W210 ('99 E430) Rear Wheel Bearing Replacement
 

Can someone give me the real scoop on this operation? I've perused the threads for a while, and it's not totally clear. I see three ways of doing it:

1. Replace bearing without removing the wheel carrier. This requires a special tool for pulling the hub, and one for extracting the bearing. No one has the special tool shown in the MB manual, and the SIR tools model is apparently not ready for double-row bearings.

2. Remove wheel carrier and have the bearing and wheel-flange pressed in and out. Can all machine shops do this, or will some not be able to handle the MB hub? Need a wheel alignment after installation.

3. Replace the wheel carrier and bearing as an assembly. Presumably this is ridculously expensive, but with MB dealers charging $80+ for the job it might be a viable route.

Thanks in advance.

Tom

Special tools required are OVER $1000. from MB!

Go with number 2, any reputable machine shop should be able to press flange in & out without any problems.

Minor Correction
 

MB dealers are charging $800+, not $80+.

Are you sure it's the rear wheel bearing? Seems awfully quick for it to go bad.

Len

I didn't think it was the wheel bearing but
 

It was diagnosed as that with chassis ears by a transmission shop. It's basically just a loud, wheel-speed related growl/whine/drone.
I've had bearings go before, and the noise varied with turning. This doesn't, so I figured it was diff/tranny. But when a tranny shop gives it back and volunteers not to work on it, then I figure they were upfront about the diagnosis.

How many miles on your car? My 300TE had a bad right rear bearing when I bought it used at 130K mi. You should be able to "feel" and hear a bad rear bearing by jacking up the rear of the car (use stands of course), remove the wheels and releasing the rear brake pads from each brake disc so the axle assembly can turn freely. Reinstall the wheels and pull out and push in at the top and bottom of the wheel to feel for play. There really shouldn't be any discernible play. Then rotate the wheel and listen for noise and feel for roughness (again there shouldn't be any). By the way, I drove my car for a long time before replacing my bearing (your results may differ). Do you have a bench press? It is not a terribly difficult job to do (but it does take a couple of hours the first time around) if you have the correct size sockets/adapters to push out the old bearing and insert the new but you will damage the brake backing plate without a horseshoe-shaped adapter to serve as a backer for pressing out the old bearing. Mark

90K miles
 

:1blank:

I haven't found anything that the MB dealer only charges $80 except for maybe washing the windows.

What about the "Hub Tamer"?
 

I have seen where it works on similar bearing/hub setups (e.g., Audi). Anybody know if it works on the MB?

http://www.google.com/search?q=Hub+Tamer&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Better descrip[tion of the hub tamer
 

The end of the story was that I had an indie (Autobahn Automotive in Lakewood, NJ) do the job, who did a fine job. If I had seen this, though, I might have done it myself.

More data
 

Thanks for finding these handy videos

Rear Wheel Bearing Removal With No Special Tools BMW 325i
Rear Wheel Bearing Removal With No Special Tools BMW 325i - YouTube

Rear Wheel Bearing Installation With No Special Tools BMW 325i
Rear Wheel Bearing Installation With No Special Tools BMW 325i - YouTube

The videos are good but installation of the bearing needs to be made from the outer race, not the inner race as shown for the final part of the installation. The video cautions against using too much force on the inner race but in reality no force should be applied to this area during installation. One needs to find a socket, galvnized pipe fitting or the like to push directly on the outer race. The old bearing can also be used but you may need to grind down the outer race a little to permit the old bearing to clear the hub for easy removal. Just a warning. Mark

Bad wheel bearings will make noise long before the any roughness or play is felt.

I always use a heavy duty slide hammer to remove the flange. The bearing comes out with a removal tool but it's to expensive for a one time deal.