Front Wheel Bearing R&R

[Robert Platt Bell]

I replaced both wheel bearings recently and took the hubs to the local machine shop to have the bearings pressed in. I even printed out and brought the instructions (from BMW) for the technician. An hour and $20 later, the new bearings are pressed in.

But I think he Brinneled one of the bearings, as it failed within about 100 miles (the steering went funky and the wheel itself had play in it. You could grab the tire and move the wheel from side to side by 1/2" or more).

This time around, I just bought an entire spindle assembly off a junked X5 and bolted it on. It took about a half-hour and was a lot easier (and cheaper) than replacing the bearing itself.

The bearings on these cars seem to last a good long time - 150,000 miles or more.

It is not easy to press the bearings in, as the housing has an odd shape, and working around the dust shield isn't easy either. I ended up cutting the thin part of the dust shield so it could be removed and reinstalled without taking the hub off the spindle (crazy design, but BMW must have had their reasons).


Wheel shimmy is a heartbreaking problem. I had the infamous E36 shimmy problem and I rebuilt the entire front end, even a new rack and pinion. It still came on, at about 60 mph.

Turns out the tires (Michelin MXV) were about 8 years old, and even though they had lots of tread, they had dry rotted and were hard as a rock. I swapped the tires with my other E36 (which were new) and the problem mysteriously transferred to the other car.

P.S. - I notice that the new X5s (E70) have integrated hub assemblies. The hub and bearing are one piece and it simply bolts onto the spindle with four bolts. Anyone can swap these out with your basic Craftsman socket set - no special tools needed, other than the axle socket. I used to make these types of assemblies at New-Departure Hyatt Bearings, back in the early 1980's, for the GM B and C cars. The E70 bearings look suspiciously similar. After finding Delphi struts on the front of my car, nothing would surprise me, though.

[X5SND]

I would think that if your alignment was that off or tierods that worn, you would definitely notice some drivability issues --- wandering, in-precise steering and the need for constant correction; this on top of the usual tire wear that would be associated with alignment. I still can't believe at 66k your wheel bearing was toast....I'm at about 115k (187k km) and mine are still silent.

When you got your wheels RF balanced, did you get the results? I know with mine, while one was a marginal pass, it was still out enough that would have been felt on the roadster speed.

So to get to your list....
1) doubtful, wheel bearings generally make noise when worn.
2) again, doubtful, you would notice your x wandering around with loose tierods.
3) Maybe, but unlikely. The first sign of this causing any sort of issue would be evident on the tire (cupping or uneven tread wear). As with #2 though, if it was that far out, you would/should be able to discern something is out driving around.

I stand by my opinion that since the wheel is not translating any of the vibe, that your issue is not in the front but elsewhere...but I'm not expert! Lol.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by X5SND

I would think that if your alignment was that off or tierods that worn, you would definitely notice some drivability issues --- wandering, in-precise steering and the need for constant correction; this on top of the usual tire wear that would be associated with alignment. I still can't believe at 66k your wheel bearing was toast....I'm at about 115k (187k km) and mine are still silent.

When you got your wheels RF balanced, did you get the results? I know with mine, while one was a marginal pass, it was still out enough that would have been felt on the roadster speed.

So to get to your list....
1) doubtful, wheel bearings generally make noise when worn.
2) again, doubtful, you would notice your x wandering around with loose tierods.
3) Maybe, but unlikely. The first sign of this causing any sort of issue would be evident on the tire (cupping or uneven tread wear). As with #2 though, if it was that far out, you would/should be able to discern something is out driving around.

I stand by my opinion that since the wheel is not translating any of the vibe, that your issue is not in the front but elsewhere...but I'm not expert! Lol.

Yes you are the expert Spencer since you just did your rear end suspension!

Thanks for the inputs, yes at my mileage I'm not feeling the looseness that loose tie rods would give, the X doesn't wander much or need constant correction either. I put on my 168s with Proxes STII's in July of last year and probably put about 2k on them max, shortly after I got my wheels I redid the front suspension, and since I needed to do my wheel bearing I didn't get aligned after that, and basically parked the car until I did my bearing so I wouldn't wear the still basically new tires unevenly.

