Corvette wheel bearings
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 899
Likes: 209
From: Louisville KY
Corvette wheel bearings
I had the RF wheel bearing replaced under warranty (after fighting with the dealer for 4 months) on my 08 coupe. The car had a consistent rotational chuffing sound when coming to a stop. When jacked up the wheel turned free with no sound. This bad bearing happened at around 13,000 miles. The car now has 27,000 miles and the left front wheel bearing is doing the same thing. Are wheel bearings a problem on these cars? As far as I know there have not been any recalls for this but 2 bad wheel bearings in 27,000 miles seems excessive to me. No this car has never been raced on a road course.
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 16,557
Likes: 2,106
From: Peoria/Phoenix AZ
C6 of Year Finalist (performance mods) 2019
When I needed 1 replaced at 98K, just months before the 5/100 warranty expired, the dealer did both fronts. They couldn't determine for sure which one was bad and suspected it might be both. The service advisor said hub replacement was a common thing in the 80-120K mileage range. Since then I've replaced both my rear bearings and one of those twice. I also replaced both fronts on the wife's Caddy and one of those twice also. The most recent one with the Caddy was on for18 months with a 3 year warranty. The originals died around 80K miles. Before I installed the hub, I rotated it by hand and felt a bad spot, so back to the store in search of one that was smooth.
The moral of the story is, don't trust the new replacement without checking it first. They aren't always good when new. Robotics are great for consistency of assembly, but don't check well for minor deviations that may be introduced to the processing.
The moral of the story is, don't trust the new replacement without checking it first. They aren't always good when new. Robotics are great for consistency of assembly, but don't check well for minor deviations that may be introduced to the processing.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 899
Likes: 209
From: Louisville KY
the first bad bearing was replaced under the extended warranty in 2014. I took it back to my dealer twice and they said they could not verify a bad bearing so they refused to warranty it. They said they could hear the chuffing or rubbing sound when coming to a stop but didn't think it was a wheel bearing. I have larger erataspeed rotors on the car (front & rear) so they blamed that at first in 2014. They have not said anything about the problem now because I have not taken the car in yet. Sounds like the LF this time to me. Just looking for input right now.
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 16,557
Likes: 2,106
From: Peoria/Phoenix AZ
C6 of Year Finalist (performance mods) 2019
the first bad bearing was replaced under the extended warranty in 2014. I took it back to my dealer twice and they said they could not verify a bad bearing so they refused to warranty it. They said they could hear the chuffing or rubbing sound when coming to a stop but didn't think it was a wheel bearing. I have larger erataspeed rotors on the car (front & rear) so they blamed that at first in 2014. They have not said anything about the problem now because I have not taken the car in yet. Sounds like the LF this time to me. Just looking for input right now.
The other solution that will save you a lot of time and probably money in the long run, is to just get a new hub from Autozone and install it yourself. About $100 and less than an hour to install. If it didn't cure the problem, tell the dealer to fix whatever is wrong and keep the old one as a spare. If it did, you're done.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 8,049
Likes: 329
From: Charlotte NC
St. Jude Donor '14-'15
The bearings that came from the factory suck, cheap garbage. I replaced 2 rear on my Corvette with ebay Chinese about $40 each from a seller I've used before. I have Chinese replacements on my camaro for a couple hundred thousand miles. Not everything made in China is junk. 
Spend as much as you like just make sure they have a I.S.O. standard in manufacturing or a Like Quality Rating.
Spend as much as you like just make sure they have a I.S.O. standard in manufacturing or a Like Quality Rating.
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Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 899
Likes: 209
From: Louisville KY
thanks for the advice. I want to resolve this issue as I have all the parts to do another NA upgrade and I don't want to put more HP & TQ through the driveline before fixing this.