Faulty Rear Wheel Bearings on a 2003 F50?!?!?

[DuDro]

My car is due for it's annual inspection, so I take it to an state inspection station down the street from me.

Everything was going fine until the mechanic lifts the rear right wheel and checks the tire and wheel. Upon grabbing it, he notices some lateral movement. He checks the lug nuts and they are on tight.

He then says to me that he thinks the wheel bearing is beginning to fail and asks me whether the car has been in any accidents. I told him "no" and that my car only has 35K miles.

He was very surprised and so was I....

I call the local Infiniti dealership and they are not able to take my car until next Wednesday. Until then, I'm a little apprehensive to drive my car due to the worst-case-scenario of my rear wheel falling off when I'm driving.

So my question is...Should I be noticing some noise, vibration, or shaking from the rear when driving if the bearing is going bad?

I would think so...Please lend me your advice on this. Thanks in advance!

[bullittandy]

Your wheel is not going to fall off. It is weird that a bearing would fail t 35K though. Report back with the dealers diagnosis.

[DuDro]

Ok...but shouldn't there be a noise or vibration coming from the rear of the car? I still hear nothing strange when driving...

[MR. Q]

I believe the sound gets louder as you drive. You have to turn off all heat and sound and listen close. Or have someone do a drive by as you listen. It's like a whirring sound that intensifies as you increase speed.

[bullittandy]

You might be able to feel/hear it but you've got a pretty smooth luxury car whose sole purpose is to reduce unwanted noise/vibration.

[elwesso]

Yeah you may not necessarily know its bad until it gets really bad. Youd want to jack the back of the car up and listen that way... Thats what I would do, with the added road noise its hard to hear stuff on Qs until it gets REALLY bad.

As an aside, it might be some other suspension component?

[ahmed_wasim]

Hi,

I had the same problem with my 2002 Q. I noticed noise from rear of the car. The dealer told me its the rear left bearing but my right one is also bad. I bought the SKF Wheel Bearing from http://www.usapinc.com for $96.95. The stock is more than $200. Any decent mechanic can replace it in 1-2 hours.

The mechanic who replaced mine took 3 hours as he had a tough time seperating the bearing from the assembly. According to him it was ceased and hard to take out.

I would recommend to have it replaced before you start hearing the noise.

Regards,Wasim.

[DuDro]

Just got it back...

The tech stated that both rear bearings had started to fail and had excess "play". Since my car is still under warranty, they changed out the bearings for new ones.

The tech also recommended that I have my rear brake pads changed along with a rotor resurfacing.

I was quoted...now you better sit down and prepare for a side-splitting-rip-roaring laugh......$455!!!

I said, "no thank you" and that I would take care of it elsewhere...

Thanks to everyone for their feedback!