OK, I have another stupid question. (I have a 1978 Pace.)

When I took it in last year, the guy at Firestone told me that I needed to repack my front wheel bearings.

When I took it earlier in this year to my mechanic (a vette only mechanic, who I trust very much)... I told him that the front wheel bearings needed to be done. He said that the Firestone guy was wrong, and that there were no more play then is normal for a Corvette. Said that he gave them a 1/4 turn and they'd be fine. (Not sure what he meant by the 1/4 turn part, but really isn't the point of this question.)

Today when I was at Firestone, the tire tech told me that both of my front wheel bearings were "shot". (Completly different Firestone location, and completly different tire tech..)

Here is my question.
Anyone else had this kind of experience...
Are the Firestone guys taught to 'over-prescribe' front wheel bearing jobs?
Or, do I have a mechanic who just didn't feel like doing a wheel bearing job?

Thanks.
:withstupid:

 

chances are your bearings are fine. If the mechanic said they didnt need anything then he's probably right, as it's a pretty easy job and any mechanic wouldnt mind making .8 hours for repacking wheel bearings which would take about 15 minutes.

From my experience alot of tire places try to sell you all they can for parts you dont need. I had a "tech" tell me that my rear diff fluid needed changing....in my fwd riviera.

As for what he means by a 1/4 turn. If you look at your bearings theres just a large castle nut that controls the amount of play in the bearing.

Repacking the bearing means taking the bearings out, washing them off, putting them back on (always putting new grease seals on), putting new grease in the bearings, then setting the play.

If you're concerned about all this, all you do is take the wheel off, pry off the grease cap on the rotor and look for yourself. Make sure the grease isnt black and charred looking. as for bearing play, the best way i know to set it is just take the cotter pin out of the spindle nut, give the rotor a good spin, then with a adjustable wrench crank down on the spindle nut until the rotor stops. You dont need to wail on it, just give it a sharp turn until thats just enough to stop it, you may to loosen it back up and do this several times until you're satisfied. Then you just put cotter pin back in (you mayneed to move the nut slightly to get it back in) tap the grease cap back on and you're done.

 

I had a licensed mechanic call me tonight to tell him how to set up a rearend. I am nothing but this mechanic with his license is for ever calling me a asking about problems. Sure your mechanic is knowledgable?
As for giving it a quarter turn that is crued way of doing things.
Setting the front wheel bearings is critical to your front brakes. The runout including rotor wobble plus bearing play must be under .010 so yes setting the front bearings is more then just tightening the nut up and backing it off to the nearest cotter pin hole. It might even involve valve shims. Yes valve shims to get it right.

 

Never ever deal with Firestone. I have had nothing but problems with products and service from them. I'm still getting the run around by them on a set of tires that disinerated with less than 10,000 miles on them. No they were not on the Vette. They were on a new truck I bought.
Firsestone= Poor quality and service in my book :U

 

on a non-floating caliper like the corvette has the runout is a little more critical, but its nowhere near as serious as you make it sound. If you do tighten the nut down while spinning the rotor like i suggested you'll find that the runout is in acceptable ranges.

As far as shims go, you'd only need those on if you're having problems with brake pulsations. In which case you'd probably just get new rotors anyway.