And I know you have almost double the mileage I do, but you wouldn't believe it unless you drove this car a week ago and drove it last night with silence! The vibes and the wum-wum-wum sound as soon as I hit 40 mph and continued no matter how fast above I went, was ridiculous! Made the car undrivable.

I assume the right front bearing went bad before I bought the car, when the air struts were old (before I replaced with Arnotts) and the previous owner drove over a nasty pothole or something when the front was "slammed" and maybe gave excessive wear to that side and I really didn't notice when I first bought it but over the last year WOW did it get loud. Only reason I can tell for 100% certainty that 95% of my vibes/humming noises came from 1 wheel bearing, right front. And yes, still at 69k miles as of today!



I'm assuming some rear end suspension parts are showing signs of wear, bushings deteriorating, etc, as my whole front suspension parts replacement made the car completely different than it was when I bought in Dec. 2011. Worn subframe bushings transfer vibes at all?

EDIT: S, Sorry but after a highway drive this AM I will say that my vibrations also get transferred into the steering wheel, although not terrible, it is noticed. Since the vibes are noticeably reduced from replacing my right front wheel bearing, I am doing the left front for good measure, as I suspect the left one is not far behind, and these vibes I'm feeling from a bearing that has play in it will eventually turn into a roar like the right side had.

My buddy who balanced my wheels and is Master tech at Lexus said he would recheck the wheels for me if I wanted him too but they all checked out and balanced out fine. I will shake the tires tonight as I need to put the other 3 metal hub rings on my wheels anyway, just check for play in the rears, and look for play on left bearing in front.

He also told me vibes I'm feeling might be slight but if there is play in the existing original bearing in the front that its possible that would transfer the vibes in the drivetrain, and since the right front side is tight it is making the left side having slight looseness more apparent. He said bearings go over time so I might drive with slight vibrations now but in a few months it might end up making ridiculous noise like the right one did.


Thoughts?

[X5SND]

Bummer! If you're gettin wheel shakes, that's definitive of something a miss in the front for sure! I suppose that the optimistic way to look at it is that hopefully it'll be one of those 2 birds, 1 stone deals--- Both wheel bearings will have been changed, and *hopefully* resolve all your vibration issues as well! Personally when it comes to things suspension/drive line related I like to do both sides; so I'd probably do the other bearing for 2 reasons...1) you already did the right side, 2) Given the state of the one you already did, this one may not be far behind....especially if the symptoms you remedied on the right are now present on the left. I know you're a busy man, but its a job that could be easily knocked off on a nice weekend...t'is the season

As far as the bushings for the rear....I was actually surprised at my rear subframe bushings (and LCA bushings as well actually) when we pulled them out. They weren't that bad -- still intact; no where near what some of the nightmare pics on this site show. That being said however, you could tell right away that while there wasn't any visible catastrophic failure, the rubber had become ROCK hard over the years. Within the first couple seconds of getting on the road you could immediately tell the difference. There was much less road vibration/noise transferred to the cabin than before....brought the 'luxury' back to the ride if you will.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by X5SND

Bummer! If you're gettin wheel shakes, that's definitive of something a miss in the front for sure! I suppose that the optimistic way to look at it is that hopefully it'll be one of those 2 birds, 1 stone deals--- Both wheel bearings will have been changed, and *hopefully* resolve all your vibration issues as well! Personally when it comes to things suspension/drive line related I like to do both sides; so I'd probably do the other bearing for 2 reasons...1) you already did the right side, 2) Given the state of the one you already did, this one may not be far behind....especially if the symptoms you remedied on the right are now present on the left. I know you're a busy man, but its a job that could be easily knocked off on a nice weekend...t'is the season

As far as the bushings for the rear....I was actually surprised at my rear subframe bushings (and LCA bushings as well actually) when we pulled them out. They weren't that bad -- still intact; no where near what some of the nightmare pics on this site show. That being said however, you could tell right away that while there wasn't any visible catastrophic failure, the rubber had become ROCK hard over the years. Within the first couple seconds of getting on the road you could immediately tell the difference. There was much less road vibration/noise transferred to the cabin than before....brought the 'luxury' back to the ride if you will.

