Front wheel bearing replacement...

[X5-D-Sport]

Re  front wheel bearing change...

Is it a simple job if buying the complete flanged bearing ?
ie can the shaft & strut remain intact & simply remove the disk, calliper & unbolt the bearing flange carrier ?

Found a bearing on ebay for £50... or the encased bearing in a double flanged unit for £140...

Which is the easiest item to fit with minimal dissasembly of the hub/strut, as im doing it on the drive not a decent covered garage.

Reason for the info request is that... on the motorway this morning, suddenly developed a steering judder on de-acelleration, and all the wheel nuts are tight... but the nearside front brake disk & ally wheel were very hot.. so presuming bearing failure & brake pad pressire as a result & then heat...

Penny for your thoughts ?

[stevox5]

Sounds like a sticking brake calliper to me mate

[Smeeagain]

me too

[X5-D-Sport]

but would a sticking calliper only be noticed on Deceleration ?

When I press the gas, it goes...... and happened suddenly, not a progressive problem ?

If I can save a weekend stripping the hub, so much the better, as the calliper can be squished open and the brake pad location slots cleaned...easy job...

[X5Sport]

If your wheel bearing was that bad you would hear it and it would be as bad on both acceleration and deceleration.  You would be able to wobble the wheel in its vertical axis too.  Much more likely to be a brake caliper issue.  The engine torque can easily overcome a dragging pad.  Sliding calipers have a nasty habit of getting stuck and it could be the outer pad that is dragging.

Just my penny's worth...

Richard

[X5-D-Sport]

I wizzed the X5 into Fick-Sh*t to look at it during lunch...

Funny enough you guys are Spot-On...

The outer disk surface is Blue'd with heat, the inner surface or normal silver...

The other interesting thing, is it's fitted with Red-Stuff pads, which get significantly more grippy with heat, as opposed to fading out, hence the biting got suddenly worse with heat...

I got the guys at Kwik-Fit to remove the screw in slider pins from behind the hub, lube them as both dry, and give the rear of the calliper a thwack with a small hammer to hopefully shock the jammed pad free a little..

So, gonna order a seal kit from Flea Bay shortly, and strip the lot this weekend.
They are the original callipers of 140k miles, so, not surprisingly need some love now.

The wheel bearing appears fine, no slop & silent when spun lifted up...

At least its an easier & cheaper fix than a bearing !!

[X5-D-Sport]

Richard...

Are the front callipers on a 2004 X5... twin cylinder or single cylinder callipers ?

Regards
Grant B

[stevox5]

Single piston caliper , I had the same issue on mine and fitted a new piston and seal kit been fine for a few years since.

[X5-D-Sport]

Many thanks Stevo

[Smeeagain]

[quote="X5-D-Sport Salisbury"]
but would a sticking calliper only be noticed on Deceleration ?

Potentially yes because as you're decelerating the braking effect (of the stickign calliper) becomes greater/more noticeable ie a stuck calliper will drag more or a slower or slowing disc than an accelerating one

[X5-D-Sport]

Hi Stevo,

New pistons & seals fitted today, as guessed, the NS piston was corroded solidly in place... surprised it worked at all.

The juddering (I'm guessing) came into play as there are slotted disks with red-Stuff pads that get more effective with more heat... and thereby more judder.... slow right down, and the heat eases off and so did the pad bite to the disks..

Now I have noticed how good the brakes feel ... new bits are a hard earned luxury to enjoy

[stevox5]

Glad you got it sorted, ironically the o/s/r caliper on my e91 318d seized on the motorway this morning causing a bad vibration . More work for me by the look of it , should have used the X5 instead!