just wondering how hard it is to change the front wheel bearing on a 1997 audi 1.8T quattro,

thnx!

 

Hi and welcome. To be honest, the front wheel bearings are a pain in the ***. There are two upper control arms that brace from the chassis to the spindle, and they're both mounted with ball joints and held in place by a pinch bolt. That pinch bolt, on these cars, is the devil. It tends to weld itself to the spindle, and many members have horror stories of trying to remove it. It CAN be removed, but a few days' worth of prep soaking with penetrating oil such as DeepCreep is necessary, and even then, you have to really take your time and be careful or you can break it off inside the spindle housing, effectively screwing yourself. If you get that bolt out, you're home free. The rest of the disassembly is a snap, although you need a press to remove the old bearing and install the new one. If nothing else, you may be able to remove the spindle from the car and take it somewhere to have them do the bearing swap, then go home and reassemble your car. Several people on here have done that, and it seems that they were charged $20-30 for the work (not bad at all). Expect to pay around $300 for parts and labor if you just take it to a shop. If you DIY, order the bearing from ECS Tuning (www.ecstuning.com) for around $57 shipped, and go for it.

Check out our Tech and DIY sections here, plus www.audidiy.com, www.audiworld.com (go to Resources/Tech Articles), and www.audizine.com too - they all have great do-it-yourself writeups that can assist you with this and many other projects on your car.