So do the Protege's have wheel bearings in the front? If so do they ever need maintenance? How can you tell if they would need it?

 

You'll know if they need maintenance .. it'll sound horrible. Really loud humming from the wheel, but shouldn't ever need it unless you smack a curb or somethin.

 

no bearings. They have floating rotors and the bearings are built into the Hub assembly.

Oogie's right....if they start making a roaring noise or the vehicle starts pulling to one side and you cn't figure out why.

 

Thanks for trying to use my name Matt ... but it's Oggie. You got close, which is good .. but not quite

 

so... my speed pullling to the right *could* be a wheel bearing?... of course, it only does it under power/

 

What do you mean speed pulling to the right, Jack? Doesnt it pull a bit when you step on it hard anyways since thats the wheel that gets the power?

 

His MSP (Mazdaspeed = speed) is pulling to the right .. I think?

 

Sounds like torque steer to me which is normal.

 

that makes sense, Ive had both sides done, and its true, it sounds like its gonna rattle apart- terible

if it happens though theres a few thing you need to know

1 dont atemt it if you dont have a torch to get to get the bearing off or out - it'll take half an hour to get the spindle off, and then your left it the driveway for 7 hours

2 and definitly dont attemt it if you dont have a dedicated bearing press - luckily enough I have a decent one, but alas, the ton jack almost wasnt enough to press it in... without the torch

3 propane wont do the job! - I eventually had to weld on a peice of pipe to generate enough heat and force to get the outer race out (the inside was long gon by that point :P)

 

^ difference is mine just started not too long ago... and it pulls to the right no matter what the speed..... 40 - 60 - 80... unless putting on new rotors/pads game some m4d horsepower increase

 

Well, replacing pads won't give you a HP gain but they could cause a brake bind that will definitely cause a car to pull to one side.

I've actually seen a car where a customeer got his friend to replace his front pads and completely screwed it up. Somehow he installed the wrong brake pads and they actually jammed on the brakes. Needless to say, he still tried to drive the car in which case the pads caught fire, burnt out the seals in the calipers and all the brake fluid poured out.

The weird thing was that while I was telling the customer all this, his friend who installed the pads was laughing his *** off and patting his friend on the back over how much it was now going to cost him.