[cawayne]

06 STI, 24k miles, 15 or so aggressive track days, left drivers side bearing died but didnt realise until I was swapping my street wheels for the track. There was no indication of any wheel problem when driving to the track even though the wheel felt very loose when swapping it out. Repaired by local garage and SOA gave me check for parts and labor no questions asked.

[STIFun]

So this item should be covered by warranty if less than 60k on car right.

[crf-sti]

Originally Posted by STIFun

So this item should be covered by warranty if less than 60k on car right.

yes sir!

[antonch]

How can you correctly identify a bad wheel bearing? I hear a howling noise that goes away on hills/crests and stuff. I am pretty sure its the bearing but I don't want to come to the dealer and get turned away for something stupid.

[rmo55c]

Originally Posted by antonch

How can you correctly identify a bad wheel bearing? I hear a howling noise that goes away on hills/crests and stuff. I am pretty sure its the bearing but I don't want to come to the dealer and get turned away for something stupid.

Um regardless of whether it is a wheel bearing or not, if your car is making a funny noise you should have it checked. Never feel stupid about having something odd looked into - I do it whenever I think something has failed. I've been told several times before that everything looked okay, but that doesn't prevent me from being cautious about my sti investment

[rmo55c]

oh and to the original poster, im at 78K miles on my 05 now and have not a wheel bearing problem. I've had an excessively worn axle end and now I think I have a cv joint going in the front, but thats been about it on all those miles.

[upncummr]

Originally Posted by antonch

How can you correctly identify a bad wheel bearing? I hear a howling noise that goes away on hills/crests and stuff. I am pretty sure its the bearing but I don't want to come to the dealer and get turned away for something stupid.

There are a couple of ways to identify a bad wheel bearing.

First is noise - left side wheel bearings will make more noise in right-hand turns because the left side of the car is "weighted". Similarly, right side wheel bearings will make more noise in left-hand turns.

It's possible that the wheel bearing will make noise when you're going straight ahead or turning in either direction, but generally you'll notice more noise when you're turning and the weight of the car is being shifted more onto one side of the car.

Second is looseness - jack up the corner of the car and get the tire/wheel into the air. Grasp the tire at the top and bottom and see if the tire/wheel wiggles as you push in on top, pull out on bottom, reverse and repeat. Any noticeable movement of the tire/wheel is an indication of a bad wheel bearing.

Hope this helps!

Gary

[chaos311clarity]

05 with 50k miles, fair amount of hard driving (back roads), one track day, one auto-x so far. no issues at all. car gets driven all year round as well.

[xrocket21]

70k miles, 300+ auto-x on 17x9 +38 mm

05 sti, no probs yet

[La Mer]

06, 50,000 hard miles, and 4 track days.

No problems.

[chargedvette02]

05, 60k miles Mixed track days, mountain runs and lots O highway driving. No issues as of yet and I drive the car like I stole it most of the time.

[chargedvette02]

Originally Posted by La Mer

06, 50,000 hard miles, and 4 track days.

No problems.

Wow, and I thought I drove a lot.

[na-STi]

I hear that using upgraded brake pads will create more heat which speeds up the failure of the bearings. I assume that most of you who track your cars have upgraded your pads? I am on Ferodo DS2500's.

[upncummr]

Originally Posted by na-STi

I hear that using upgraded brake pads will create more heat which speeds up the failure of the bearings. I assume that most of you who track your cars have upgraded your pads? I am on Ferodo DS2500's.

I don't think upgraded brake pads alone will have that big an impact on the life of a wheel bearing.

For cars that are tracked, you have a number of factors coming into play:

1. Higher speeds before braking
2. Shorter stopping distances and shorter stopping times (e.g. harder use of the brakes)
3. Upgraded brake pads
4. R compound tires or their near equivalents
5. Plus size tires/wheels

Of that list of 5 factors, I'd say that upgraded brake pads probably have the least impact.

Gary

[thunderbird]

I replaced bearings about twice a year after I started autocrossing the car. I've driven over a year and many autocrosses on the 6-gun kit with no knockback. I also run big tires on the street and have put about 25k miles since I replaced the bearings. I bought the version that let me keep my three sets of 5x100 rims. I highly recommend the kit.