Make Your Wheels Last Longer With Mercedes Benz Wheel Bearings

Make Your Wheels Last Longer With Mercedes Benz Wheel Bearings
by Miranda Restelle
A Mercedes Benz car is practically everyone's dream car. And what better way to keep it at its to condition than giving it the proper maintenance it deserves. Take for example the Mercedes Benz wheel bearing. The Mercedes Benz wheel bearings' functions are two of the most important in a car's suspension system. They function in order to allow the wheels to rotate with minimal friction and the to support the weight of the vehicle.
Both the Mercedes Benz front wheel bearings and rear wheel bearings can hold up to 850 lbs. Of course, this totally depends on the front-to-rear weight distribution of a car. In a typical 3,400-lb. sedan, each pair of front-wheel bearings, as well as the rear-wheel or axle bearings, support 850 pounds depending on the front-to-rear weight distribution of the car. In a large 6,000-lb. SUV, each bearing carries about 1,500 pounds. A typical wheel bearing is designed to last about 150,000 miles or more. Without wheel bearings, a car's wheel will instantly wear out of friction. This may also happen when the wheel bearings are not properly installed. Mercedes Benz wheel bearings can undergo different kinds of problems. Generally speaking, water is bad for wheel bearings because it can cause rust and can contaminate the grease. Dirt and water can enter the bearing cavity when the grease seal of the wheel bearing is worn out or damaged. The grease seal should be leak-free since it performs an important function of keeping the lubricant inside the bearings and the contaminants out. The seals are also the most vulnerable part of the Mercedes Benz wheel bearing assembly, and once a seal starts to leak, the bearings are in trouble. With sealed bearing assemblies, the seals cannot be replaced separately. If a seal has failed, the entire hub assembly must be replaced. But on older vehicles that do have serviceable wheel bearings, a bad seal can be replaced with a new one to extend the life of the bearings.
Play is another problem with Mercedes Benz wheel bearings. Too much play can allow steering to wander. If there's play in a sealed bearing, replacement is necessary. Looseness, on the other hand, usually means the bearings are worn, the hub nut may have backed off, or the bearings were not adjusted properly in the first place. Wheel bearing noise is also a sign of a failing wheel bearing. A failing wheel bearing will produce a humming noise that increases with the speed of the car and will eventually get louder as the car's speed increases. One will know if the front wheel bearing has failed by listening to how loud the bearing noise is as one turns the car from right to left. If the car is turned to the to the right and the noise gets louder, the left front wheel bearing is bad. The opposite is also true, if the car is turned to the left and the noise is more pronounced, the right front wheel bearing is bad.
When Mercedes Benz wheel bearings are serviced, the old grease should first be removed and the bearings cleaned and inspected before being repacked with fresh grease. This will remove any contaminants from the hub that may cause problems later on, and eliminate any risk of incompatibility between the old and new grease.