Wheel Bearing Shims?

[Flw Sock]

I'm in the middle of redoing my wheel bearings for like the 10th time in 4 years. I did some research and apparently these cars came with wheel bearing shims, and you have to shim the bearing. Does anybody know where I can get these? I called around at all the local parts stores and nobody has them. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.


Karl G.

[nonamekid]

The Ford dealer should have them and the tool needed to determine the size shim you need.

[Eaglefreek]

I have a pair of stock Festiva hubs that weren't making any noise when I took them off. You can have them for the price of shipping plus $5 for a Cheeseburger for my trouble.

[WmWatt]

Do a search of this site for info on the spacers (aka shims). They come in a set of 32? of varying thicknesses. Selecting the correct one involves a in-lb torque wrench. Most threads on the subject caution not to lose or confuse the spacers when removing the bearings. It's a sadly too common thing for mechanics to omit reinstalling them. The hubs are not precision ground. Instead each gets an appropriately thick shim to make up the difference and the shim must stay with the hub. I painted the shim thickness (it's stamped on the shim) on each of my hubs in case one ever gets lost. Last I heard spacers are available from Kia dealerships.

[ricko1966]

Do a mock assembly using a ring of solder instead of your missing spacer tighten for preaload just like doing a crush sleave on a GM piniion disassemble the assembly measure the thickness of the solder. any shim you can find that is the same thickness as your crushed solder will work.It does not have to be a festival shim. Could be a pinion shim a wheel bearing spacer from a different car etc. Sorry guys spell check always corrects festiva to festival.Personally if I had time to wait I,d buy the five dollar ones