I have an '05 tC that has had the OEM Potenzas until now, at around 60K miles, where the tread was getting down to 4/32" and I began shopping around for new tires.

For awhile, the wheel/tire area has been making a slight noise that changes in volume with speed. I figured it was the tires, since it's lived past its life expectancy by about 10k miles. They were not that good in the rain to begin with, but with the low tread, they were practically hydroplaning at any heavy rain.

After an extensive amount of research (although I didn't check this forum...how stupid of me), I bought the Bridgestone Potenza RE960 AS Pole Positions. The funny thing was that I still had that noise! I figured it was the tires, since they were brand new, and perhaps the outside of the tires were hard or something...200 miles later, and there's STILL that noise...but it's getting louder now.

The local Discount Tire I bought them from said that it wasn't the tire, that it might be some wheel bearing or something. I brought it into a local mechanic, and he verified that this was the case.

My question with this story is: is this a common occurrence? I did a bunch of reading online, and it looks like wheel bearings are supposed to last at LEAST 100k miles and here I am, shelling out the bucks for getting two replaced at 60k!

And since I'm rather new to this area...the mechanic totally did something else wrong...driving back, there wasn't the noise, but periodically there's a loud squeal from the wheels...gosh, what wonderful problem will he find to bill me for?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Like they say, misery loves company...

 

A bad wheel bearing happens. Even at 60k miles. Just b/c people say they should last to 100k, doesn't mean yours will. There could be a number of reasons for that.

As for the noise - different tires do make different noises at different speeds - so even besides the bearing, some tires are just plain annoying. My KDWs are far from "quiet" but they're a good tire otherwise, so I deal with it.

As for what would be wrong now... no clue. Depends on the shop you took it to, probably. I'd take it back to the same place maybe and tell them something else seems to be happening since they last touched it.

BTW, when's the last time you had an alignment?

 

After getting the wheel bearings fixed and the squeal properly removed, the tires are great. Virtually no sound (I can't tell, at any rate), and very stable.

The problem was the rotor plate that was occasionally rubbing against the rotor when the wind (I assume) hits the rotor laterally. I'm guessing at the reason because the mechanic didn't give any viable reasons.

I had an alignment fairly recently - about 5-6 months ago? My impression was that alignments were once a year.

Back to the wheel bearings ... I'd really like to know what kind of things could cause bad bearings. It's not like I was off-roading or anything! I drive on fairly well maintained roads (meaning highways and local roads that have minimal potholes). I believe the bearings are factory-sealed too. What a mystery.

At any rate, no rain forecasted for this week, so bummer on testing out these new tires. They were rated really well on several sites, so I assume I should be good to go. Still, sometimes reviews are skewed.

 

backing plate hittin the rotor could have just been the tech did something idn how cuz the alignment and backin plate dont go together lol but just push it off. when that happens i dont even take the wheels of customers cars. take a pry bar and a hammer put it on the backin plate and hit. move it off just a hair . the wheel bearing itself could have just had a defect not common but happens, you hit a curb sideways? have any other work dont axles removed anything?

 

Yes the kdw do have good reviews, there are some of us out there that are sold on Toyo Proxes4's but that's an entirely different issue! lol

glad you got the wheel bearings fixed, you're not alone, i remember there were a couple others who had 05's that had bad wheel bearings too. They were caught before the warranty ran out though. So from what I've seen there were some bad ones out there that didn't last that long. My old civic a wheel bearing lasted about 90k miles before it decided to die. Made a nice humming, droning noise.

about the brake plate, hmmm.. i agree that just bending it back would be the fix. who knows what SOME of these mechanics are thinking when they work on others cars, just be thankful you have it all fixed now!

glad you're able to see how good the tC can be now that you got rid of the OEM's tires!

 

Front wheel bearings on your car is a powertrain warranty item. Probably shouldn't be failing but everything on the car has the potential to fail I guess.

 

60k miles on the stock potenzas?! DAMN...i barely got 20k and couldn't wait to get rid of them