hi all

just wandered if its normal for a 03 plate mk1.5 focus to eat 4 wheel bearings in 2 years

what could cause it ? or is it just because im buying the cheap ones all the time?

ive had the car 2 years got one replaced(forgot whitch side) when i bought it,then about a year later got the other side done when it started whining.then aprox 6 month later the first one i had replaced needed doing again.

anyways 2 months ago the car scraped throw on the mot with advisorys on the front brakes so i thort i would get the whole lot done at once.
bought new front discs and pads and rear shoes hubs and new rear bearings to go in the new hubs.

just been to london and back(nearly 1000 miles) and the rear driver side is making a whering noise.

since the new bearings were fited ive probebly done at most 2000 miles

so any thorts?

john

 

Does your car have abs? If so it can be very heavy on wheel bearings. The only advisable things are to avoid heavy breaking and cornering.

Mine is heavy on bearings too as it's on coilovers. Might be worth trying a better quality bearing?

 

non abs thats what i was told at the mot as i asked that,any sergestions on where to get the better qual;ity bearings?

john

 

Non abs :O hmmm I'm not sure then

Maybe try the genuine ford parts. I'm not saying it will 100% work. But it might be worth a go.

With coilovers I can be changing wheel bearings at least once a year. If it makes you feel any better

 

The only other thing that would cause it is if your tracking and wheel balence is miles out? But you would feel it like mental. Is it front or rear? Or both?

 

You got non standard wheels on it? If so what offset are they? You ideally want ET49 but anything less than ET42 and it will put a big strain on the bearings and cause them to fail early.

 

I have changed all 4 on my ST170 but i have 19" OZ's on it which doesn't help.

 

nope tracking and wheel balencing was done before i wenty on holiday

john

 

i have know idea what the ofset is all i know is the wheels are rs 7 softlines wilth 205/40 r17 on the front and 205/45 r17 on the back

john

 

That'll be it then mate. The softlines are (if I remember right) ET38 so that's probably why its killing wheel bearings!

 

wud that be the same for escort si alloys as thats what i had on tempererily till i got the soft lines?

john

 

Quite probably I know the escorts use a lower offset than the focus so I'd have thought thats gonna be your problem!