CV Axle Screwage? Or normal pricing?

[mualan]

Just came back from NTB where I went to have them take a look at my tires. I've been having this kind of steady, oscillating "whomp, whomp" sound coming from the right side for the past week or so, and thought it may have been some issue with the tires. Here's the backstory:

I had just bought new ones (Kumho's) online about a month ago and had Wal-mart put them on. What with the holidays and all, I didn't pay attention to the car much. Then just the other day, I noticed something disturbing. Wal-mart had put all my tires on back-wards (as in the radial direction going the wrong way). In addition, there was this soft "whomp, whomp" sound whenever I drove ~30mph on a right-bending curve.

I immediately went back to Wal-mart and had them put the tires back on correctly... but the sound now was even louder. Thinking it was their ineptitude in balancing tires or something (they did put on my tires backwards...), I went back and had them re-balance the tires. The sound was still there.

So today I decided to go to NTB and have them take a look at it. Apparently I have a totally worn passenger side wheel bearing, which has also done bad things to the passenger side CV axle. This was the cause of the sound, they said, not the tires.

So great, now I apparently know what the problem is... only the real problem is that the breakdown is:

PASSENGER SIDE WHEEL BEARING...$100
LABOR.......................................$270
FRONT RIGHT CV AXLE.................$570
TOTAL (AFTER TAXES AND ADDTNL FEES)....$1027.63

Does this seem a bit high to anyone else? As much as I'd like to just pay whatever they say just to have it fixed, I thought I'd do some research first, as well as ask you guys.

Note: Mine's a manual, no ABS. ~60,000 miles.

-mualan

 

[ho bag]

$570 for an axel??? Jesus its a mazda not an enzo!

I deffently think something is wrong there. There isnt that much labour involved as well. The $100 for the wheel bearing is reasonable.

Did you ask then to shwo you the damage to the cv? Ive owned plenty of cars that the wheel bearing was bad and in once case fell out and still didnt do any damage to the cv joint.

 

[mualan]

Yeah, I thought that part was high too. They said that the part was available only from the dealer.

No, I'm afraid that at the time (this morning), I didn't know anything about CV axles or wheel bearings. Since then though, I've been reading up on it online. Nothing seems wrong with the CV joint, but the axle I have no idea.

I'm just wondering what to do now. Take it somewhere else? Find parts online and possibly learn to do it myself? It's a problem of weighing what's actually feasible here versus what I can actually afford right now. ARgh...

 

[ho bag]

Just replace the wheel bearing. If after that you still hear a clicking sound then look into the cv joint. I dont think you need to worry about it though, just the bearing.

 

[AlturredMP5]

sounds like it should be

pass. side bearing = $100
Labor = $270
CV axle = $200
total = $570

 

[671_p5]

Just came back from NTB where I went to have them take a look at my tires. I've been having this kind of steady, oscillating "whomp, whomp" sound coming from the right side for the past week or so, and thought it may have been some issue with the tires. Here's the backstory:

I had just bought new ones (Kumho's) online about a month ago and had Wal-mart put them on. What with the holidays and all, I didn't pay attention to the car much. Then just the other day, I noticed something disturbing. Wal-mart had put all my tires on back-wards (as in the radial direction going the wrong way). In addition, there was this soft "whomp, whomp" sound whenever I drove ~30mph on a right-bending curve.

I immediately went back to Wal-mart and had them put the tires back on correctly... but the sound now was even louder. Thinking it was their ineptitude in balancing tires or something (they did put on my tires backwards...), I went back and had them re-balance the tires. The sound was still there.

So today I decided to go to NTB and have them take a look at it. Apparently I have a totally worn passenger side wheel bearing, which has also done bad things to the passenger side CV axle. This was the cause of the sound, they said, not the tires.

So great, now I apparently know what the problem is... only the real problem is that the breakdown is:

PASSENGER SIDE WHEEL BEARING...$100
LABOR.......................................$270
FRONT RIGHT CV AXLE.................$570
TOTAL (AFTER TAXES AND ADDTNL FEES)....$1027.63

Does this seem a bit high to anyone else? As much as I'd like to just pay whatever they say just to have it fixed, I thought I'd do some research first, as well as ask you guys.

Note: Mine's a manual, no ABS. ~60,000 miles.

-mualan

You can save your self about $130 doing the labor yourself on the wheel bearing. I think the hardest part was taking out the center lock nut. Takes less than an hour if you know what your doing. Then you just need to have it pressed in at a machine shop. Also your passenger side bearing might not be the only one thats bad. You might as well change the driver side bearing too. Same issue on mine. I thought it was only one side but my mechanic said the other side was just starting to do the same thing too. IDK about the cv axle I didnt have to change anything else but the bearing. Good luck.

*edit* one more thing bearings shouldn't be $100. Even here on guam where all small things are over priced the dealer sells them for about $89. Napa had them for $79. And if you have any mechanic friends that can get discounts at napa you can get it for $50(glare)

 

[mualan]

Continued Noise

This issue continues!

