Rear wheel bearings - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

gschotland · 08-19-2009, 10:21 AM

Since you're "saving" $700+ in labor, why not buy the hub puller kit from Pelican for $260, do your business, and then resell it for a discount (your rental fee, so to speak)?

There's gotta be a good market for a "like new" hub puller among on the DIYers on this board and many others. I'm guessing the puller can be used on 987, 996 & 997, plus who knows how many other models.

Gary

blinkwatt · 08-19-2009, 10:49 AM

What wheel bearing was that to replace?

It was only $40 in parts and $350 in labor for my front driver side on my 01' S.

gstoli · 08-19-2009, 11:08 AM

gschotland:
Yes, I would be willing to buy a used one :-). If I don't find a used one I'll buy the one from pelican parts.

blinkwatt:
Check out this link:
google search

Evidently, it all depends on where you buy them and what make are the bearings. It's strange that the OEM are less expensive than others... Of course the price I got from the mechanic is way above the web prices... They just replaced the spark plugs for $200 (60 for the spark plugs and $140 labor). It was the first time I went to this mechanic as I was very disappointed from my last one (first and last visit 2 years ago for a top motor replacement- $2200... ouch!). I am done with mechanics... I will become one my self...

Should anyone be interested who are these non-dealer stealers, pm me... I'd be more than glad to give more info...

gstoli · 08-19-2009, 11:14 AM

I actually went there with my laptop and showed them the price search for the bearings and the DIY webpages that say that this is a 2.5 hours project.

They said that they don't think this is doable as a DIY and that the price for the parts is what they get and they can't change this...

Pretty fancy shop though

Paul · 08-19-2009, 03:02 PM

Run away, don't look back.

Kirk · 08-19-2009, 03:53 PM

My local independent was going to charge me $600 to do two wheels, just the labor, no parts. I was going to pull the wheel carriers and bring them into the shop and have them simply press out the old bearings and then press in the new ones, maybe a 1 hour job. They still would not move from their $600 price. They have a book where they look up the time required for a job, multiply it by their hourly rate, and then give you a labor cost. It's that simple and most shops simply won't budge on that screwed up formula.

The shop you're using should not object to you bringing them the parts as long as they are good quality. If you can get them cheaper, then more power to you, right?

Also, do a search, we just discussed this. Someone else here wanted to rent the Pelican tool. They ended up buying the $80 Harbor Freight version. You should send them a PM to see if that worked, I haven't seen a report back.

Kirk

jjanari · 08-19-2009, 06:05 PM

the problem with the harbour freight tool is that I don't see how you could use it to remove the wheel hub from the carrier. the pelican tool has a horseshoe attachment for this purpose. you can pm for info on the pelican tool (which is actually manufacture by SIR tools) since i rented one from a member on renntech. I'm suspect he wouldn't have a problem renting it to you, if you wanted to go that route. on the other hand, if you bought the tool yourself, you would have no problem re-selling it or renting it out and getting your $$ back.

-jimmy

btw, the prices you were quoted for the job are absurd! the bearing i bought from VERTEX auto was OEM (I think it's manuf by FAG) and was only about $35 or $40. i understand the need for markup and to make money, but....

smohican · 04-25-2011, 07:07 AM

Finish replacing the L/Rear bearing on my 986 S, for the third time. The job is alot easier with the SIR TOOL B-90. I highly recommend it. Also, I contacted the Porsche Corporation of North America to tell them that I had to replace my bearing three times already with only 65K miles on my car, and to my dismey, they told me that my complaint is the first complaint they have ever heard of. So Porsche owmers, please contact the Porsche Corporation and tell them about your similar wheel bearing failures. Their (Porsche) number is 1-800767-7243. They need to know what is the problem and maybe they can do something about it or compensate us for the bearing failures. After all, it is a "Porsche."
Steve M.

TWODAN · 04-26-2011, 05:14 AM

i don't know where you are in boston, i'm on the south shore. recently i took my 1975 bmw 2002 that had been in storage fo 19 years to motor cars international in bridgewater to bring it back to life after they quoted me a ball park figure. i looked at their shop and decided to go for it. greg and his team of racing gear heads did a great job. you can have the old parts, and receive complete documentation upon completion, stop in to view progress in my case etc. i enjoyed the 2002 and wanted to go faster. the solution was my 2008 s which i purchased from them too. google them and give them a try.......as for high prices on parts......i work at an appliance parts house and i'm amazed everyday what manufacturers sell their electronic parts for. thankfully the days of the $300.00 washing machine are almost over and the new ones are closer to 1K, which allows for the higher prices of parts. and yes, warranties are common on electronic parts.