Replacing wheel bearings as preventative maint.


#21

I bought my front from Bavarian autosport. 129 for meyle bearing, nut and cap. I know you can find it cheaper than that. Ireland Engineering replacment part section has meyle for 87, the skf for 150 and the nut for 7. You will also need a 36 mm socket I took my bearing and nut into autozone to find a socket. Although they had several 36mm “wheel hub sockets” none of them fit into the center of the hub and I ended up using a regular 1 1/2 socket. I suggest you order a socket made for e30 hubs when you order your bearings.

The rears I just got from IE yesterday for 51.49. I have never done the rears before but I will be rebuilding my cv joints at the same time since the boots are rotted through. I assume that the axles need to be removed for the replacement. The 6 bolts that go through the inner cv into the diff output flange love to come out. I would say clean them spotlessly and then use permanent locktight. I plan to drill and lockwire mine this time. When they come loose they will do damage including a shattered differential cover or worse. Ask me how I know this.

I don’t see a reason to replace them as preventative maintenance. I have always had bearing make noise before they have any play. Every Noisy bearing I have pulled off of one of these is perfect except for a tiny defect in the surface of the inner race. I suspect that these start out as an imperfection just under the surface like a bubble or impurity. The metal over the defect is stressed until it breaks off after a few years and you’re bearing starts to wear and make noise. If your bearings have been on the car for 20 years they were probably made perfectly and are more likely to last another 20 years than the bearing your about to put on.


#22

jlucas wrote:

Yeah, I went to the bimmerparts site, which is usually where I order mine. Wasn’t sure which one to order. There was a bearing hub, and an assembly.

Have some play in the RF, and I have no idea how long its been on there. I figured I would be doing some auto-x, or a track day this summer, so might as well do it now.


#23

You need the assembly. Call Chris and ask what price he can give you.
Ed


#24

get em from bimmerparts. tough to beat their pricing on items like that and they are a sponsor.


#25

Chris at Bimmerparts will not steer you wrong. He picks what works best and he knows how we use our cars.

For reattaching the inner CV on the diff output flange I would not use red perm Loctite as you will need to pull the CV in the future if you race the car. Heating the bolts to loosen them in the future will kill the CV. Just torque them down and recheck torque before ever race or race weekend. You should be going over the car anyway as things will loosen up. If you want, put a paint line on the bolt and flange. If its not lined up next time it has loosened. I do that for most of my major areas that will hurt if they come loose and it makes for quick inspection between races over a weekend. You should still recheck torque even if you do use paint lines on a regular basis in case they were not torque right the first time.

Jason


#26

The blue loctite is less perm than the red. Works pretty well, but shouldn’t be a replacement for checking the car over once in a while.