Hi

I own a LHD 2004 Mazda 3 1.6 petrol that has covered on 13K miles, 21K Kilometers(genuine), obviously the car is not used much.
It spent the first 6 years of its life in Spain but now lives in France, it has the standard 16" Mazda alloys with the original tyres
I have noticed what sounds like a rumbling rear wheel bearing, strange I thought due to the limited mileage.
I will be back in France for the New Year and intend to investigate further, I thought about fitting a new set of bearings. That was before I found out it was a full hub replacement job (just shy of £100), I am now wondering if there is a way to pulling the hub off and attempting to inject some grease into the bearing. Is this possible ?

Regards Ian

 

The sealed bearings are pretty well sealed from what i've seen of them, no easy way to get more than an oil into them without damaging the seals. But that's beside the point, since if it's making noise, the damage is already done, and adding grease probably won't help at this point.

Good luck.

 

Modern wheel bearings are made to be maintance free. You can't grease them without breaking the seal and if you break the seal, you just defeated the whole purpose of greasing the bearing in the first place. If the bearing goes, the only option is to replace it. Companies don't want people rebuilding bearings anymore simply because 1) people don't know how to maintain them in the first place and 2) it's a pain in the but :P also if there is noise. Coming from the wheel bearing, it's already too late. The reason why it is a whole hub replacement is because that is how all new wheel bearings come now. Instead of replacing the bearing, you buy the whole hub with bearing sealed in. Good thing is replacing it yourself is pretty easy of you have the tools and a little bit of knowledge about cars. With a manual and some help, the issue can be fixed on a budget. Good luck!