Thanks for the words S, will definitely be doing the left side too, will be much quicker now that I know what I'm doing. Plus I took the time to dremel off the rust off the hub on the right side, replaced the dust cover, etc, and really cleaned it all off well. I'm also going to replace hub rings with aluminum on the other 3 wheels (already did on right front) and make sure lug nuts are set to 101 ft lbs.

Exactly what I am thinking as well about the subframe bushings, the rubber just dries out completely, and with 10 years on my X and seeing salty winters like you do, I believe mine could use changing as well

Tis the season is right, got my spark plugs changed over the weekend and noticeably smoother startups and idle were gained right away! Now I have to do lower intake boot for preventative maintenance of a leak, chase down my ABS/DSC/BRAKE trifecta (might be ABS module or wheel sensor I have to do testing), and then after that I can finally paint my calipers with G2 caliper paint and get my cluster pixels repaired.

I told you I had tons to do before my headlight project can begin, haha

[ArmyX5]

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

Yes you are the expert Spencer since you just did your rear end suspension!

Thanks for the inputs, yes at my mileage I'm not feeling the looseness that loose tie rods would give, the X doesn't wander much or need constant correction either. I put on my 168s with Proxes STII's in July of last year and probably put about 2k on them max, shortly after I got my wheels I redid the front suspension, and since I needed to do my wheel bearing I didn't get aligned after that, and basically parked the car until I did my bearing so I wouldn't wear the still basically new tires unevenly.

And I know you have almost double the mileage I do, but you wouldn't believe it unless you drove this car a week ago and drove it last night with silence! The vibes and the wum-wum-wum sound as soon as I hit 40 mph and continued no matter how fast above I went, was ridiculous! Made the car undrivable.

I assume the right front bearing went bad before I bought the car, when the air struts were old (before I replaced with Arnotts) and the previous owner drove over a nasty pothole or something when the front was "slammed" and maybe gave excessive wear to that side and I really didn't notice when I first bought it but over the last year WOW did it get loud. Only reason I can tell for 100% certainty that 95% of my vibes/humming noises came from 1 wheel bearing, right front. And yes, still at 69k miles as of today!



I'm assuming some rear end suspension parts are showing signs of wear, bushings deteriorating, etc, as my whole front suspension parts replacement made the car completely different than it was when I bought in Dec. 2011. Worn subframe bushings transfer vibes at all?

EDIT: S, Sorry but after a highway drive this AM I will say that my vibrations also get transferred into the steering wheel, although not terrible, it is noticed. Since the vibes are noticeably reduced from replacing my right front wheel bearing, I am doing the left front for good measure, as I suspect the left one is not far behind, and these vibes I'm feeling from a bearing that has play in it will eventually turn into a roar like the right side had.

My buddy who balanced my wheels and is Master tech at Lexus said he would recheck the wheels for me if I wanted him too but they all checked out and balanced out fine. I will shake the tires tonight as I need to put the other 3 metal hub rings on my wheels anyway, just check for play in the rears, and look for play on left bearing in front.

He also told me vibes I'm feeling might be slight but if there is play in the existing original bearing in the front that its possible that would transfer the vibes in the drivetrain, and since the right front side is tight it is making the left side having slight looseness more apparent. He said bearings go over time so I might drive with slight vibrations now but in a few months it might end up making ridiculous noise like the right one did.


Thoughts?

Hey Ricky,

I also have the little vibration on the steering wheel after replacing all my front suspension parts. The only thing that I have not done is getting a 4 wheels alignment. I have been trying to figure it out where exactly it is coming from because it only happen when I am braking at a very slow speed. The vehicle don't vibrate, it is straight thru the steering wheel. Brake rotors and pad are almost new and they were working fine until I put my summer tire set on. I am taking to the dealer next week to see if a 4 wheel alignment will do the trick.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by ArmyX5

Hey Ricky,

I also have the little vibration on the steering wheel after replacing all my front suspension parts. The only thing that I have not done is getting a 4 wheels alignment. I have been trying to figure it out where exactly it is coming from because it only happen when I am braking at a very slow speed. The vehicle don't vibrate, it is straight thru the steering wheel. Brake rotors and pad are almost new and they were working fine until I put my summer tire set on. I am taking to the dealer next week to see if a 4 wheel alignment will do the trick.

usually you get the vibrations when braking from the thrust arm bushings but i'm assuming you replaced those and torqued the bushing with the wheels on the ground? My vibes are slight as well and like I said I still have to do the other side wheel bearing, hoping when I complete that I will have 2 new "tight" bearings and get a 4 wheel alignment and that should cure it.

