Wheel bearing blues

[BuffDigits]

So Ive begun to hear that this is a common thing, you know our cars falling apart lol, no but really, I went to drive to work this morning and was greeted with this horrible sound.

Almost sounded like a flat, got out of the car, hmm looks ok, start driving, wobble wobble like an old model T.

Rear wheel drivers side looked like it was gonna come off.

Bummer, sitting here now waiting for the flat bed to take it over to the dealership.

I guess its no surprise that high hp and reliability dont mix, and since its a daily driver that is suppose to get me to work it hurts even more.

Ah well, you pay to play I suppose and my 590rwhp finally bit me in the ass.

I wouldnt be surprised if moderate wheel hop at one point contributed to its demise (one more reason to fix wheel hop i suppose, maybe someone can comment on that if its true or not).

of course the car is clean, had to leave it outside for the flatbed to get it, and oh boy it starts to drizzle all over it. *sigh*.

at least it didnt come flying off while going down the highway (glass is half full).

only 15,500 miles and the wheel bearings go that seem right? I dont track it, never had drs or slicks on it, just daily drive back and forth to work with some spirited driving here and there.

crap just got a new mgw shift knob I wanted to try out too, bummer, I really love driving that car too.

:cryying:

 

[BuffDigits]

so ford road side assitance kinda blows, been waiting 2 hours and 20 minutes
with multiple phone calls, all I get is, "it will be 15 more minutes".

ugh. you said that 15 minutes ago :fm:

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Sucks. I would say that wheel hop definately would play a role in shortening the life of the bearings. Did you have the "tink" at all? A light popping when you take off... sounds like you have a lugnut loose.

 

[BuffDigits]

no tink, I have the incline pop though (when you go up a inclined driveway it pops sometimes.

A lot of tinks and stuff can be those welds that come loose inside the car over the rear wheels.

so 2.5 hours laster now the flatbed shows up, guy looks at the car and goes, I cant tow it. Its too low to get it on (its only about 1" lower then stock).

so he drove off to go buy some wood at home depot.

Im sure we will get to the dealer just in time for lunch so no one will be there, given the way things are going so far lol.

joy joy, wonder if I owened a new vette if things would be any different haha.
im sure they would fly over with a helicopter and pick it right up LOL.

sorry just daydreaming while I wait for the depot run.

 

[soccer8888]

Do you have a wireless laptop in your car or something?

 

[blk04cobra1]

I think he had to call in to work b/c he doesnt have a ride...

 

[BuffDigits]

normally yes, but I got so fed up waiting I limped my way (against better judgement) back to a friends house. Just glad the wheel didnt fall off.

I wouldnt take a ride anyway, In not gonna leave my beast on the side of the road all by itself. Im not taking my eyes off of it until I hand it over to get the work done.

work will have to wait.

 

[03gobluecobra]

mine went at about 28,000 miles.

 

[caveman6666]

That your wheel in the sig pic? A deep offset like that puts an added strain on the bearings.

 

[TenthScale]

If I grab my rear wheel especially the drivers side I can rock it back and forth.. I brought it to the dealer and they kept it 2 days and then said its normal. I am worried as I put new tires on and have a really bad scrub pattern on the very outside edge of the tire rolling onto the side wall.


Maybe I need to go fight with them.

 

[caveman6666]

If I grab my rear wheel especially the drivers side I can rock it back and forth.. I brought it to the dealer and they kept it 2 days and then said its normal. I am worried as I put new tires on and have a really bad scrub pattern on the very outside edge of the tire rolling onto the side wall.


Maybe I need to go fight with them.

If they have any on the lot, get them to put one or two on the lift to demonstrate how 'normal' it is.

 

[ShelbyGuy]

it wont come flying off either way. its a press fit with a retaining ring.

my guess is you introduced slop into the subsystem by some other way. got dss axles? they love to come loose and a loose axle nut causes the same trouble you described. actually, pretty much anything that connects to the rear knuckle causes that feeling when it goes bad. I'd start with the axle nut but thats where all my problems came from. ymmv.

a new knuckle comes from ford as a complete assembly including the uni-ball joints and the hub&bearing assembly already installed.

mustangs tend to eat front wheel bearings (thats why the hub&bearing assy is so cheap)

 

[BuffDigits]

my rims are not as deep as that picture they are just 18x10.5s, but true 335's on there do add some strain to the wheel bearings. so does wheel hop.

but since its daily driven, never at the track, and never beat on im still surprised
it went in only 15k miles.

cant imagine using this car at the track, probably break down constantly for one thing or another. sure are a lot of weak points on these cars.

on a side note I do have the lvl5 dss half shafts, doesnt appear that they caused any problems though.

 

[TenthScale]

I think I need to get my wheels checked again..

The balanced fine when I got them though...I tried driving and watching the rear wheel and you can see a slight wobble to it.. Now I don;t know if its from the wheel bearing, the aftermarket wheels or the spacers.. But the spacers are hubcentric from LFP so I doubt them.. need to put the stock back on and see if it wobbles..

Either way that explains why I am alreayd seeing wear on the edges and a weird scruff pattern on tires in only 250 miles.

 

[RGrossman]

I had some movement when I would wiggle the wheel abck and forth. It went away when I tightened the axle nut. It wasnt very tight for some reason and no problems afterwards.

 

[BuffDigits]

oh yeah forget to mention it took a full 3 hours to get ford road side assitance to pick me up. So glad is was cold and raining.

anyway, my first glimpse of a problem was a slight wobble when watching the tires rotate on the dyno. almost looked like the rims were out of round.

a few weeks later I picked up a metallic squeek in the drivers rear wheel.
sounded like a stuck caliper (which happens a lot on these cars).

would come and go, but then started to get worse and louder.

then from one night to the next morning when I went to drive it wobble wobble
like some old rickity bike.

ill hopefully get a better status update today after they have taken it apart and checked it out.

I spoke with the tech guy though, and he said he as had to replace plenty of them even on stock cobras. and some cobras never seem to need them, guess its hit and miss almost like the tick.

 

[BuffDigits]

in case anyone is following I got the car back.

It was the wheel bearing, they replaced the whole knuckle instead of pressing a new bearing it.

symptoms before hang, weird noise coming out of caliper/rotor when just coasting.

car seemed to slide sideways very easily with little acceleration.

eventually lead to a small vibe that felt like you were riding on a rough road.

then on the last day it felt like and sounded like a flat tire as it went from a minor wobble to a full on weeble wooble.

the twisting of the whole assembly caused the brake pads to wear funny and created the noise (would be louder turning the wheel one way versus the other way).

spoke with the tech for awhile, he said he had replaced plenty of them on fully stock cobras. He said its hit or miss, just like some people need a tob some dont, some get the tick and some dont. no particular ryhme or reason for the wheel bearing, all different mileage cars, all different mod levels, some lose them some dont.

ah well, hopefully its like my tob, changed it once and never had a problem again. (some people have even been lucky with the tick, changed it once and no more problems, some not so lucky).

there wasnt any evidence really of anything causing it, could have been lose from the factory and just took some time to work it more, who knows.

anyway have some wood handy if you get your lowered cobra flat beaded, it doesnt make it without on or off the sled, poor front spoiler *sigh*.

 

[rwhp]

that sucks !
i feel your pain it happend to me on my 01 cobra i was driveing it to sell it and it happend except my axle got so hot it broke while driveing. god what a mess.1100 dollars later i got that nightmare out of my life.the guy still bought the car!

 

[TenthScale]

Thanks for the update I am still trying to figure out if I have an issue or not. I might try and tighten the wheel nut for now.