Wheel bearings...1 or 2?

[Frodo]

Pelican Parts advises one to replace wheel bearings in pairs. Is this necessary, if only one is bad?

[Dave928]

no. do what you want, but the other one DOES have the same milage as the bad one.

it's called preventative maintenance...

[Frodo]

Fair enough (and true). There is a little history that you're probably unaware of: A year or so ago I had a little problem on cold, slick, wet asphalt, doing a complete 360 and smacking some curbing on the right side, the same side that the deteriorating wheel bearing is on. Not real hard, mind you, but you suppose that might have sped things up, bearing-wise?

I've wondered that. In any case, in a now 10-year old Boxster with 57K, I figure I'll have lots of other ways to spend my money in the next year or two. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big believer in preventative maintenance, but finances require I concentrate on maintaining those systems which, if ignored, surely and predictably lead to deterioration of the well-being of the car overall. Those 3 remaining non-noisy wheel bearings? Gonna run 'em til they die.

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by Frodo

A year or so ago I had a little problem on cold, slick, wet asphalt, doing a complete 360 and smacking some curbing on the right side, the same side that the deteriorating wheel bearing is on. Not real hard, mind you, but you suppose that might have sped things up, bearing-wise?

Definitely.

[thstone]

They don't "have" to be replaced in pairs as there is no safety or mechcanical reason to do so, just a good idea from a preventative maintenance point of view.

In your case, since you have a good idea about the event that led to the right side bearing's early demise, you're probably fine just replaceing the right side.

[sasha055]

If you're paying a shop to change them, change just one, there is no discount for changing more then one, ie if 1 bearing change costs 500$ to replace (seattle prices) two bearings will be 1000$

If you're changing them youself, might as well change both, bearing is cheap and after you've done it once, second bearing is a lot easier.. plus you'll have to do an alignment if you're doing rears so might as well get it all done.

Thanks
Sasha