Other than that my buddy at Lexus is going to re-check my wheel balanace if I still get vibes after the alignment.

[Robert Platt Bell]

This was a common problem with the E36.

Sometimes, when braking, the wheel would shimmy, and it was very annoying. A lot of people complained about this.

Opinions differed as to the cause. Some claimed it was "warped" brake rotors and others went further to say they were warped by not torquing the lug bolts evenly or by using an air impact wrench instead of a torque wrench.

The problem would come and go, however, which is weird, as if it was a warped rotor, you'd think it would do it all the time.

Some folks pointed out that when braking very hard and then holding the brakes on, some types of pads would leave an "imprint" on the rotor surface. Their theory was that this imprint caused the rotor to "catch" slightly on subsequent braking, which would cause a shimmy since the rotors were no longer in sync, and each caliper would "grab" at a different part of the revolution.

Their solution was to run the car up to speed on an empty stretch of road, apply the brakes firmly to "burn off" this pad imprint, and then release the brakes so a new imprint didn't form. Oddly enough, this seemed to work on one of my cars that had this problem.

Changing pad types (and putting on new rotors) seemed to fix the problem permanently.

Check your wheel balance, too, as well as tire age. Like I said, those old Michelin's were about as hard as the wheels on Fred Flintstone's car.

Good Luck!

P.S. - bottom line, is, though, it is hard to get back that "new car feel" on a car that is 10 years old and has 150,000 miles. Drive the wheels off it and use it up. Move on to the next car.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by Robert Platt Bell

This was a common problem with the E36.

Sometimes, when braking, the wheel would shimmy, and it was very annoying. A lot of people complained about this.

Opinions differed as to the cause. Some claimed it was "warped" brake rotors and others went further to say they were warped by not torquing the lug bolts evenly or by using an air impact wrench instead of a torque wrench.

The problem would come and go, however, which is weird, as if it was a warped rotor, you'd think it would do it all the time.

Some folks pointed out that when braking very hard and then holding the brakes on, some types of pads would leave an "imprint" on the rotor surface. Their theory was that this imprint caused the rotor to "catch" slightly on subsequent braking, which would cause a shimmy since the rotors were no longer in sync, and each caliper would "grab" at a different part of the revolution.

Their solution was to run the car up to speed on an empty stretch of road, apply the brakes firmly to "burn off" this pad imprint, and then release the brakes so a new imprint didn't form. Oddly enough, this seemed to work on one of my cars that had this problem.

Changing pad types (and putting on new rotors) seemed to fix the problem permanently.

Check your wheel balance, too, as well as tire age. Like I said, those old Michelin's were about as hard as the wheels on Fred Flintstone's car.

Good Luck!

P.S. - bottom line, is, though, it is hard to get back that "new car feel" on a car that is 10 years old and has 150,000 miles. Drive the wheels off it and use it up. Move on to the next car.

Wheel balance is spot on as friend just did roadforce balancing, hub rings are intact and I make sure to torque all wheels in a star pattern at 101 ft lbs each time. Tires are less than a year old.

I will try re-bedding the pads as well one of these days, although I don't have a shimmy while braking I have heard that pad deposits on the rotors can cause a shimmy.

I'm also biding my time because the entire rear suspension is original at 10 years old, I'm sure that has to be attended to as well. Trying to get it as good as I can get it to be able to enjoy maybe a year before I start replacing rear suspension parts, I had my rear wheels off cleaning the hubs and putting my aluminum hub rings on last night, and those rear wishbone control arms just look absolutely atrocious, rusted to all hell, although they seem tight so I'm not complaining for now.

[ArmyX5]

Ricky,

I need to go back and torque the bushing with the wheels on the ground to see if that will make a difference, thanks for the reminder. I am putting off the wheels alignment because I am also planning on doing my rear suspension as soon as I get some time off.