97 Accord Front Wheel Bearings

LOU M

MEMBER
1997 HONDA ACCORD

My daughter's 97 Accord EX 4Dr 4Cyl, has 107K miles on it. There was a loud grinding noise that sounded like it was coming from the front drivers side. The faster you went, the louder it got. She brought it to a Firestone dealership, down the road, and was told that both of the front wheel bearings are bad. They told her it would cost $400 a side. I have a few questions, 1) Is it normal for a wheel bearing to go bad at only 100K miles (My 99 accord has 240K, bearing are original)? 2) If this is normal, what are the chances that both sides go bad at the same time? 3) $400 per side seems quite high, any opinions? Thanks for any advice.

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007 AT 8:01 AM

1 Reply

BRUCE HUNT

MECHANIC
3,754 POSTS

It is possible that one could fail, be it environment, quality of part installed, useage, etc. I would probably guess that the logic the mechanic is using is based on the following: Same part most likely from the same manufacturer that have been exposed to the same conditions. This makes it likely to have them both fail at approx. The same time. However, it is possible that one failed due to some other cause and you will get another 100K out of the other one. It is wholly you decision on what to do. You may wish to wait on the other one, it is your call.

Price I show is about $70 for the bearing and 2 hours labor. Hard to reach $400 for the repair.

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Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007 AT 11:14 AM