Hi,

I just broke down in Oklahoma City. ABS light came on on freeway and 10 minutes later loud noise from front right wheel and pulled over immediately.

The wheel is slightly tilted - the bottom juts out relative to top. Barely noticeable. Towed to a motel and waiting for shops to open up tomorrow.

Could it be a bad bearing?

Anything else to ask mechanic over the phone? I'm fairly clueless and don't want to sound like a total idiot ripe for the picking.

Any recommendations on mechanics in Oklahoma City? Otherwise I could AAA tow to Dallas and would hope for a recommendation there? I'd rather save the tow in case the car breaks down again before our ultimate destination in Los Angeles.

Thanks in advance for any advice - Peter

Kind of sounds like it could be a lower control arm.

OK, not to sound preachy but having been through these same scenarios mucho many times while traveling, I made the decision to rent a car from a major rent-a-car company (locations throughout the 50 states) when taking a long trip. Yes, I spend a few nickels on the rental, on the flip side, there are no worries about mechanical break downs leaving me stranded on the side of the road (break downs on the side of the road AT NIGHT can be risky).

A good friend of mine recently took his car in for service prior to his wife taking a long trip. The repair facility nailed him for $1500 for a repair they said the car needed. Only one problem, they failed to check out the cooling system. Wife gets two hundred miles from home and the temperature light goes bonkers. State cop pulls over and tries to help her to no avail. She ends up in a motel, hubby ends up going to get her, towing a trailer behind his truck to tow the car home. 400 miles and a LOTTA gasoline later, both wife, car, truck and trailer are home. I suggested that perhaps the next time he takes a long trip he might consider renting a vehicle. At that time, he thought that was a grand idea; however, his family recently took another 400 mile trip traveling in the same beater.

Have you checked out any of the repair facilities in the shops section of this forum?

I'm in Purcell....45 miles south of OKC. Here's a link to shops committed to good work ethics...iATN's Auto Repair Shop Finder



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The ABS light coming on makes me think the spindle/hub/bearings have a problem. They could have overheated, or the spindle locknut could have backed off, causing the whole assembly to slide down the spindle (losing ABS sensor contact in the process) and now its probably cocked on the brake rotor/caliper holding it on. Could be a fun repair depending on what is damaged...

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'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

If front wheel bearing the repair is pretty straight forward as the bearings are common though the seal might not be. The outer bearing is the most likely to fail as it is smaller. The outer bearing race might have welded it self to the spindle, is so the bearing will need to be cut off. If the spindle nose is too chewed up it will need replaced, hub is probably still OK.

Bearings are bought new at most any autoparts, spindles / hubs are bought used. Try car-part.com for an searchable USA wide ( and part of Canada ) online salvage yard inventory.

1987
Spindle
Mercedes 420 RH A 1007114 $30 Cars Plus Auto Salvage USA-OK(Oklahoma-City) Request_Quote 877-710-2852 / 405-778-8995 Request_Insurance_Quote

So, you admit the car is in less than better condition but expect a shop to foresee the future?

Not to worry, over 98% of all indy shops will only repair the problem you ask them to repair. They are owned and operated by linear thinking men who don't have any desire to look beyond the IMMEDIATE problem staring them in the face.

I have yet to have any indy mechanic make any suggestions as to any additional items (cooling system failure is a chief cause of vehicle failure) that may need attention.

Like post office workers, they merely turn a few wrenches, do their job and make a few bucks. Don't ask them to stretch their minds beyond their normal daily do only the minimum to get by routine.

Thanks to the shops section of forum we chose Mike of Circle Star in Harrah - very fast job and reasonable price.
A bearing got jammed and overheated - damaging the rotor. Fortunately the hub and spindle were ok.