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Ford Thunderbird Wheel Bearings Replacement at your home or office.

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Wheel Bearings Replacement Service

How much does a Wheel Bearings Replacement cost?

On average, the cost for a Ford Thunderbird Wheel Bearings Replacement is $162 with $22 for parts and $140 for labor. Prices may vary depending on your location.

CarServiceEstimateShop/Dealer Price
1995 Ford ThunderbirdV8-4.6LService typeWheel Bearings - Driver Side Front ReplacementEstimate$384.36Shop/Dealer Price$434.76 - $575.41
1990 Ford ThunderbirdV6-3.8L TurboService typeWheel Bearings - Driver Side Front ReplacementEstimate$362.11Shop/Dealer Price$417.97 - $581.44
1996 Ford ThunderbirdV6-3.8LService typeWheel Bearings - Driver Side Front ReplacementEstimate$372.65Shop/Dealer Price$420.78 - $559.74
1990 Ford ThunderbirdV6-3.8LService typeWheel Bearings - Driver Side Front ReplacementEstimate$362.11Shop/Dealer Price$418.00 - $581.48
1992 Ford ThunderbirdV6-3.8L TurboService typeWheel Bearings - Passenger Side Front ReplacementEstimate$328.85Shop/Dealer Price$377.90 - $517.54
1993 Ford ThunderbirdV6-3.8LService typeWheel Bearings - Passenger Side Front ReplacementEstimate$372.65Shop/Dealer Price$420.96 - $560.05
2002 Ford ThunderbirdV8-3.9LService typeWheel Bearings - Driver Side Front ReplacementEstimate$510.31Shop/Dealer Price$603.26 - $877.91
1993 Ford ThunderbirdV8-5.0LService typeWheel Bearings - Driver Side Front ReplacementEstimate$372.65Shop/Dealer Price$420.78 - $559.73
Show example Ford Thunderbird Wheel Bearings Replacement prices

What are wheel bearings and how do they work?

A wheel bearing assembly consists of rolling elements, such as hardened steel ball bearings or roller bearings, that roll on and around hardened steel bearing races. The wheel bearings support the front and rear axle, and all the weight of your car. Wheel bearings are made with a high-precision technique using extremely hard steel in order to withstand all the normal impacts that occur to the wheel and tire assembly as you drive along the road.

When to replace wheel bearings?

  • Growling or grinding noise from a wheel. Failed or failing wheel bearings make a very characteristic growling noise which will grow louder as the bearing wear progresses. If you believe the wheel bearing noise is coming from one side of the car, you can self-diagnosis your wheel bearing as you drive the car by loading and unloading vehicle weight You can do this by “swerving” from side-to-side. For example, if the noise markedly increases when you swerve to left, which shifts the vehicle’s weight to the right, then it often indicates the wheel bearing on the right is failing.

  • Axial or radial play in the wheel or wheel hub. Should the wheel hub move up and down or in and out, the bearing may be worn.

  • Vibration in the steering wheel or vehicle body and/or wandering. Vibration and lack of directional stability could be consequences of loose or worn out wheel bearings.

  • Tire and wheel assembly does not turn smoothly. With the wheel jacked up, and the car not in gear, the wheel should rotate smoothly. Rough or inconsistent movement, which is often accompanied by noise, can signify damaged bearings. Be sure the brakes are not dragging as you perform this check.

How do mechanics replace wheel bearings?

The complexity of wheel bearing replacement varies greatly depending on the vehicle make, model, year, the wheel position (front versus rear), and the drive type (AWD versus FWD):

  • On vehicles with unitized wheel bearing/hub assemblies, the brake rotor and caliper are removed.
  • The large axle nut is removed, the axle is pushed back through the center of the unitized hub assembly, and three (or more) bolts holding the hub assembly to the steering knuckle are removed.
  • The hub assembly is then removed from the knuckle. On installation of the new hub assembly to the knuckle, the bolts are torqued to the factory specification. In many cases, it is required to discard the old axle nut and replace with a new one. Special attention must be given to tightening the axle nut to the exact factory specification because over or under-tightening can damage the newly installed bearing. All YourMechanic professionals use calibrated torque wrenches on these critical fasteners.
  • Finally, the brake rotor and brake caliper are re-attached, the wheel installed and the car is road tested.
  • On vehicles where the wheel bearing is pressed into a cavity within the steering knuckle, the steering knuckle must be removed from the vehicle in order to press out the old bearing and press in the new bearing.
  • On some vehicles, the wheel bearing is pressed onto an axle shaft and thus the axle must be extracted from the axle carrier. This will apply to certain trucks.

Is it safe to drive with a wheel bearing problem?

No. Wheel bearing failure is usually gradual, although in some cases it starts immediately after the dramatic impact of the wheel and tire assembly with a deep pothole. Wheel bearings can sometimes make noise for quite some time before you experience a catastrophic failure that would result in complete separation of the wheel and tire assembly from the axle. Generally, the risk of sudden failure increases with the noise level. But strictly speaking, once the bearing has started to fail it is impossible to predict exactly when it will fail completely. So it should not continue to be driven. Were a failing bearing to seize or break while you are moving, you could experience loss of control of the vehicle. Once you receive a conclusive diagnostic that a wheel bearing has failed, replace the bearing promptly.

When replacing wheel bearings, keep in mind:

  • If the car has a substantial number of miles on the failed bearing (100,000 miles or more), it is a good idea to replace both bearings (driver and passenger) on the axle at the same time.
  • Wheel bearing noise can be confused with tire noise from defective tires. In difficult cases, a mechanic will apply remote wireless microphones at all 4 wheel positions, and then drive the car while listening to a remote receiver, switching between wheel positions to pinpoint the location of the failed bearing.

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Excellent Rating

(165)
Rating Summary
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Doug

35 years of experience
139 reviews
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Doug
35 years of experience
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by Albert
Ford Thunderbird V8-6.4L - Tune-up - Murrieta, California
Knows what he’s doing, enjoys his job & gives me sound advice on how to keep my classic car running great. Highly recommended. Looking forward I future business, thank you.

Patrick

34 years of experience
1579 reviews
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Patrick
34 years of experience
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by George
Ford Thunderbird V6-3.8L - Car door is sagging Inspection - Austin, Texas
I think Patrick is honest and a great mechanic.

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16 years of experience
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Jose
16 years of experience
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by Edward
Ford Thunderbird V8-4.6L - Car is not starting - Marietta, Georgia
I was very pleased with the services and availability of Your Mechanic, and the service fee is very reasonable. I asked for a mechanic to diagnose an intermittent problem - one of the toughest to diagnose. A mechanic was scheduled to come to my house on a Saturday within 2 hours of my call. The mechanic, Jose, arrived on time and was very smart and professional. Although my car started right away and ran fine while Jose was here, he tried to diagnose what might be happening intermittently - why the car sometimes runs rough or will not start. Jose asked good questions about the symptoms and what I did to try to repair the car. He also answered my questions to my satisfaction. I will definitely use Your Mechanic again.

Nathan

30 years of experience
260 reviews
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Nathan
30 years of experience
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by Cecil
Ford Thunderbird V8-4.6L - Shock Absorber Replacement (Rear) - Tulsa, Oklahoma
OUTSTANDING

Excellent Rating

(165)
Rating Summary
157
3
2
0
3
157
3
2
0
3
Number of Ford Thunderbird services completed
1815+
services done by our mechanics
TOTAL NUMBER OF EXPERT Ford MECHANICS
1800+
experts on our platform
Yourmechanic was featured in

New York Times NBC CBS Forbes INC Tech Crunch

Learn more about us

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