Protege 5 Front Wheel Issues

[honkyharris]

First time poster here. I've own an 03 Mazda Protg 5 with 185K miles that I bought in 2004 with 3,000 miles on it. The car has treated me well, but recently I've been having a bunch of front wheel issues. The issue presents itself in the form of a whirring sound at the front wheels. Initially it can only be heard at low speed or when braking, but will eventually turn into a full blown noise fest at all speeds (very loud almost like mud tires). I took it into my normal shop thinking it was my tires (as they were fairly worn) After replacing all 4 tires the issue still persisted. I took the car back in and they replaced the wheel bearings with after market bearings. At the same time they noticed my brakes were worn so I also had my rotors and brake pads replaced. This fixed the issue for a short while.

Since then my bearings have been replaced 2 additional times with after market bearings and now once with OEM bearings. Each time the same issue with noise and eventually wheel vibration has started back up within about 1-2 weeks of bearing replacement. I've really about had it with this problem, but i'm unsure what is the root cause. The auto shop has replaced the bearings under warranty each time since the original replacement so I've not been to deep into my pockets, but this is becoming a huge hassle having to take my car in every 2 weeks or so for service.

For what it's worth I drive mostly highway / country roads and cover ~100 miles a day. This car has been great and I've had very few other issues, but this one is making my daily commute a pain. If anyone has any suggestions I'd greatly appreciate any insight as to what could be causing my repeating wheel problems.

 

[JesseM]

From what I've heard, the front wheel bearings on this car as a major b**** to install correctly. Maybe they aren't pressing the bearing in the right way, so they are wearing extremely fast? Maybe time to find a new shop? The place I go to didn't even want to do my bearing at first because its a Protege.. they almost turned me away..

Oh yeah, and after replacing the bearing/balljoint/sway bar link, there's STILL play in the wheel. ******* annoying.

 

[Justin2129]

i went through the same thing. I tried a new shop and didnt have another problem.

 

[honkyharris]

I'm placing a call into the local Mazda shop as I type this out. I imagine it's going to cost me a bit extra, but I can't afford to keep having these issues. Hopefully it's an installation issue as you guys said. Thanks.

 

[hat1018]

I hope it works out for you. Where in Ohio are you from?

 

[honkyharris]

Thanks me too and I'm in Dayton. I'm setup to drop the car off tonight and after talking to the Mazda service rep even he was a bit surprised about the whole ordeal. Fingers crossed.

 

[esnave09]

I've had issues with it before too. I've replaced the driver's side bearing twice and the passenger side 3 times. Thank God my shop has a warranty. Funny thing, last time I went in (had to get tires mounted) they asked me if I'd had any more issues with them, and it had been a couple months since the last time. The difficult installation is what kept me from doing the wheel bearings myself, and I'm glad that I didn't do it.

I wish I had a Mazda dealer nearby, cuz I might've taken mine there if I had known about this issue.

 

[Maroon]

Are they torquing the axle nut correctly?

Hopefully they are pressing the bearings in correctly by pressing on the outer race, and then supporting the inner race when pressing in the hub.