So, until a few days ago, I was finally able to diagnose a bad front passenger side wheel bearing. I was going to buy the parts and have a shop press it in and then they said that they recommend having a new hub ready incase that was bad too. Is this a common rule of thumb? The car makes a pretty bad grinding sound and I can feel the vibration through the floor. So should I replace the hub too just for peace of mind or is this usually not necessary?

 

You shouldn't need a new hub. It's not something I'd have "just in case" or go by as a rule of thumb. If you've only had noises from it for a short time, or even for months like I and others have, the hub should be fine.

 

i never did, and if its a front one they arent too pricey off of ECS. but a rear one is ridiculous. I just got my bearing through my local store with a one year warranty. It was quattro fyi.

 

Make sure to check your control arms and brakes and all that is going to have to be taken apart to do the wheel bearing job.

 

Hmm, I don't know then. The guy at the shop was like, "Well, I'd recommend you having a hub ready in case we find out it's bad, because we can't put the new bearing in a bad hub and your car will be sitting in our shop until you can get one.

 

yeah i've never seen a bad hub on a B5 in all my years on these forums. i'd take the hub out myself and bring it to them to press the bearing in and out. also that shop doesn't seem to have confidence in their work or know about audis. any other shops in the area you can go to?

 

Well any grease monkey can operate a shop press. Make sure to tell them not to **** up your ABS sensor while trying to remove it. Recommend to them that it's probably going to be easier and safer to pull the ABS sensor wiring seal out of the wheel well and disconnect it from there-so the sensor and wiring will still be in the knuckle/upright when it's removed. You may want to give them a new pinch bolt while you're at it. It'll probably get mangled during removal if it's siezed, which they usualy are.

 

hmm i had no problem with pinch bolt on mine and i had two different wheel bearings go bad, and that ABS sensor isnt too hard to get out. Just use a super tiny flat head and lube her before you put it back.

and you might want to get the hub then if it does end up being bad and result in your car sitting at the shop

 

Ok, so I ordered the bearing and the hub just for peace of mind. It should be arriving in a couple of days. Before I get the parts installed, I wanted to see if you guys could give me some reassurance that the sound the car makes is actually from the bearing and that it's on the passenger side.

Here's info that I've gathered:

- brakes are ruled out since rotors and pads replaced two weeks ago.

- passenger side axle replaced due to torn inner boot. Driver's side axle looks fine with inner and outer boots in good condition.

- metal 'crinkling' sound heard reflecting off curb/walls (only passenger side) when windows are down.

- rotational grinding/rubbing sound with vibration felt in the floor that sounds faster with increased speed. Sound gets louder when making hard RIGHT turns (this is what confuses me). What also confuses me is that this sound sounds like it comes from the middle of the car. Maybe the sound/vibration travels down the axle to the tranny?? ALSO, I tried moving all the wheels from the 12 and 6 o'clock position and there is no play.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I'll be very disappointed if these symptoms persist because I diagnosed the wrong side or made a completely wrong diagnosis! TIA!

 

These bearings are sealed ball bearings, not tappered "roller" bearings with seperate races. So I think they are less likely to exhibit side to side play when grabbing the wheel like on some other cars. My shot passenger side bearing had 0 play in it as well. But now that you mention it, your symptoms are not all that consistant with what you should hear/feel with a bad passenger side bearing. Like you suggested, it should be louder on left turns if it's the passenger side bearing. I'd maybe suspect a bad inner cv joint, but that is sort of unheard of.