Wheel bearings and hubs are important components that connect a vehicle's wheels to its suspension and braking systems. Wheel bearings can fail due to normal wear, dirt contamination, or improper installation torque. When wheel bearings fail, they make a whirring noise and excess play develops. Over time, this damages the bearing and leads to failure. Replacing wheel bearings before failure is ideal. Hubs connect wheels to vehicles and often come assembled with bearings for easier replacement. ABS sensors may be mounted on hubs or axles to monitor wheel speed. The document provides guidance on wheel bearing and hub replacement.

1. Automotive Wheel Bearings &
Wheel Hubs 101
An in-depth guide to automotive wheel bearing and hub
assemblies, how they work together, why they fail,
replacement tips and more.
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2. Wheel Bearings
Have you ever turned the steering wheel of your car and heard that unmistakable
whirring noise howl at you from a bad wheel bearing? Wheel bearings have
been making this exact same noise for as long as they have existed. As they wear
out, excess play develops in the bearing. This excess play, along with dastardly
dust, dirt, and debris sneaking its way inside, will end up damaging the internal
bearing surfaces.
Once the wheel bearing surfaces are damaged, they have zero chance of survival.
The wheel bearings condition will worsen, until it finally self destructs in
spectacular fashion. As you can imagine, the ideal situation is to replace the
wheel bearing long before it reaches the point of destruction.
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3. Wheel Hubs
Once you pull the wheels off of a car, the first thing that you see is the wheel hub
staring straight back into your eyes. That's because the hubs are the part that the
wheels bolt on to. They are round, have wheel studs sticking out of them, and are
designed to spin with heavy loads sitting on them at all times. Guess what else
bolts onto the hub? Brake rotors of course! Wheel hubs can be driven by the
axles, or just freewheeling.
Every wheel hub is in some way connected to a wheel bearing. They are either
pressed or bolted together, and they frequently come as one wheel hub and
bearing assembly. This makes installation significantly easier and cheaper. Just
pull the old hub and bearing assembly off, and throw the new one on. No heavy
duty pressing or special tools are needed.
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4. ABS Sensors
Wheel hubs have very intimate relationships with ABS sensors. That's because ABS sensors measure
wheel speed. To do this accurately, they need to be close to the wheels without being in the way of all
of the moving parts. Car manufacturers have several ways of handling this task.
The first is with a tone ring, which attaches to the back of the wheel hub and it looks like a gear. With
the ABS hub attached to a vehicle, there is an ABS sensor that sits next to the tone ring and measures
wheel speed by watching how many teeth pass by the sensor within a certain length of time. Clever
right? The other common method of measuring wheel speed is by adding the whole entire ABS sensor
to the inside of the wheel hub itself. This can be a blessing and a curse. While it does simplify the ABS
system, it also means that when an ABS sensor fails, the entire hub needs to be replaced with it. This is
pretty wasteful if you have a perfectly good working hub. There is also another ABS system design that
skips the hub connection altogether and places the tone ring on the axle instead of the wheel hub.
All methods work great, you just need to make sure that you use the proper parts that are designed to
work with ABS. Without that tone ring attached to the wheel hub or axle, the ABS light will turn on,
and your vehicle won't stop as it was designed to.
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5. Hub and Wheel Bearing Replacement
Hubs themselves rarely have issues because they are simple blocks of steel. The
most common reason to replace a wheel hub is because the bearing that is
attached to it has failed. Wheel bearings can fail because of age, dirt and water
contamination, or improper installation. Most hubs that are driven by axles
require a very specific torque when installing. If that torque is too tight or too
loose, the life of the wheel bearing can become shortened. That said, most wheel
hub and bearing assemblies are very do-it-yourself friendly. If you can replace
brakes yourself, you probably won't have any trouble with a hub either.
If you need to replace the wheel hub and bearing assembly on your automobile,
check out our DIY Auto Repair Video Channel on YouTube to see if we have a
video showing this repair for your specific vehicle!
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6. Thanks!
Wheel bearings and hubs are an important part of your vehicle's steering, suspension,
and braking systems. We hope that this presentation has helped you learn more about
these parts and their replacement!
If you are in need of a wheel bearing and hub assembly replacement for your vehicle
you can:
 Browse our large selection of both front and rear wheel bearings and hubs
 Call our customer service toll free at 888-844-3393 to order via phone
 Send us an email by visiting www.1aauto.com/about/contact_us.
Quality Auto Part Fast
Rated #1 by Customers Like You

7. Thanks!
Wheel bearings and hubs are an important part of your vehicle's steering, suspension,
and braking systems. We hope that this presentation has helped you learn more about
these parts and their replacement!
If you are in need of a wheel bearing and hub assembly replacement for your vehicle
you can:
 Browse our large selection of both front and rear wheel bearings and hubs
 Call our customer service toll free at 888-844-3393 to order via phone
 Send us an email by visiting www.1aauto.com/about/contact_us.
Quality Auto Part Fast
Rated #1 by Customers Like You