Rear wheel bearings

I have a 1999 323I BMW. Have a grinding noise in the rear. The mechanic
said I need new bearings, and at the same time replace the rear brakes.
Did not mention repacking them.

He said it would take 5 hours to replace the bearings, which seems
excessive to me.

Anyone have any experience with this? Or know a site where I can look up
average prices for BMW repairs?

TIA

> wrote:

> He said it would take 5 hours to replace the bearings, which seems
> excessive to me.
>
> Anyone have any experience with this? Or know a site where I can look up
> average prices for BMW repairs?

I looked up the "flat-rate" at AllDataPro, and the time shown for replacing
both rear bearings is 4.8 hours. Your car is not under warranty, but if it
were, the factory would credit the dealer 3.9 hours to do the job. All
this means a good mechanic can do the job in less than 3 hours.

What you get charged is completely dependent on the repair facility.

Bob

> wrote:
>I have a 1999 323I BMW. Have a grinding noise in the rear. The mechanic
>said I need new bearings, and at the same time replace the rear brakes.
>Did not mention repacking them.

These aren't designed to be regularly repacked, and modern grease lasts
a lot longer than it used to be. You might as well replace them for the
time it takes.

>He said it would take 5 hours to replace the bearings, which seems
>excessive to me.

The Chilton's book says 4.8 hours. This means a dealer will charge you
for five hours, but it will actually take a good skilled mechanic about
two and a half.

I did the rears on a slightly older 3-series last year for a friend, and
it took me about four hours. But I'm not a skilled mechanic, and I'd never
done it before.

>Anyone have any experience with this? Or know a site where I can look up
>average prices for BMW repairs?

Ask the shop if they're going to charge you for estimated or actual time.
The Chilton's book will give you estimated times to perform various jobs,
but they all have a substantial amount of padding in them. Occasionally
they turn out not to have enough padding, though.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
...
> > wrote:
>>I have a 1999 323I BMW. Have a grinding noise in the rear. The mechanic
>>said I need new bearings, and at the same time replace the rear brakes.
>>Did not mention repacking them.
>


I don't think that it is common practice to replace wheel bearings in pairs
because they usually last for several lifetimes.
See how much they will reduce the cost to replace just one.

wrote:
> I have a 1999 323I BMW. Have a grinding noise in the rear. The
> mechanic said I need new bearings, and at the same time replace the
> rear brakes. Did not mention repacking them.

The left rear bearing on my '98 failed recently so I just went through
this. My advice: unless you're really anal about the car and have the
money to throw around, have the tech figure out which bearing is
failing, replace it, and call it a day.

As for the brakes, unless the shop told you that they will give you a
labor credit for doing the brakes at the same time (and most shops that
quote book labor will not do this), consider the brakes a separate issue
and replace them only if they are below spec at this time. Otherwise
you're just making it easier for the tech and lining the shop's pockets.

> He said it would take 5 hours to replace the bearings, which seems
> excessive to me.

It takes about 2.5 hours per side for an experienced tech with the
"special" tools to do this job. If you can get a shop to charge you
time and materials, great, but all dealers and most indy's now charge
book labor. That's just the way it is.

-Doug

--
--------------------
Doug Vetter, ATP/CFI

http://www.dvatp.com
--------------------

Thanks guys for the great help!

In article <T8h4j.3949$Lg.3290@trndny09>, Jack > wrote:
>"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
>> > wrote:
>>>I have a 1999 323I BMW. Have a grinding noise in the rear. The mechanic
>>>said I need new bearings, and at the same time replace the rear brakes.
>>>Did not mention repacking them.
>
>I don't think that it is common practice to replace wheel bearings in pairs
>because they usually last for several lifetimes.
>See how much they will reduce the cost to replace just one.

Good point. If you only have a 100k miles or so on the thing and a bearing
has failed already, I wouldn't see any reason to replace both of them. If
you've got two or three times that on the car, I'd tend to feel better about
doing the pair because you're starting to approach the normal bearing
lifetime. That said, I have had 480,000 miles with only one bearing
replacement.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Jack the car and determine the play in the bearings. Hands at 6 and 12
o'clock, try and move the wheel toward you--push bottom hand, pull top then
reverse process. Do the same at 9 and 3 o'clock. If there's only slight play
I would replace the brakes (after making sure they are in need). That noise
could be brakes only..

> wrote in message
...
>I have a 1999 323I BMW. Have a grinding noise in the rear. The mechanic
> said I need new bearings, and at the same time replace the rear brakes.
> Did not mention repacking them.
>
> He said it would take 5 hours to replace the bearings, which seems
> excessive to me.
>
> Anyone have any experience with this? Or know a site where I can look up
> average prices for BMW repairs?
>
> TIA
>

Have 80 k miles on the car,

Switched the front and rear tires..no movement as you described, and no
change in the noise. The brakes are exposed to the salt air all the
time, so the rotors show corrosion.