How long do the rear wheel bearings last????

[ldzpstnr]

Hey guys and gals.

Just wondering how much life we can get out of the rear wheel bearings. My car has 213K on it now and I dont know if they have ever been replaced. I replaced one of the front ones and need to do the other. This is the third E30 I have owned, my other two were early 318's that both went over 250K and I never replaced a rear bearing on those either.

Trying to plan ahead on repairs here. I dont make a lot of money so gotta plan ahead and do repairs accordingly.


Later, Aaron.

 

[jrt67ss350]

My '87 has 285,000 on the original rear wheel bearings. I just replaced the front wheel bearings the other week for the first time. They were both completely shot. The rears still seem to be fine - knock on wood.

 

[epj3]

Yup my e30 had 182k miles on the rear wheel bearings - still good. Since even most wrenchers say "i've replaced clutches, this, that, etc. and I would not do the rear wheel bearings on the e30 myself"....so it's probably pretty difficult. Most parts on bmw's that are extremely difficult to replace, typically don't go bad that fast. Funny how it works out.

 

[jrt67ss350]

Yeah, I checked a while ago to see how much it would cost to have the rear wheel bearings replaced, and an inexpensive BMW specialist shop quoted me $600. It's an all-day job even for an experienced professional that has the appropriate tools.

 

[Ben]

i think i read something about freezing the bearings and heating the trailing arms to get the new ones in, holy hell. its definatly worth taking it to a shop to have it done.