The wheel bearings on my Marquis were factory originals, and were bound to fail sooner rather than later after 19 years with 210,000 miles. The driver's side bearing failed because of a seal problem, and I decided to do both sides to save any future hassle.
Usually go with SKF, but I didn't want to wait a week for it to arrive from the U.S., so I went through the local Ford dealer. The part wasn't readily available, but since it was available in Dubai, I could have it in two days and that's what I opted for. Can't go wrong with OE parts, right?
The unit is made in Korea, not that it's a problem, but the assumption is it is made by Timken. Kind of felt uncomfortable at this point, recalling a number of posts on Timken quality in recent years. Also noticed the manufacture date was 09-30-2014, again not an issue, so I went ahead and installed them.
Took the car out on a test drive, and to my surprise, the noise was still there. Only this time, you could only hear it over 25 MPH and I could feel a vibration in the steering wheel. Did the usual test of turning the steering wheel from the side to side, only this time there was no change.
Overly confused and doubting myself at this point, thinking I may have misdiagnosed a tire issue as a wheel bearing, I rotated the tires. It was last done 2,300 miles ago and I usually do them every 3,000 miles anyway with road force balancing. The noise was still there, as was the vibration in the steering wheel. Lifted both front wheels off the ground and spun them by hand, no noise.
Finally took it to a friend's alignment shop. The guy is old school, been in the business for over 40 years, and still balances wheels on the car with a Hunter on-car balancer. Sat in the car as he spun the left front, no problem. As soon as he spun the right front wheel, we heard the bearing noise and I could immediately feel the vibration in the steering wheel. Turning the wheel over by hand didn't do any good, since the bearing could only be heard over 25 MPH.
So much for that shiny, new-in-the-box part. The fact that this is in a Ford labelled box with a premium price tag ($118.38 a piece) just infuriates me, because I wasn't trying to cut corners.
I did both front bearings on my Explorer back in December, and went with SKF. Those were much heavier than the ones I put on the Marquis. I'm going to wait this time, and order new SKF units as replacements.
Usually go with SKF, but I didn't want to wait a week for it to arrive from the U.S., so I went through the local Ford dealer. The part wasn't readily available, but since it was available in Dubai, I could have it in two days and that's what I opted for. Can't go wrong with OE parts, right?
The unit is made in Korea, not that it's a problem, but the assumption is it is made by Timken. Kind of felt uncomfortable at this point, recalling a number of posts on Timken quality in recent years. Also noticed the manufacture date was 09-30-2014, again not an issue, so I went ahead and installed them.
Took the car out on a test drive, and to my surprise, the noise was still there. Only this time, you could only hear it over 25 MPH and I could feel a vibration in the steering wheel. Did the usual test of turning the steering wheel from the side to side, only this time there was no change.
Overly confused and doubting myself at this point, thinking I may have misdiagnosed a tire issue as a wheel bearing, I rotated the tires. It was last done 2,300 miles ago and I usually do them every 3,000 miles anyway with road force balancing. The noise was still there, as was the vibration in the steering wheel. Lifted both front wheels off the ground and spun them by hand, no noise.
Finally took it to a friend's alignment shop. The guy is old school, been in the business for over 40 years, and still balances wheels on the car with a Hunter on-car balancer. Sat in the car as he spun the left front, no problem. As soon as he spun the right front wheel, we heard the bearing noise and I could immediately feel the vibration in the steering wheel. Turning the wheel over by hand didn't do any good, since the bearing could only be heard over 25 MPH.
So much for that shiny, new-in-the-box part. The fact that this is in a Ford labelled box with a premium price tag ($118.38 a piece) just infuriates me, because I wasn't trying to cut corners.
I did both front bearings on my Explorer back in December, and went with SKF. Those were much heavier than the ones I put on the Marquis. I'm going to wait this time, and order new SKF units as replacements.
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