Dealer rip off

SVX92-97 · #1 10-12-2011, 11:58 AM

Was going thru repair receipts for my 97 Ebony given to me by previous owner and this one still urks me. He had his rear wheel bearings replaced four times within 30k miles by the same Subaru dealership

10/18/07 replaced right rear wheel bearing $332.50 labor plus parts
10/31/06 replaced left rear wheel bearing $400 labor plus parts
4/08/05 replaced both rear wheel bearings $600 labor plus parts
11/21/03 replaced left rear wheel bearing $280 labor plus parts
TOAL LABOR $1612.50

Its sounds like they just installed the bearings with the shipping grease, and or over tightened the lug nuts, how else would the bearings fail this many times whithin a relatively short amount of time and mileage. I would definitely not have paid them after the second failure and held them accountable, but this guy just dumped hundreds and thousands of $$$$$ in repairs into this car, and then he ended up having to sell it for $800

1986nate · #2 10-12-2011, 12:05 PM

More than likely the hub needed replacing and wasn't done. It will cause bearings to fail repeatedly.

SVX92-97 · #3 10-12-2011, 12:07 PM

on both sides? What would make both rear hubs need replacing

92snowmachine · #4 10-12-2011, 12:26 PM

when the bearing goes bad and isn't replaced right away then the inner race spins on the hub marring it. i usually include this in the quote when doing subaru bearings. if it's not needed i don't replace it but 99% of the time it's needed, subaru should sell the hub and bearing as an assembly the same way every other car company does.

SVX92-97 · #5 10-12-2011, 12:35 PM

Thanks for the info 92snowmachine

Conn SVX · #6 10-12-2011, 01:38 PM

So now does that sound like your going to have failures too? If the hub is bad you will . If the same Subi dealer did it then it sounds like they will fail again , unless the hub is not marred and he re packed the bearings the last time .

1986nate · #7 10-12-2011, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 92snowmachine

when the bearing goes bad and isn't replaced right away then the inner race spins on the hub marring it. i usually include this in the quote when doing subaru bearings. if it's not needed i don't replace it but 99% of the time it's needed, subaru should sell the hub and bearing as an assembly the same way every other car company does.

+1, Subaru is the only brand I have dealt with (I'm sure there are probably others) that the actual bearing gets replaced and not the whole hub.
Did a bearing on the Durango for my parents, other than having to hammer away at it to brake it free from the spindle for a solid 10 min using a 5 lb sledge, it's a piece of cake. All bolts in, the average person can do it.

radarwhiz · #8 10-13-2011, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1986nate

+1, Subaru is the only brand I have dealt with (I'm sure there are probably others) that the actual bearing gets replaced and not the whole hub.
Did a bearing on the Durango for my parents, other than having to hammer away at it to brake it free from the spindle for a solid 10 min using a 5 lb sledge, it's a piece of cake. All bolts in, the average person can do it.

Same with my Dakota. The only other car I've replaced just bearings and not the hub was my '88 Daihatsu Charade

Conn SVX · #9 10-13-2011, 09:02 AM

The only wheel bearings I ever replaced were on an old Dodge Dart and my 56 Chevy. U had to bang the outer race out from the hub and bang in a new one.

SVX92-97 · #10 10-13-2011, 09:10 AM

how many members here have never replaced the bearings on their Svx's

Conn SVX · #11 10-13-2011, 09:32 AM

I never did it on my Pearly 80,000 miles

SVX92-97 · #12 10-13-2011, 10:24 AM

you were lucky

92snowmachine · #13 10-13-2011, 10:45 AM

i've never replaced mine and have about 80k. have service records and they have never been done.

side note on bearings: i always used to buy the hub and bearing assembly for mid 90's civics and pop em in. ever since the earthquake in japan you can't buy the hub only the bearing. last time i checked not even honda had the hub. wherever those hub assemblies were stored or made must have been destroyed.

1986nate · #14 10-13-2011, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SVX92-97

how many members here have never replaced the bearings on their Svx's

The only one I've had to do on any of mine was the FL claret that I knew about. It was a front bearing and I just replaced the entire hub with one I knew had a good bearing in it. However, I may have bearing noise in my silver. I just am not around it enough to have time to diagnose fully.

Conn SVX · #15 10-13-2011, 03:15 PM

All 4 have been replaced in the Laguna , only because he thought they might go bad . They are now Timken bearings