I just did a bunch of work on my '09 sport (165k miles) including replacing the lower brackets, the tie-rod ends, the sway bars, front struts, CV axles, and the wheel bearings. Prior to the work, I had the symptoms of a bad right front bearing. I took the knuckles to a shop and had them press in the new bearings and then I re-installed the knuckles. Anyway, after I got it back together I started getting a nasty grinding sound on the left front wheel. Thinking it was a rubbing brake pad, I took off the wheel to adjust and look for signs of problems there. Not finding any I put the wheel back on and noticed that it had play in the hub. The wheel/rotor can noticeably move side-to-side in the knuckle. Does anybody have any idea what is going on here? My understanding is that play in the wheel would be indicative of a bad bearing, but these are brand new. I'm hoping to get the car into the shop that pressed the bearings into the knuckles in the next few days for a front-end alignment, but I wanted to see if anyone here had any insights first...

Side notes: I've never done any front-end work like this before, so this was pushing my abilities to do all of this. Is it possible I screwed something up in reassembly? When I said I thought I had a bad right front bearing prior to the work I was basing it on noise. I didn't really notice the play in the wheel that most say is the indicator of a bad bearing (it seems moot though considering it was on the other wheel and is now fixed).

 

If the hub has excessive runout it could cause grinding of the rotor against the brakes and or contact of the rotor against the hub.

I'd guess that the bearing may have been damaged on installation.

 

Hmm, when I called the shop (haven't taken it in yet) they said that I might not have sufficiently tightened the axle nut. I used an impact driver and thought I had it on fully tight before I returned the socket set. Either way, they are going to look at it on Monday. I'll report what I find.

 

A loose axle nut would result in a loose axle...not a loose wheel/rotor.

I would not use an impact to tighten any critical component, such as driveline, brake, or load bearing chassis part. It's best to torque them properly.

 

It sounds like you have a bearing issue, but to verify.. raise the vehicle on a jack or whatever, put both hands on the wheel and shake it. Up and down, left and right, all around. Up and down play is ball joint, left n right is tie rod, all around is bearing. this should cover it. Our car has macpherson struts rather than double-wishbone setups, but the information is transferrable.

if you wanna jump right to the testing part that i mentioned, skip to 2 minutes. might be good for yuh to look over everything though (although the align shop will likely catch it).

Congrats on completing a big job! sorry to hear about the troubles though. If all symptoms keep pointing to wheel bearing, rest assured that it's a wheel bearing.

 

I ended up taking it to the shop that pressed the bearings into the knuckles. They said the wheel nut wasn't seated all the way, but after tightening the issue remained. They replaced the bearing and it fixed the issue. Now I just need to find a replacement ABS sensor for the driver's side that isn't an arm and a leg. Carparts.com sent me one with a broken pin in the socket and then didn't have a replacement...

 

I got one off fleabay for something like $12 shipped. Just make sure the seller is legit and that it ships from the U.S. The prices from dealers and auto parts stores is outrageous.

 

Whoever installed the wheel bearing might have pressed it in by the inner race and not the outer race, thereby damaging the wheel bearing. Happen to our company Honda when we had a shop replace the wheel bearing.

 

Many choices on Rock Auto, from 9$ to 310$!

 

Wheel bearing is one of those jobs it's easy to screw up if you're not careful. Pushing on the wrong bits driving the balls into the races with the press instead of supporting the bearing and only pressing on the non-bearing parts.

If there's any rust, ABS sensors are practically impossible to remove without damaging them. They're delicate little things that can't take much hammering. I just replaced my passenger side front. Paid $180 I think for the sensor. Honda wants $250.

136 ft/lbs.

 

Yeah, both of the ABS sensors were toast. There was no way either of those would have come out intact. One of them I had to use a drill bit just to clean out the channel in the knuckle.

 

My thoughts echo the shop. sounds like not enough torque on axle nut.
Torque to specs then check the feel.
Its takes some practice to know what a new bearing feels like but should have no play and have slight amount of drag yet spin freely. Hard to explain

If you are taking it too a shop anyways just have them buy the bearing for you.
That way if its bad its their issue. Sure you saved what 20-50 dollars markup, but if you know the price of the part you can talk to them before hand to get a "deal" on the part.
Now your on the hook for a potentially bad part and the labor.

 

I'd want to see the boxes. There's this scam where they price the job for quality bearings, like NTK then buy the cheapest bearings they can find and install them. Then pocket the difference.

I agree, probably not torqued right. It will damage the bearing and can let the hub wobble.