Guy at the shop said my front right wheel bearings were loose on my 05 Kia Sedona. What does this mean for a fix? Tighten, replace etc? And is this something that is easy enough to figure out and if so how? Thanks in advance!!

 

Probably $100.00 a side. If you like that type of thing a determined DIY'er can get it done, but if it's once every ten years for you, it may be just as well left to a shop.

The big thing is getting the bearings/races pressed out of the hub and back in. A lot of times the spindle nut is a bear (in your case a Kiabear) to get off.

 

Awful young for needing wheel bearings; how many miles on it?

 

Chances are your brgs are sealed bearings which are generally non replacable you will need to buy a hub assembly which is the bearing, mounting flange, and wheel stud all combined that bolts on. The days of greased brgs in automotive is pretty well gone. The hub assembly will run around 150 to 300 bucks. Its a fairly easy job if you have some experiance in auto repair.
1. remove wheel, and brake caliper, and pads.
2. remove rotor and you should see some bolts holding the hub on they could be on the back side as well.
3. undue abs sensor if equipped and bolt new hub on.

To check if your bearings are defective jack up the suspected wheel off ground, and place hands at 12 and 6 position and push in on top and out on bottom you will feel movement if bad. Also spin tire listen for growl sound or for a rough feel when turning tire. I have had to replace front hubs on two of our dodge pickups and there only a year old but over milage for warrenty not uncommon in todays new vehicles.

 

That's a strange diagnosis, for both wheel bearings to spontaneously work loose at the same time. This rarely happens, unless somebody did prior work and systematically didn't properly tighten both axle nuts. I raise an eyebrow at any mechanic that comes up with such a diagnosis, because most of the time they are wrong.

I'm not intimately familiar with the Kia Sedona and the front wheel bearing design. Chances are that it's a sealed hub unit with a splined axle through it and a hub nut on the end that must be torqued to something around 150 ft-lbs. Preload is typically maintained by the internal machined surfaces and clamping by the hub nut. The hub torque value isn't critical, but it can't be off too far or else the bearing can fail prematurely.

A loose bearing is a serious condition where the bearing will self-destruct in short order. If loose, the bearing runs in what we call in the industry "truncation". One doesn't just "tighten them up" and call it good. At the very least the bearing merits a good inspection.

 

I believe, from what I'm getting on it, is the diagnosis is for a worn/loose right bearing. However I would always vote for replacing both. The right is on the lower crown side of the highway and you might theorize that bearing would take more of a beating, but I would still go for both sides.

The Autozone diagram for it shows a separate sealed bearing, but says it is serviced with the steering Knuckle. I take it to mean steering knuckle/ bearing come as an assembly. That being the case it wouldn't be cheap.

However (again), the parts available for that jewel is showing the wheel bearing separate for around $30.00. That being the case, do both and not break the bank.

 

Interesting theory. But isn't actually the entire lane pitched, rather sudden?, from the centerline, due to asphalt and concrete laying machines?

And also, do any automotive publications claim the right bearing wears out more often, or quicker than the left. I'm just curious that's all.

And also, out of curiousity, is there a more harmful load when applied laterally to the bearing that would say that either making a hard left or right turn is harder on the bearing, than the other turn is?

 

Left turn or right turn you would have the same loading of either bearings.

The road crown (for drainage mainly) is from the center line to curb or ditch. So whenever you're in the driving lane (4 lane highway) or all the time in a two lane the right side of the vehicle would always carry a larger load since that's the downhill side. The thrust on the either of the front bearings would be similar, just on opposite sides of the bearings.

With our large semi trucks that do a lot of interstate miles, the right side tires always wear more than the center line tires.

 

If that is the case, couldn't the adjust the camber some on that wheel, to compensate?

 

That may be possible, if you have dedicated lanes you run in, same roads, same everything else, which usually isn't the case. The additional wear also occurs on the rear drivers = 4 tires with no camber adjustment.

I don't know of anyone that uses the camber adjustment to compensate for it. I know on race cars on oval tracks they do stuff like that - that's out of my field, though. I don't know all the tricks they do.