wheel bearing - how long will it last

[drmick]

Hi

I have a noisy front left wheel bearing on my MY2005 9-5 2L estate - noticed it last weekend and makes noise turning left mainly but after a while it seems to quieten down and isn't noticeable.

I have booked the car in for next Friday for the bearing to be replaced, however I am going to be changing the car in the next 4 weeks - so my questions is will it be OK to just leave the bearing and trade it in in the next month, or will it become unsafe?

The only journeys I will be doing in the next few weeks will be about 20 miles on A21 and M25 once a week, so car won't be heavily used.

Thanks
Michael

[Audax]

Generally, the bearing will make an unbearable noise before it actually fails. I don't think I recall any wheel bearing failure that didn't just end up being so noisy that you didn't want to drive the car. However it is a safety item so this may not apply to you. I would also caveat that with the details that is what genuine wheel bearings do, if you have an after market bearing in there it might not be the case. I would certainly expect it to last 80 miles before causing an issue.

[nine-fiver]

You could go for thousands of miles. My left rear has been whining away now for months. Gets a bit warm but still does the job. Mind you, being a front doesn't fill you with too much confidence when it gets that way, does it?

[Geoff1951]

Bear in mind (sorry!) how much it'll cost to repair compared with how much the car's worth trading in. Mileage, body condition and MOT length are the big factors with cars this age.

[drmick]

definitely going to be trading it in now so won't be getting it fixed - car is probably worth about £1500 at most probably closer to £1000, as long as it lasts a couple more weekends of driving it should be OK, then it will be someone elses problem.

After 11 years of Saab ownership it looks like this is the end - test driving an Audi A6 Avant tomorrow afternoon and possibly a BMW on Saturday - I was hoping to break the 100K barrier but looks like going to fall a couple of thousand miles short.

[Geoff1951]

If you're going used, many Skoda Superb estates out there...

My neighbour is moving from a Merc E 320d saloon (57 plate) to a Superb estate on a 62.

[CitTone]

Didn't break the 100K barrier...?

I don't even buy them until they hit 90K!

My old 2.2 had a front bearing go at about 110K. It lasted for a couple of months before I lost patience and got it changed. Even then it was still only annoying rather than announcing imminent disaster.

The replacement was a different matter. A pattern part from GSF and it lasted about 6 weeks - thankfully no argument about it being replaced, but I still had to pay for the labour again (grrrr).

[Audax]

I don't even buy them until they hit 90K!

The lowest mileage Saab I've owned was a 98k D reg 9000 with a broken gearbox that cost me £250 which was traded in against a 9000 with 280k on the clock a month later. All the other 4 I owned were over 100k.