How long do wheel bearings last?

All rotating and moving parts on the car must be lubricated, otherwise they will wear out quickly. Some are liquid lubricants that need to be replaced regularly, and some are greases that do not need to be replaced. For example, the ball cage of the half shaft and the outer ball head of the steering gear tie rod are filled with lubricating grease. As long as the rubber sleeve wrapping the grease is not damaged and the grease leaks, there is no need to replace it for life. If the rubber sleeve is damaged, both the grease and the rubber sleeve must be replaced, because if not replaced, the grease will be thrown out, and eventually the grease will be insufficient, resulting in poor lubrication. Today we are going to talk about the bearings of the four wheels. They do not have rubber sleeves to wrap the grease. Do they need to be lubricated?

In the daily maintenance of buses and trucks, there is a project to add grease to various moving parts. There are special adding ports, which can be directly driven in with a grease gun. Cars do not need to do this maintenance. The wheel bearings are also lubricated with grease, but it is a fully sealed overall structure. This bearing is closed, the lubricating grease inside will not flow to the outside, and the dirt from the outside cannot enter inside. As long as the grease does not flow out, it will not be lost, its function is only a simple lubrication, and there is no problem of failure or failure. Therefore, the four wheels usually do not need to be lubricated. As long as there are no abnormalities, they do not require maintenance for life.

Although it does not require maintenance, it may become damaged. The symptoms of a broken wheel bearing are abnormal noises when driving, usually a buzzing sound. It is because the balls inside are out of round or have abnormal wear, and they will rub against the surroundings when rotating and make noise. As long as the bearing makes abnormal noise, it cannot be repaired and can only be replaced. The bearings of different models are also different. Some are integral and integrated with the shaft head and ABS sensor. If they are broken, they must be replaced at the same time, which is very expensive. Some are just an ordinary small bearing. When replacing, you only need to replace this small part. The price is very cheap, but it is more troublesome to replace, and the labor cost is higher than replacing the integral one.

Wheel bearings have a very long service life on average cars. Most of them can be used for more than hundreds of thousands of kilometers. Some cars have run for hundreds of thousands of kilometers and are not broken throughout their lives. Most of the people who usually need to replace the bearings are old people. car. Bearings do not require maintenance, so in addition to their own quality issues, their lifespan also has a lot to do with the vehicle's use environment. Poor driving conditions, many bumpy roads, failure to slow down when passing speed bumps on bumpy roads, heavy vehicle load, frequent full or overloading, etc. will all affect the life of the bearings. These road conditions and usage methods will not only affect the life of the bearings, but also the lifespan of the shock absorbers, tires and other components of the chassis. Therefore, you must slow down where you should slow down and do not overload.