New Wheel Bearing WTF?!?

[RagnarDanskjold]

Here's some pics of the driver's side wheel bearing & rotor that were both replaced about three months ago.

I started hearing a rumbling that got louder quite quickly so I checked both hubs today seeing this on the driver's side. Passenger side was just fine.

I'm guessing water got in somehow, but I'd like ideas as to how/why. Both inner dust cap and outer dust cap were replaced as well with new nuts. We've had our share of rain a few weeks ago, but I never drove through any standing water that deep. Road spray that worked it's way in the back side past the dust cap?

Thanks for any helpful input. I'll prolly pull it and re-grease tonight to get me by until the new one arrives on Friday. Damned good thing I love this car.


Corrosion on plated nut:


Water sitting in hub:


Grease displaced:


Water condensation inside dust cap:

[JETninja]

Bummer, failed or damaged seals prob. (not seen ya in awhile bud!) Looks nasty!

[creeves328]

What did you torque it to? Also, this could be the result of a bad hub. I ended up replacing a rear bearing before, with a very slightly bent hub, and ended up spilling the grease in a similar way.

[langley]

Sorry to hear that. You have an awesome username though.

[RagnarDanskjold]

Originally Posted by JETninja

Bummer, failed or damaged seals prob. (not seen ya in awhile bud!) Looks nasty!

Hola, Jet!

Originally Posted by creeves328

What did you torque it to? Also, this could be the result of a bad hub. I ended up replacing a rear bearing before, with a very slightly bent hub, and ended up spilling the grease in a similar way.

Torqued to 215ft/lb. As mentioned, passenger side was just fine on inspection.

When you say hub, do you mean the steering knuckle? That which the bearing is secured to? The inner race can be slid off by hand without a puller, but there is no noticeable concentric play. It was the same way the first time I replaced the FWBs, as well as the second time three months ago. Both sides, so I didn't worry about it too much at the time.




More info: I pulled the bearing off to inspect it fully and there was grease definitely missing from between the bearings in the races. It was dark inside as if contaminated and there was a dark film on the back face up to where it meets the inside dust cover. Inspection of both races showed no noticeable galling, so I took some generic bearing grease I had and packed them full again then re-assembled.

A short test drive was still grumbling (as expected), but the return leg was much quieter. I've got a good 100mi. to drive tomorrow, so at least I know I won't have a catastrophic failure.

I should have the replacement by Friday and I'm pretty sure I could do it in under 10min. per side now if there was a nude woman with a sandwich beckoning me. I forgot to order a new inner dust cap (even though the whole front end is only 3 mos. old), so I'll pull and re-seat this one with my gentle persuasion. That's still the only culprit I can think of at this point.

Originally Posted by langley

Sorry to hear that. You have an awesome username though.

Thank you. Bit of an Objective junkie. Objunkie.

[Casebrius]

Have you done rear Bearings? Do the rears have dust caps outside? I didn't see any.