Front Bearings Gone, Garage At Fault?

[paul2727uk]

hi i am new sorry for not introducing myself but anyway

Weve just had to brake pads and brake discs changed last week, now the past few days ive been hearing a sound of thudding when turning the wheel, went to the garage today and they said both wheel bearings had gone and they did make a not of this on the bill(bearings making a noise) now the bearings were absolutely fine up untill they changed the discs and pads.

Is their anyway of damaging the bearings while changing the discs and pads,because its funny theyve both gone not just one.

Are you supposed to adjust the bearings when changing these.

Made an appointment with toyota tomorrow to let them have alook to see if theyve caused damage.

The cars only about a year old covering 28,000 used as a taxi.

Thanks

[cmia]

hi i am new sorry for not introducing myself but anyway

Weve just had to brake pads and brake discs changed last week, now the past few days ive been hearing a sound of thudding when turning the wheel, went to the garage today and they said both wheel bearings had gone and they did make a not of this on the bill(bearings making a noise) now the bearings were absolutely fine up untill they changed the discs and pads.

Is their anyway of damaging the bearings while changing the discs and pads,because its funny theyve both gone not just one.

Are you supposed to adjust the bearings when changing these.

Made an appointment with toyota tomorrow to let them have alook to see if theyve caused damage.

The cars only about a year old covering 28,000 used as a taxi.

Thanks

Hi Paul,

welcome.

The bearing sits in the centre of the wheel hub, the wheel up is attached to the suspension arm. Through the centre of the bearing the drive shaft runs. The brake calipers are attached onto the suspension arm via a bracket and the pads are installed in caliper.

To change the pads the caliper needs to be unbolted from the mounting bracket and the piston of the caliper needs to be pushed back in. The old pads normally slide out.

To remove the discs, the caliper mounting bracket needs to be removed and the disc should come off freely.

HOWEVER

Sometimes the center of the disc is rusted to the rear of the hub assembly, and you gentely tap the disc with a mallet to remove.

It just doesnt add up howe both bearings are faulty!

I would be tempted to remove one of the wheels and look at the pad instllation and verify that the pads have "shims" and have been greased.

The thudding noise would be the pads moving in the caliper braket.

[Big Kev]

Much better and pictorial answer than I was about to offer, which was that bearings which are going/gone make an increasing whirring noise as speed increases. Brake pads which are not official Toyota spec. ones are sometimes skinnier and slightly smaller than the originals, so move in the caliper guides with a wee clunk.

At least you have 2 slightly diffo alternatives to investigate, and if your bearings are gone at 28k miles, they must have been plastic ones...!!!!

Welcome also too forbye,

Big Kev

[paul2727uk]

been to toyota and they checked its definatley the wheel bearings, they advised me to go back to the garage that done the work and if i can prove they wernt like that before it was in for pads and discs, they have to fix the problem under their warrenty or mine which im kinda confused about, he did say he has a rep that drives round in an avensis hes done 70,000 miles and still on the same bearings. so for 28,000 somethings gone wrong, maybe they were a bit to heavy handed with a hammer to get the discs off.

[Jamesbelfast]

Could they have undone the bog hub nut and not tightened it correctly?

Wheel bearings usually give out a whining noise before giving up.:)

[cmia]

I could say

1 yes..

but both at the same time.

Noway

[paul2727uk]

well its going into toyota friday to have them replaced,after finding every bit of repair and service history carried out by this garage, to check they used geniune parts which then needs to be passed to the warrenty people for them to give the go ahead on whether we can get it done on warrenty but he said the repairs that have been carried out looks ok so i think we will get it done under warrenty.although it will be free we will lose a days takings from this vehicle, ive got a good mind to record every phone call missed and minus it from their £260 bill yet to be paid for the disc and pads, becasue im sure thev ducked it up.

My mate said sounds like they tightened the wheel bearings to tightly?

but anyway thanks for the response, appreciated.....

[ormi]

on the old type bearings you find in the back of a ka you can over tighten but not the new types ie what you have on the avensis....still a bit puzzled how the bearing made a clunking noise when turning....it sounds more like they have left something loose....

[cmia]

As above,

The clunking sound could be incorrectly installed calipers.

If the bearings have collapsed - your wheels would fall off!

[taximan1256]

I dont want to be seen to be taking sides i will just give my opinion due to experience as a mechanic and driver, The garage should have no reason to remove the drive shaft nut or tighten it for that matter as it is not involved whatsoever in the disc and brake pad replacement procedure and unless they did a road test afterwards they would have been unaware of any noise, you mention a thud type noise is this when you operate the foot brake or just turning a corner? as suggested if the brake pad dimensions are just not quite accurate then this would explain the slight noise when coming to rest applying the foot brake but maybe not by just taking a corner, this if the noise is constant could be a drive shaft fault ie cv joint. As for the bearings i have just replaced both my front bearings on my 2008 avensis at 104,000 miles one dat they were ok the next they started to get noisy no warning quiet one day next morning sounded like the box was dropping out did the quick jack up one wheel and run test bingo creamed bearings. So try not to upset your garage especially if you have recieved good service from them in the past as spinning the wheel by hand would not have generated enough speed with these particular type of bearings ( unlike the old taper bearings ) to produce a noise. I hope this reply does'nt upset anyone this is just an opinion through experience and knowledge through my mechanical years. At 28 grand i do hope toyota will change them foc as this is not what i would call a respectable milage for them to fail.

[Gabaunion]

Hi, just found this post on a search and............................

I just got into the Avensis club with a 54 d4d something or other.

It has bearing noise, at a reasonably believable 125,000, so clearly its a week spot (for jap or german). But I also get a thud from up there but on acceleration.

I have a slight bit of cv joint clicking in the bends.

If anyone can explain the thud, I would be interested.

[gazza1286]

The 'thud' on acceleration may be caused by the wear in the CV joints. If you were to jack the car up and hold the drive shaft tightly you may be able to feel a slight amount of rotational movement on the wheel end. Unfortunately wear in gearbox end of the drive shaft may also be the source of the problem. Again, with the front of the car jacked up you may be able to feel excess wear by rotating one of the wheels back and forth and feeling for slackness before resistance is taken up via the gearbox before the opposite wheel begins to spin.