Faulty New Wheel Bearing

jimbobaroo

jimbobaroo

Member
Hi Everyone.

Just thought I'd let you know of my recent problem I had this weekend whilst some of you were playing down at Castle Combe.

For a couple of weeks or so , I'd been getting a bit of rolling resistance with the A2 , similiar to sticking brakes. Finally had time to check things out Sat morning, jacked up rear wheels (expecting them to be at fault) all OK. Jacked up OSF wheel all OK. Jacked up NSF , wheel - very hard to turn by hand, so of comes the wheel.
(Me thinks Caliper sticking, take off , clean up,copper lube, refit.) Removed the two bolts , but the caliper won't swing forward ,- locked solid with the pad against the disc.
With further investigation I could see that the wheel hub and brake disc were being pushed out due to the wheel bearing coming out of the strut housing, with a 15mm gap between disc and dust shield. ( 5mm on otherside ).
Shock, horror as the bearing had been changed just over 2 months ago !!

Managed to get car into indepedent (David Underwood Swift Autocare), who changed the bearing, first thing this morning.
Suspecting faulty bearing they stripped it down. Luckily local Audi stealer (Gilders) had one in stock.
Apparently ( as found out from a helpful chap at Audi in Derby, and not from unhelpful Gilders ), the locking ring around the bearing unit (which looks like the ABS 'pick up ring' )
can be faulty and work loose from the 'circlip' groove . A few locking ring faults like this have happened before, resulting in the locking ring being redisigned with better locking
in 'teeth'.
Anyone heard of this problem before ??

Fortunately as the bearing was still under gaurantee, the job was done free of charge, and now theres no tapping noises coming from that side of the car when turning.And no rolling resistance!!

So if anyone has a front wheel bearing thats been changed just bear this in mind if you start getting any faults with that wheel etc...

Sorry its long winded.

Cheers
Bob.
 
Thanks for the warning. We had ours changed about 6 months ago a the stealers. Interestingly they had a b****r of a job getting the old one out - shame... The car has only done 70k miles and it was also the NSF. I think there are others on here who have also had the NSF bearing changed. I wonder whether the original design was up to do it in the first place? Our A6 now has 170k and no wheel bearing problems.

Cheers

Jonathan
 
Hi Jonathan,
Theres been a lot of threads about this problem with wheelbearings in the past as it seems it is a common problem. My A2's bearing started 'its 'humming noise' at 30,000 miles-ish, before being changed, but not heard of new bearings being duff.
The independent i took my A2 to, said he'd changed a bearing on an' A8 'with low mileage !- Looks like its not only the A2's that suffer this problem in the Audi range. You've probably got a good A6 there .

As a note of interest he also mentioned that a main parts supplier he uses said that the majority of suspension parts sent out go to the Sheffield/South Yorkshire area !!!
Obviously reflecting in the state of our roads around here. :-(


Cheers
Bob.
 
Last edited:
The wheel bearing on my A2 has been grumbling and getting worse over the last couple of weeks. I wasnt sure what it was initially but the noise is present when going in a straight line and when turning right but when I turn left the noise dissapears. Im guessing it is the front left?

What sort of price is it to get it replaced? I suppose its not too bad as the car has done 100k miles.
 
Hi shollis

Ours was £260 at the stealers. £144 labour £77 parts, all plus VAT. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news

Cheers

Jonathan
 
Hi shollis.

It does sound like your NSF w/bearing . Mine had same symptons as you 've described.
It cost me £180 at an independent. The bearing itself costs about £80 inc VAT from the main stealers, the hub flange and bearing come complete as a unit, .
Apparantly the bearings are difficult to change, so if you use an independent try and make sure you choose one who's changed them before.
The first Audi independent I took mine too originaly, rang me up 30mins after leaving the A2 with him to say he couldn't do it and to pick the car back up !!
He hadn't done one before, but thought it was the same as a VW Golf - which apparantly it isn't.

Hope this is of some help to you,

Cheers
Bob.
 
Rather worryingly, I've just looked up the details for the TDi 90 wheel bearings and the fronts seem to have been deleted, with no replacement!

There are listings for the 75PS versions, but the price for the ATL engined cars is blank, which normally indicates a discontinued part.

If so, then b*gger!

Cheers,

Mike
 
Mike

I think there is some Euro regulation that requires manufacturers to support vehicles for 10 years after manufacturing ends. Although they can off load this to other companies if they wish. Which means wheel bearings ought to be available to OEM spec for a while yet.

Cheers

Jinathan
 
It was the front left wheel bearing!

It has now been replaced by Midland VW for a very reasonable £120. It was cheap enough to not bother doing it myself.

Happy days....
 
Hi shollis'

£120 not bad at all, especially if that includes the price of the bearing.
Just keep an eye on it though, re - my above original post.
Apparantly they're not a straight forward DIY bearing to do, so you did well to find a reasonable independent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top