Need advice on purchace of wheel bearings.

[sandspringsfestiva]

Last Summer I rebuilt the entire front end of my Festiva. It drives like an Indy car. Well last week I began hearing a slight squeaking noise coming from my driver side front. I believe it is a wheel bearing. I need advice on purchasing some top quality performance wheel bearings to replace the squeaky one.

I purchased Beck Arnley brand and they just didn't hold up to my driving habits.

Any high performance bearings out there?

[Zanzer]

Get Timken bearings. It's all I've ever used and I've never had an issue with them... and I've installed A LOT of wheel bearings LOL

[scitzz]

See my signature? Yeah One easy test for a bad wheel bearing is to drive a couple miles, then feel the wheel. If it is very hot, in comparison to the others, then a faulty bearing could be the culprit.

Also, see the thread I started on how to rebuild them,. there is a scan from the manual. Be sure they are lubed after being put in place properly.

And never forget the spacer!

[fastivaca]

Slight sqeaking noise from the front could be brake pads. There's a little bracket on one of the pads that acts as a wear indicator. When the pad gets thin enough the bracket hits the rotor and squeaks. I would check that first before tearing the hubs apart again.

[91_festy_Gl]

Slight sqeaking noise from the front could be brake pads. There's a little bracket on one of the pads that acts as a wear indicator. When the pad gets thin enough the bracket hits the rotor and squeaks. I would check that first before tearing the hubs apart again.

+1, but if your wanting to check the bearings just jack the front of the car up and shake the wheel. Grab the top of the tire and the bottom and shake. If its wiggles and has play then your bearings are shot! Been through this many many times with these festivas especially living in a area with alot of mountains.

[scitzz]

+1, but if your wanting to check the bearings just jack the front of the car up and shake the wheel. Grab the top of the tire and the bottom and shake. If its wiggles and has play then your bearings are shot! Been through this many many times with these festivas especially living in a area with alot of mountains.

Second test in my book ;P Also, if they are REALLY bad, you can sometimes just put your foot on the top of the tire and shove, it will wobble

[roycehof]

Unless you installed the bearings wrong, I doubt that they have gone bad already. Beck-Arnley stuff is pretty decent from my experience. Cleanliness is important with bearings, so if you got some dirt in there, it is conceivable that the bearing could be bad. The front bearings are more forgiving than the rear. I bought a cheap set of Auto Zone bearings for the rear of my Festiva and was replacing them after 40K miles. Bought Timkens after that and they are still going (lost track but over 75K miles easy). If the bearing did fail already, buying the Timken brand may help get you some more longevity out of the job. Before I took apart that hub, I would want to do the items mentioned above (check brakes, bushings, and things like that). Good Luck.

[GenevaDirt]

was the spacer/shim put back in when they were originally done? I am with the guys saying brakes. May even just be the semi metallic pads squeaking. Happens all the time.

[sandspringsfestiva]

To my surprise it was the rear bearings. It sounded like the front ones to me.

Oh yea, I did remember to install the spacer. lol

[Parkerm6]

Get Timken bearings. It's all I've ever used and I've never had an issue with them... and I've installed A LOT of wheel bearings LOL

X2 on the Timken bearings. We've done a lot of bearings around here and never any issues.

[Smedley]

^Just figured out that my nephew left my computer logged in and I was reading and posting under his name! Guess I'm getting senile.

[Zanzer]

^^ HAHA! I was wondering who the newcomer was and where the heck Franklinton is! LOL :mrgreen: