Hey ya'll, I have an '07 Fit and I kept hearing this weird noise so I had it diagnosed and it was the left rear wheel bearing. It was then fixed by Honda under a warranty repair in early '08 (I bought it in August of '06). By the time August of '08 had rolled around it was doing it again so I once more had it fixed by Honda under warranty. It is now almost March of '09 and I'm hearing the tell tale sounds that it is about to go out again. I have until August to get it fixed under warranty and then I'm screwed since I don't have the money to buy the extended warranty. Its always the left rear.

My question is if anyone else has this repeated wheel bearing problem and if you have figured out what the root cause is. I thought maybe I had been putting too much weight in the back hauling friends around or something so for the last year I haven't hauled anything heavier than 2 slim passengers, but to no avail - it is something else. I want to be able to walk in to Honda and say to them "My wheel bearing is once again going bad for the 3rd time. I believe the underlying cause may be... Could you please check that out?" I don't want to be fixing this thing every 8 or 9k miles for the rest of the car's life.

Even guesses as to what might be causing this will be helpful, so please let me know. I don't drive like a maniac or take corners really hard or anything like that. I'm a milage freak so I try to ride easy.

 

It's good that you still have the warranty...

 

This is the first time I've ever heard of a bearing problem for the Fit, but I think that I had the problem on my Civic but never got it checked out before I sold it. Anyway, you should ask Honda, since the problem has been happening, whether or not they'll cover it even after your warranty has expired.

 

My wheel bearings went out at 30k miles. Honda dealer blamed my coilover setup and therefore would not cover the repair under warranty. Total cost of both wheel bearings + installation was $580 . Its been a month now and I'm hearing metal scraping sounds when I turn hard at low speeds

 

Is your tire aligned correctly? Could be a cause. But I'd rather repack those bearings myself to make sure.

 

I have 92k on my car and no wheel bearing issues.

 

Are you running aftermarket wheels? If so, do you have hubcentric rings for them?

Wheels that aren't perfectly centered on the hub will take out bearings, and there won't always be vibration to warn you there's a problem.

 

not true. there are 2 ways lug patterns are drilled. One is they clamp the wheel on the outside of the rim then drill the holes making them wheel centric (my word but i think it's lug centric ) And the other is they clamp at the hub, making them hub centric. If the holes are drilled per the hub and there is vibration, the hub is off center. Hub rings were someone's genius idea to make a couple extra dollars.

I drilled lug patterns for 6.5 years

/end of my opinion....not gonna argue it...it's mine

 

Honda wheels are hubcentric, and not lugcentric . . . that's the point.

Aftermarket wheels have a hub that's larger than needed, so as to fit over a large amount of hub sizes on different cars. And without an adapter ring, an uneducated (or lazy) installer can very easily mount the wheels uncentered, especially since the stock lugnuts are ball-seat type, and will not easily pull the wheel back into center. And even aftermarket conical-seat lugnuts can be tightened down to the correct torque spec without having the wheel centered.

I went through 3 wheel bearings in the first 2 winters on my Prelude before figuring out what the problem was - my winter steelies being mounted without an adapter ring, and not being exactly centered. Found some hubcentric adapter rings to match the wheels, and drove the car for another 6 years without a problem.

 

Interesting, I'm running Buddy Club wheel's with Skunk2 Pro-C's. I'm not sure if the wheels are hubcentric.

 

I'd seriously suggest investing in a set of hub-centric rings. Polycarbonate or aluminum, it doesn't matter - just get those wheels to sit and bear the car's weight on the center spigot, not the wheel lugs (as those were never designed to bear the car's weight).

It won't just let your wheel bearings last longer. It'll save you damage to your bodywork, brake discs/drums, underchassis...because you don't have to worry about the lugs snapping off and letting the wheel loose when you take the car out on an aggressive drive.

More info and "worst-case scenario" photos:
http://planetsoarer.com/offset/studs.htm

 

as far as i know (and which might not be a lot ) most wheels
out there are lug centric by design. especially the ones with
a taper is lug centric. hubcentric rings are there to aid in the
installation and sometimes fixes vibrations due to the user's
errors, but it is not there to really 'support' the weight of
the car as true hubcentric wheels do. hubcentric wheels
use flat lugs (not acorn or tapered).

anyway, most bearing failure is caused by using wheels
with aggressive offsets/aggressive alignment settings.

sounds like the OP has both?

 

what wheels and tires aree you running? Lowered?

 

Recall all Honda Jazz / FIT due to defective Wheel Bearings Petition

 

Thank you everyone. I haven't been able to check the forums for a few days.

I see the discussion got a little off topic with the hub/lug centric wheels thing. Had I been able to respond sooner I could have told you that I run all stock and I have only ever had a respectable Honda dealership do any maintenance or inspections on this car. If the wheels are unbalanced or aligned wrong then it is their doing.

I will talk to my favorite dealer someone in the next few weeks and see if they can't help me out.

I signed the petition posted earlier. I don't know how much good a thing like that can do since I've never seen one like it before. Hopefully it is worthwhile.

 

I am going to give it full force on this cause I have wheel bearing issue and refuse to pay to fix it when Honda made something that prematurely fails and can be considered a safety issue as the Honda Civic were. Spread the word if you can or if you know any other Jazz/fit forum... I would like to know so I can join and post on there.

 

You still haven't told us what wheels you are using, tires, and suspension.

You must understand that when you modify Honda's design you are responsible for any ill effects that occur.
Its not only logical but court law as well. Offsets less than 42 mm and wheel widths greater than 7" or large tires over 24" diameter do place undesigned loads on wheel bearings, especially on hard right turns (right turns almost always sharper than left hand ones in US traffic).
If you came in most dealerships with lowered suspension or/and severe wheel/tire arrangements not only would you be shown the door but they'll likely also advise Honda USA of your conditions that voided warranty.

 

i think he runs all stock (15" wheels maybe) per his post above?

 

Well, I work at a honda dealer and have had no problems with fit wheel bearings. Is the car lowered, what rims and what offset. Not to sure on the set up on the rear yet but bearing may not be getting the proper torque when installed. Have u hit any potholes or curbs, somthing may have been tweaked causing abnormal bearing wear. Take it to a tech. that you trust get them to look at it. (there are a lot of techs that dont care. I see it all the time. big screw ups by cert. techs) Allways get a second oppinion. Just cause u take it to a dealer doesnt mean its getting fixed properly. Just read that the fit is stock, disregaurd the lowering and rim part.

 

Alighnment out of spec. wont eat bearings, fit bearings are sealed none serviceable, have fun trying to repack.