Rear wheel bearing W202 C43 AMG

bigasotonuk

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Southampton UK
Your Mercedes
C43/55 AMG 1999 / C230K 1997
Hi,
I have a rear wheel bearing gone on the AMG, when replacing is it worth doing both? After all they both have done the same mileage.
What are peoples thoughts?
 

Number_Cruncher

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Your Mercedes
1995 W124 E300D TE
Bearing failure is most usually a fatigue process, with the crack beginning beneath the surface of the bearing race, and the bearing only really becoming noisy when the crack turns upwards and breaks the surface.

As the crack initiation and propagation is a process which varies wildly between even bearings from the same production batch, it is not sensible to argue that because one has failed, the other will follow quickly behind it - it could be the other bearing is right at the other end of the statistical distribution of bearing lifes.

When sizing a bearing for a specific application, the so-called L10 life is typically used. This means that 90% of bearings will meet the design life - you must always expect some early failures, even in the warranty period, which will be in the 10%.

Another way to look at it, is that it's not an easy or cheap job, and doubling up on the work and cost simply isn't justifiable. A front wheel bearing, which is easy and cheap, yes, why not?, but, a rear wheel bearing is in a different league.
 
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