Hub and Bearing Problem?

by **TXSolaraSLE** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 1:43 pm

ARGHH!! Ok, so i started getting some gnarly road noise sounds from my rear end a few days ago on a road trip. It was coming from the back drivers tire and sounded like I had an offroad tire from a Jeep on it..heavy humming and vibration that made my interior panels rattle a little. I took it to discount tire thinking it was the tire, but it turns out wheels and tires are all good to go. So, being stumped, I take it to Toyota to see if they can figure it out. They're telling me its a bearing/hub assembly problem that will cost me 290 for parts and 160 for labor! SWEET JESUS! Does anybody have any suggestions or experience with this problem?

by **STR8PYP** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 2:48 pm

Has your warranty expired?

SC

by **TXSolaraSLE** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 3:01 pm

nope..no warranty, i'm at 60,520 miles.

ok, so I talked to the technician who inspected my car and he said the problem was the offset of my rims was putting unusual stress on the bearings, which has led to the noise-causing damage. He said as long as i have the rims on, i will keep damaging my bearings. I AM SO PISSED OFF. I've only had these rims for about 3,000 miles. I know lots of you guys have aftermarket wheels with different offsets, so has anybody else experienced damaged bearings? I'm seriously considering a small-claims court suit against Discount Tire for not telling me i could be F@#$ing up my car for 500 dollars a pop with the rims I bought. I'm so ticked, i dont even know what to do right now.

by **STR8PYP** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 3:30 pm

Um...I've NEVER heard of wheels affecting the bearings on the hub. No matter what offset. You'd think those lowriders with the 13" wheels that stick out the side of the car would have this problem first.

Lawsuit not a good idea...it will just turn into a bicker between two technician's opinions. Discount tire is supposed to be the wheel/tire specialist, and they're not going to take lip from a dealer mechanic, no matter what.

SC

by **TXSolaraSLE** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 3:51 pm

i'm just blowing off steam. i doubt itll get to a lawsuit. i'm still trying to figure this whole thing out. Can anybody verify the offset on the factory 16" wheels for a '99 SLE? I saw somwhere on here to use wheels with an offset between 40 and 42mm, and the 18"s i bought are 40 mm, so that doesn't really make sense either. I'm just trying to figure out what the heck is going on and how i should fix it. I mean, if it is the bearing/hub, then what could've caused it to go bad if not the rims? those things are sposed to last 200K miles!

by **impactX** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 5:25 pm

It doesn't matter what the offset is. That technician is full of crap.

One of the ways to damage the hub is if you have bent rims.

by **STR8PYP** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 6:43 pm

The technician is just trying to blame something that didn't originally come with the car to avoid any potential liability for the real problem...a defective part! They're going to point blame to the first thing they can to avoid you asking for free repair work.

Rims and their offsets do NOT affect ball joints. Tell the mechanic to call me and I'll edumacate his shady butt.

SC

by **TXSolaraSLE** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 10:26 pm

yeah, i kinda go caught up in that reasoning at the time, but it makes less sense to me the more i think about it. the offset on my rims is 40mm, which should be fine for my car, so maybe its just bad luck and its a faulty hub/bearing assembly.

do you guys know any other potential causes for this kinda thing? discount said that 2 of my rims were slightly bent, but they were the front rims and the problem is in the back, so i dont think thats the problem...yet. knock on wood about those dinged up rims.

i'm gonna take it some other places and get second opinions, but it looks like ill have to eat the cost of the bearings/hub if it is actually broken. unless there's some special warranty or something i dont know about any suggestions?

by **impactX** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 10:38 pm

Did you rotate the wheels and tires from front to back before?

Website · by **Turbosolara** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 11:49 pm

That is really bullshit. The stress wont happen as this way unless you have another solara in the trunk or you hit the curve like my 240sx

Rotate your tire from rear to front first, if it still happen, then for sure its something on the rear suspension (maybe the axle?). To check stress on the hub and subframe, you can look for rinkles on the painted part. If you can see a spot that paints are all rinkles up or chipped off, then it is a evidence that it did had really strong stress.

Most likely i think it just a alightment or wheel balance problem.

by **TXSolaraSLE** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 7:36 am

hey guys, thanks for ya'lls input and help so far...

at discount tire, we couldn't find anything wrong with the wheels or tires in terms of balancing, etc, so to try and narrow down the problem, we rotated the rear wheels up front and the problem is still coming from the rear end. I thought it would just be alignment, but the dealership said its the hub, which i'm willing to believe because they had my car up on the lift and the tech spun the tire and you could hear the grinding sound from the assembly. i even put my hand on the tie rod and you could feel something was vibrating in there. he said he checked with a stethascope, and is pretty sure there's something wrong in there.

thats fine with me if im just screwed and have to spend 500 to get a new hub assembly, but i just want to know why it happened. now that im more confident its not my rims, im ready to chalk it up to bad luck, fix it, and move on. still ticked, but starting to calm down now! :-?

by **TXSolaraSLE** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 11:04 am

i found a toyota specialist that was highly recommended on the car talk website and the guy said it is a bad bearing/hub assembly and he'll fix it for 100 less than the dealer, (we have to use the toyota part = expensive)so i guess i have my bittersweet ending to this ordeal! thanks for yalls help!

by **TXSolaraSLE** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 12:30 pm

ok, sorry if i'm ranting at this point, but i have to say I'm pretty disappointed in Toyota for this response:

Subject
Factory Wheel Offset for 1999 Solara SLE

Discussion Thread
Response (JasonK) 07/18/2003 09:59 AM
Thank you for contacting Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
We apologize for the concerns you are experiencing with your 1999 Solara.

The wheel information you are seeking is not available for public use. We are sorry for any inconvenience or frustration this may have caused you.

Your email has been documented at our National Headquarters under file #200304291099. If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

National Customer Relations

Customer (Brian Siy) 07/16/2003 04:54 PM
I'm experiencing some problems with my rear wheel assembly in the form of excessive noise and vibration. The Toyota dealership in my area informs me that I have bearing/hub damage due to an improper offset in the aftermarket rims I have installed.

Can you please verify the factory wheel offset for my 1999 Solara SLE with 16" rims? I would like to know if these aftermarket rims are in fact the wrong offset. Discount Tire told me the were the correct offset for my car at the time of purchase and I would like to verify.

Thank you,
Brian Siy

looks like i told them too much and they're trying to cover their own dealer's ass.

by **Stock Solara SEV6** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 1:46 pm

I will have to disagree that offset rims do not affect the life of a hub bearing. All of the weight of the car is being carried by these bearings. If you change the offset of the rim you are changing the way this bearing is carrying the load. Depending on the design of the bearing and how much thrust load it can take will determine how much the offset is going to diminish the life.

Hub and Bearing Problem?

Hub and Bearing Problem?

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