If you’re risk averse and can’t do the work yourself due to current situation, I’d definitely get a second opinion if it’s not making any noise yet.

Cool. With that said, you really should consider getting the other one replaced at the same time…see if the shop will give you a break on the labor.

You did the right thing by getting other quotes and as an aside, never give a lot of credence to online reviews. Some may be fake and in some cases people may have been robbed blind and simply do not realize it. Their car is fixed for double what anyone else charges so they’re happy with it all.

Not necessarily. I had this setup on my old Mazda Protege. You press the hub out of the bearing, and the inner race of the bearing is stuck in the hub. You then carefully score the outside of the inner race, and strike it once or twice with a chisel…the inner race splits in too, and you’re left with the hub, which you can press into the new bearing.

In my limited experience they usually make some noise long before they degrade to a point where it’s a safety issue. Although I am tuned in to any anomolous noises

FrontWheel Bearingfor 2003Chevy Silverado1500

You didn’t mention the year of your Elantra, but when I plugged in a 2015 into repairpal.com for an estimate, my local zip code brought up an estimate for $173-266 to change a single wheel bearing…you definitely need to get a 2nd and 3rd quote

2003Chevy Silverado1500 rearWheel bearingreplacement

you can get the whole hub and bearing for like $150 , so your mechanic is telling you it is going to take him 5 hours to do the job on a bearing ?? I doubt it , i would run from that guy .

You will also save quite a bit of money on the part. My last bearing for my Silverado cost about $130 for the Timken (2 wheel drive). I would also replace both of them as the other side will be going out soon.

Scope of work as per the first shop was to “replace the left/front wheel bearing and press the new one”, that’s all they mentioned.

I’m new here but I’ve been a “car guy” most of my 59 years. I’ve worked on a variety of hobby cars, restorations, and done much of my own maintenance on my vehicles and boats. I bought this Silverado LS new in 2003, and have taken very good care of it. With just under 85K miles, it still has the factory brakes, hoses and belt, but I know it’s getting time for some replacements.

Try and get the bearings from a place that sells them over the Internet, and you will not only save money, but can find Timken bearings that are made in the USA (in Kentucky, if I remember correctly). Check to see if the shop will put them on for you or if they will insist on selling them to you. With more and more stuff being made in China of questionable quality (I recently bought a 2" trailer part for my truck and it was made in China and the holes for the pin didn’t line up - I had to grind them to fit), I would insist on Timken bearings.

Thanks for the feedback yall. I used to have jacks, stands, and tools to do these things myself, but live in an apt. complex now and nowhere to work on my truck. I trusted a franchise oil change place here that did some work for me, but they got blown away in the April 27th tornado. I’ll find some way to check this myself before I spend that kind of money.

Same with a guy I know in my area who passed away back in 2011. He BSed, cobbled together, hacked up, and in general screwed everyone over yet everyone within 25 miles of him praised his name to the mechanical heavens. Go figure…

Yes. The front bearing on your truck isn’t the old tapered roller bearing type. Instead it uses a hub/bearing assembly which is replaced as a unit.

Dropped my car off at a mechanic to check into an issue I’ve been having (groaning in the front/left wheel). Turns out it is a wheel bearing that needs to be replaced and the mechanic quoted me $750 for the job, saying “the bearing needs to be pressed and it’s a fair amount of labor”.

They need to be tight due to the super tight tolerance on positioning for proper operation. I did some work recently and had to R&R an ABS sensor. Long story short, a thousandth made a huge difference in signal level. Too close and it rubs, too far and weak signal. Rust forming on the spacer was enough to cause weak signal…removing them required diligent care not to damage them…

For a while I thought the noise from the front end was from the new tires. If the sound changes when the steering wheel is turned off center (i.e. changing lanes) it is an indication of bearings going bad.

2003Chevy Silverado4x4 FrontWheelhubbearingReplacement

I paid $250 parts and labor for the front wheel bearing of my previous Toyota Corolla. It had to be pressed in also. They put in a Timken bearing and it didn’t take much time…around 45 minutes and I was out of there.Shop around because your estimate seems on the high side.

