Wheel bearings and tire wear

[kgorman]

I am curious, can bad wheel bearings cause unusual tire wear? Anyone seen an example of this?

[2000SoCalBoxsterS]

I guess it's possible to the extent that your bad wheel bearings were causing your wheels to shimmy out of alignment, but not as likely as a bad wheel alignment. Describe your unusual tire wear. High performance summer tires are only good for between 10K and 14K miles. If the tires are more worn to the inside or outside that would be your wheels are out of alignment.

[kgorman]

Thanks for the reply.

The alignment is good while the car is in a resting state.

My worry is it changes during driving because of a bad wheel bearing.

[2000SoCalBoxsterS]

I had a bad left rear wheel bearing and it was noticeable in that I could hear it. First it sounded like a faint tapping sound. At first I thought it was my valves tapping. Then it became louder where I thought I had tire roar and I thought I needed new tires. Turned out it was the wheel bearing. Mine went bad at only about 30K miles although the faint tapping probably started around 25K. I complained to Porsche about it going at such low miles and their attitude was hey ******************** happens. Next time I'll replace it myself now that I know what to look for. They charged me over $400 to do the job.

[Paul]

Wheel bearings can't cause tire wear unless they are almost completely shot, so jack up the side in question and try to rock the tire back and forth. No play? Look elsewhere. I had my car's alignment adjusted to the lowest limits of toe and camber (within the specs) and tire wear has almost stopped (was wearing out the inside of all four tires).

BTW make sure the alignment is done with the same amount of weight in the seats and trunks as you usually have.

[skip_168]

Originally Posted by kgorman

I am curious, can bad wheel bearings cause unusual tire wear? Anyone seen an example of this?

Nope.. I think the wheel & hub assembly would come apart before any tire wear would show up... plus, the wheel brgs would make a hell of a racket before they got real bad...