Wheel Bearings Again

[edevlin]

I have almost 70K on my 2000 base Boxster and I have been hearing some noise from the rear end that sounds like the descriptions I have been reading of wheel bearings starting to misbehave. These are the original wheel bearings, so it seems like they may be due for replacement.

My question is, can I damage anything by driving the car too much if the wheel bearings are starting to make noise. I am asking because I am planning on taking a 1500 mile road trip in a couple of weeks and dont want to do something that will bugger up the bearings if they are starting to go. Ideas please....

Ed

[wvicary]

I wouldn't risk it and get them replaced before the trip. Tires can make a very convincing wheel brng noise so it's best to have a garage look into the noise first.

[Lil bastard]

+1 on not driving it if your diagnosis is confirmed. Plus, I assume you'll be driving in the meantime, which means the bad bearing will have to last more than 1500 mi. Have it checked out.

You wouldn't necessarily cause more damage, depending upon how bad they are, but they would be embarrassingly noisy.

Even if they seem OK, a 1500 mi. trip (i'm assuming some expressway driving here too) would be the exact conditions to exacerbate the problem. Getting stuck on the road, or finding a competent shop w/ bearings on the shelf could also be issues. Besides, how much will you enjoy the trip, if the thought of immanent doom is rattling around in your head?

[cbenitah]

I had a 100% confirmed wheel baring failure, at least thats what my dealer said. I went a head and bought the bearings and had a friend help me install them. It then turned out to keep making the same noise.

The fault, hand break cable were hitting the wheel and made the same "noise" on their meter as a failed wheel baring, so I would be sure to look twice.

Instead of a $700 thing it ended up being a 2 cent thing. Just a zip tie and no more noise

[eVoMotion]

i had a head wheel bearing and had the dealer replace it for $700 and now i see that just about anyone can do it for a couple $100.

And just imagine the worst case - you are stuck out in no where when the right side of your car catchs fire due to overheating bearing...or it locks up or worse...

[husker boxster]

Ol Blue, my previous 01 Boxster S had a bad wheel bearing. The service tech asked me if I knew it was bad. I said no I wasn't aware of that. The car had approx 31K mi at the time (why would a wheel bearing go bad that soon?). It hadn't been making any "strange" sounds to me since I bought it (had 15K mi on it at purchase). Since Ol Blue was the only Box I ever drove, I didn't know that sound was unusual. Would I knowingly drive a car 16K mi with a bad bearing? No. But you probably aren't going to go up in a ball of flames if you don't fix it immediately.