You should also verify how many wheel bearings they’re replacing. If it were me, I would go ahead and replace the bearing on the other side of the vehicle as well…chances are, it’s not far behind in terms of failure.

My 2004 Trailblazer was making some noise on turns. No one else seemed to hear it but it was different to me. It gradually got worse over a few weeks until the wife could hear it too. Based on the direction of turn it barked on I knew it was driver’s side. Bearing hub assy w/ABS sensor was expensive but simple to change.

This doesn’t include the cost of replacing one perfectly good ABS sensor that had to be destroyed in the process. (tech told me that the sensor would be in the way of the press, and they couldn’t remove it without destroying it. ). I believed him, as I replaced the ABS sensor on the other side a year earlier. It was defective. I too had to destroy the old one to remove it, as Toyota machined the hole too small. Talk about a tight fit! There was TSB about this, I believe.

Elantra has same bearing setup as Honda’s. A shop can lowball the cost and then have to replace more parts or remove knuckle to press out bearing. The bearing is pressed into the hub. So, assume the hub will be damaged or scored.image600×600 22.3 KB

Tester is correct, the entire hub assembly has to be replaced. Part of the high price is the ABS sensor built into the hub.

Thanks all, appreciate the help. I did call a second and third shop and was quoted $350 by one and $380 from the other. Both shops gave me their estimate, and when they then asked what I was quoted when it was diagnosed they said the shop I went to was notorious for extremely high prices and that $750 was way too high… I’m surprised since the first shop had great reviews.

As always when in doubt you get a second opinion . It could be that this shop does not have the right equipment for the job or there is a lot of labor involved .

Did you get an itemized estimate? If not, ask for one. Do that when you get a second opinion too. That way you can easily compare the two. Don’t tell the second shop what the other one estimated.

While having my tires rotated at the Goodyear store, I had them check my brakes. They said they will go a little longer, but the right front wheel bearing is showing wear and needs to be replaced. I’ve noticed no symptoms (noise, wobble, etc.) but I wasn’t allowed in the shop to look for myself (I understand the liability). I’ve done plenty of wheel bearing replacements over the years at my friend’s shop. Take off the hub, press out the old bearings, pack the new ones, and press them back in. $20 in parts, and about an hour of greasy labor. Well, these guys say that, on my truck you have to replace the entire hub/rotor assembly. The estimate was about $350 for that one wheel! Is this the truth?

Both front wheel bearings on my 2000 Blazer (~56k miles) went bad after the tires were replaced. The cost was ~$350 each for reman hubs from my trusted mechanic. Labor was minimal, around $50 installed for both sides.

After I drilled out the defective sensor , I took a reamer to the hole. The shop that removed the other sensor (left front) was nice enough to let me go home without a sensor (I got one from an online Toyota dealer at a big discount). And my labor is free.

I thought sometimes they just replace the whole hub part is a little more but less labor. That price sounds high you need to get a second quote.

goodyear should have let you “shake out” front tire ITs bull that they said there is a liabality I ran shops from My own to firestone to Midas and I always showed customer a bad part,brake or berring or what ever was wrong! you can check it yourself very eay just like old berrings jack car sake wheel fron top to bottom if you have movement Change it But DONT let a shop put “THE CHEEP ONE” in they go in 6 months buy name brand or delco

Yeah, tight but not pressed in I had to pry mine out a fraction at a time, going around to keep it from getting jammed. Both GM and an 03 Toyota Camry. The GM had a penta-socket head fastener on one side and a pressed in “rivet” on the other. Still struggling to understand/justify the need for such hardware…

I took my knuckle to a shop and they pressed out my bearing and he said hub was scored but he had 1 used. For $20. I tried to pay with my card and tech said hub was his and cash only. Had to run to atm for $20 cash. Bet tech had a few hubs in his toolbox. From other jobs?