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Forester Wheel Bearings Question

Awhile back, there was much discussion here about the wheel bearings on Foresters failing prematurely. (I don't recall all of the model years involved).

I have a 2001 Forester and hav already had 1 wheel bearing replaced about a year ago. It would have cost between $330 (mechanic)and $400 (dealer) to replace, but to my pleasant surprise, it was still covered under warranty. (Warranty on drivetrain goes to 50,000 miles - not sure about time limit).

I'm now approaching that 60,000 mile limit (Just over 58,000). I just happen to have my car going into the dealer on an unrelated matter, and was wondering whether it would be worthwhile to have him check the wheel bearings while the car is there. If so, can I trust a Subaru dealer to do a fair assessment of the wheel bearings, if I have no "symptoms" like I did the last time?

Or would I be better off having an independent mechanic do the assessment on the bearings, and if he finds problems, only then present his findings to Subaru? Note that I don't notice any "symptoms" with the bearings at this point.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. An estimated cost for checking out the wheel bearings would be helpful as well.

Thanks!

Reply to
BRH
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Reply to
Edward Hayes

Are you in the US?

I thought wheel bearings are not covered in US as part of the drivetrain warranty (5yr/60,000 mile).

MN

Reply to
MN

Interesting. Since new, my 2002 Forest has what I thought was a lot of road noise that I blamed on the somewhat aggressive tread of the tire. My son has a Jaguar that had a very expensive front bearing go out and once when riding my the Subaru, he commented that I have bad bearings because that is how his sounded.

I've put over 50,000 miles on the car and the sound has not changed since new, but paying attention to it while going from cement to smooth asphalt, I can hear that the sound doesn't change and can tell that the tires sound changes. So, the tires were never the source of the noise. Now I don't know if it is normal AWD noise or something that should be checked out further.

Reply to
Steve Bukosky

Yep. I'm in Virginia. In November 2004, at odometer reading 50229, I had the left rear wheel bearing replaced under warranty. At that time, Subaru told me that the entire drivetrain, including wheel bearings, is covered up to 60,000 mile. There might be a time limit as well, but if so, I don't recall what it is.

Reply to
BRH

on smooth pavement, my '02 legacy wagon can be eerily quiet. the last time i thought i had a bad wheel bearing, it turned out to be loose wheel nuts - the dork that serviced the car didn't torque the nuts properly!!! luckily, all i got was the noise, rather than losing a wheel on the highway (500 miles from home).

....... tom klein

Reply to
tom klein

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