Birds in the drivers side front wheel

[32635]

I drive a 01/2001 E320 CDI 101k miles. I had been getting a squeak almost like the sound of several little birds seeming to come from the front right wheel. It was going on for about a week. On Friday whilst travelling at 60 MPH the car seemed to get a flat tyre. On close inspectection there was no flat tyre. I drove the car for 6 miles at 15 MPH and there was a scraping sound from the wheel. When I put it up on ramps the next day the wheel was very shaky and my mechanic said it was a wheel bearing and the hub may be damaged.

Is this normal wear and tear?
Is this an expensive job?

I changed the wheels back in April this year to 18 inch replica alloys similar to the ones that used to be standard in the SLR McLaren - really look good on the car. Could they have been a factor?

 

[Blobcat]

Hi & Welcome,

Yes wheel bearing, yes normal wear and tear. As long as no damage has been done to the hub when the bearing collapsed it shouldn't be a very big job.

 

[32635]

Hi & Welcome,

Yes wheel bearing, yes normal wear and tear. As long as no damage has been done to the hub when the bearing collapsed it shouldn't be a very big job.

Cheers Blobcat

Is it expensive to get repaired. I ask because the garage has told me it might be under warranty. If it wasn't that expensive I would get my regular guy to do the work as I do some personal chauffeur work in the car. The garage where I bought the car can't even look at it until Wed and I have a feeling that they might try to opt out with some excuse.

 

[television]

If the car is under warrenty, the it should be done free, cost wise, its a matter of unbolting the calliper, then withdrawing the hub slip the old bearing out and new one in. Max time 1 hour, bearing cost £50

Re the fault, it is just one of those things that happens, no ones fault and nothing to do with the wheels. What happened was on ball broke and that's it.

Malcolm

 

[Blobcat]

What Warranty do you have on the car? The original MB one is well up now, have you recently bought the car with some form of warranty?