembly on this thing off. Tomorrow I take this piece of @#%*! to
> >the dealer for the raping. Thanks american auto manufacturers. My
> >next vehicle will be foreign.
> >****ed off!
>
> I hate to be the bearer of bad news but every foreign manufacturer
> also tightens the nuts and bolts on their cars as well. I don't quite
> understand how you can blame the manufacturer because you don't have
> the tools you need to repair your vehicle.
>
> Steve B.

Steve, nice reply...by the way, I did have all of the correct tools
for this project, including the star sockets. Maybe I'm just having a
bad day after trying to save myself a few hundred bucks? Its funny
how american car manufacturers continually pump out crap, back it with
crap warranties, and then cry the blues when their companies profits
start sagging. God forbid you make a good car, have a good warranty,
and make it a little easier to service. I realize that nothing is
warrantied forever, and eventually somethings are going to break, but
lets make it a little more easier for the "every day guy" to be able
to service it.
Is it possible that YOU are able to remember when you could crawl
inside an engine compartment, shut the hood, and still work on the
engine? Do you remember when changing a light bulb didn't involve
taking four additional parts off of the car just to get to it? Or how
about not having to jack your car up, turn the wheel, and remove
fender panels to get to an oil filter? And as long as we are talking
wheel bearings, I suppose somehow its better today to buy a $70-$100
sealed bearing hub assembly that is supposed to last many miles longer
than 50,000, than to have the old conventional wheel bearings that
just need repacking or replacing for $20?
By the way, why do I need a special socket to get three ordinary bolts
out? Am I missing something? Do they somehow work differently than
other bolts? Couldn't they have put in a regular bolt? Probably not,
seeing as everything else is a mix of standard and metric, lets throw
in another one and charge the shmuck another $8 bucks for the special
socket. Why would I expect to find a standard bolt on my american car
so I could go over to my craftsman toolbox and pull out a standard
socket. Yeah, that would be easy.
I wasted alot of time researching on the net for this project and
found very little, if any, useful information. Unless I was looking
in the wrong place (very possible) I couldn't find any kind of service
manual on line or any kind of exploded view diagrams of what all of
these parts look like. I ended up purchasing a "Haynes" manual for
this car that really looks like it was written and photographed by a
grade school kid. I'm sure that the reason their book sucks is
because the manufacturer probably didn't forward enough info to them.
Like I said before, I'm just ****ed now. This entire deal ultimately
came down to three bolts that won't come off for me. I could waste
more of my time and sit under the car tomorrow and wrench on those
things, but they aren't coming off for me. I'll end up tearing the
heads apart and making it worse in the end. This job will need the
car up on a lift (by the way, I don't have one of those in my garage),
pneumatic tools (don't have them either), and probably a torch to heat
the bolts up.
My point was that this should have been a fairly easy and
straightforward job, but because of clever engineering my day tomorrow
will be spent at the dealer's shop.
And by the way, thanks for the heads up on the foreign manufacturers
tightening their bolts too. I'll find that out on my next vehicle
though, but I doubt before 100,000 miles.

wrote:


> By the way, why do I need a special socket to get three ordinary bolts
> out? Am I missing something? Do they somehow work differently than
> other bolts?

An oa torch is required for some of these.

> wrote:
>Steve, nice reply...by the way, I did have all of the correct tools
>for this project, including the star sockets. Maybe I'm just having a
>bad day after trying to save myself a few hundred bucks?

If you didn't have an impact wrench, you didn't have the correct tools.

>Its funny
>how american car manufacturers continually pump out crap, back it with
>crap warranties, and then cry the blues when their companies profits
>start sagging. God forbid you make a good car, have a good warranty,
>and make it a little easier to service. I realize that nothing is
>warrantied forever, and eventually somethings are going to break, but
>lets make it a little more easier for the "every day guy" to be able
>to service it.

If cars were easy to service and lasted forever, people wouldn't buy new
ones. Then GM would go out of business, and the American economy would
collapse. Millions of people would be out of work, and Americans would
be floooding across the border into Mexico to find work.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."