Recap:
Something on the right side front axle/wheel area made an oscillating whomp-whomp sound whenever I would turn slightly to the right. The sound got loudest at ~30-40mph.

I initially had a mechanic friend only change the right front wheel bearing. This seemed to make the noise die down a bit, but it was still faintly there. It stayed this way for about a month or two.

Then after a long road trip recently, the noise came back with a vengence. Now the sound occured loudly at almost any speed, loudest when turning right... and it would still be there on straightaways.

I had found a new job during this time, so I figured I'd just pay what it costs to get the front right CV axle replaced (as originally suggested by NTB). ~$600 later, the sound is still there. My mechanic friend is looking into it some more, but at this point, I may have to live with driving around with my front right wheel sounding like it's about to fall off.

Anyone have any other ideas? I just want the problem fixed at this point and my car back.

-mualan

 

[mualan]

Apparently there's some other wheel bearing closer to the tranmission that's the likely culprit of the problem. Mechanic friend says he's 80% sure. I'm goiing ahead with replacing that too.

Yay, it's like a money siphon! (braindead

-mualan

 

[the tortoise]

You sure the sound is coming from the right hand side? It could be the drivers side bearing.

 

[mualan]

You sure the sound is coming from the right hand side? It could be the drivers side bearing.

Yeah, I thought about that. I so hope that it's not the case though... but if it is, I guess it'll be an easy fix: just replace the left side wheel bearing too. Another $150...

-mualan

 

[chopperman]

replace your hub, thats why the sound came back, your hub was bad. go to autozone and the bearing is 30 bucks, the hub is around 190. You will have to get them pressed in.

 

[Diehonda]

Can you bring your own parts?

Wheel bearing:
BCA Part # 510003
$32.79

A slew of axles here:
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1387447,parttype,2288

 

[mualan]

Yeah, I can bring my own parts. Thanks for the info... I'll see what I can do. Should hear back on the car's status today...

BTW, I have no idea what the "hub" is... maybe my mechanic will...

At least my temp vehicle this past week has been Mazda... a manual B3200 truck.

Thanks,
-mualan

 

[mualan]

Well, my mechanic is out of ideas. So we replaced the front-right CV axle and a bearing somewhere... but the sound is still worse than ever...and I'm 600 dollars poorer. Time to take it to the dealership (because I'm out of ideas) to find out once and for all how to fix this thing.

Note that the sound doesn't seem to have anything to do with accelerating or braking, because coasting in neutral still makes it happen. I got a looping rightside exit off the highway yesterday and it sounded like my wheel was going to fall off...whomp, whomp, whomp, whomp...

-mualan

 

[P5inder]

Do you feel vibration of the steeringwheel?

Vibration n e where else? If you don't feel vibration on the steeringwheel, look at your passenger seat...does it vibrate? If it does...it might be a bearing in the rear...

 

[mualan]

Do you feel vibration of the steeringwheel?

Vibration n e where else? If you don't feel vibration on the steeringwheel, look at your passenger seat...does it vibrate? If it does...it might be a bearing in the rear...

Yes, the entire steering column vibrates like crazy, especially at highway speeds.

I'm going to try some experiments this weekend with the tire, to try and rule out if it's tire-related or not (should have probably done this before changing the CV axle like NTB said...) If it is tire related, that would be awesome, because then it's just a matter of getting new tires at worst.

Thanks for all the help with diagnosing this, everyone. I hope to be cruising along quietly soon... well, quiet for a Protege5 anyway.

-mualan

 

[pasadena_commut]

Yes, the entire steering column vibrates like crazy, especially at highway speeds.

Do they have smog checks where you are? If so, find a shop that will let you put the car on the rollers, hopefully for free. Otherwise try a dyno shop. If you hear the noise it's in the front, and you or somebody should be able to walk around and listen for it (carefully!) while the car's wheels are moving. If you don't hear the noise then it must be in the back somewhere.

Since the steering column vibrates it's probably in the front. However if you have a bad wheel the vibration it causes could be making something, anything, in the front end emit the noise you hear without that part necessarily being a problem. That is, something banging around due to the vibration. Probably not a good idea to do this with the hood open as that much vibration might knock it off it's support. If need be, remove the hood, then it can't slam down on you.

 

[aMaff]

$1 says a wheel threw a weight and they're off balance

 

[pasadena_commut]

$1 says a wheel threw a weight and they're off balance

Either that or something in the front end is loose. My memory is hazy on the details but we once had our old '88 323 worked on, something or other in the front end, and about 1000 miles later some bolt worked loose and it started vibrating like crazy at highway speeds. It was ok under 40 mph though, which is a good thing as it failed coming home on a long trip on a Sunday night (with a screaming baby in the back seat) and we were able to limp home.

The next day the mechanic tightened up whatever had come loose and it was fine after that.