My daughter and I are getting ready to replace the front wheel bearings on one of our BMW 2002s. I've never replaced wheel bears before but it looks pretty straight forward. Any works of wisdom/pitfalls to watch for? Oh, and would regular white lithium grease work OK or do you have to have something special? THANKS!!!!
I prefer a bit more substantial grease, Mobil 1 Synthetic is pretty good. The hardest part is probably knocking out the old races and pressing in the new ones. Clean everything well, pack the bearings thoroughly (good job for your daughter's fingers). I don't know what BMW recommends as far as bearing preload goes. I'd probably tighten them until the play was gone. Don't forget the adult beverages.
If you are unfamiliar with it, either get a repair manual or google up the necessary repair info online. It ain't rocket science, but it is serious business.
M-1 seems like a good recommendation. I have the repair manuals and I have watched a bunch of videos. It's the car she drives so if we mess it up no biggie*. . . *I kid, I kid.
Thank your lucky stars that it's the fronts and not the rears! Rears = major work. I did it on my car (not a 2002, but similar). Not that big a deal, just very glad I had the tools at my shop to get it done.
Did it on a 70 vette. One of those that will give you satisfcation when it is done, especially if the current bearings are near failing. Have plenty of rags handy. Enjoy!
There is a great, cheap little gizmo you can pick up at just about any auto parts store for packing the bearings. It looks like two funnels attached with a threaded rod. You put the bearing between the funnels and then inject the grease from a hand held grease gun into the rod. It injects the grease into the bearing and assures that the bearing is filled with grease. It gets a little messy, but does an effective job. If you pack the bearings by hand, work from one side and pack until the grease comes out the other side and other edges, all the way around. If you work from one side and then the other, you can end up with a void in the middle, where you really want to be sure there is grease.
I'm sure that'll work but may cause extra effort on your part & damage the penny.;-) Better to buy brass drift & haul extra few pounds around in tool box. ps as I recall the manual says to fill cavity between races with grease, due to very good beer I maybe mistaken
Actually, I did use a coin. rather than pay $40 for a bronze drift, I bent a quarter (actually had to use 3 of them) in the vise and had my daughter hold it with vise-grips so it was over the edge of the race, I whacked with a steel drift (which I had). Worked like a charm, $0.75 rather then $40.
