So my dad has been hearing a "crunching" sound going over bumps from the front suspension of his '91 Accord LX. He took it to our usual service place (College Rd. Goodyear in Greensboro) and they told him that the front wheel bearings are shot. They said that the whole assembly must be replaced, the bearing itself cannot be redone, and quoted $895 to driver and passenger side.

On hearing that, the parents are thinking of getting rid of the car, since it does have 195K on it and has been a bit problematic of late. However, since they just replaced the transmission last year, I think that's overreacting. Is there any way to get away cheaper? I looked on autozone (best I could think of at this time of night) and it seems like the bearing/hub assemblies are only about $75 each. Even accounting for service dept. markup, that $895 price seems like they must be charging for about 10 hours of labor. Is it really that involved a repair? Some help here...thanks.

2/20/2007 2:29:34 AM

honestly, why not pose these questions directly to the service manager at that shop?

2/20/2007 2:32:18 AM

This information was relayed to me secondhand. I wanted a second opinion from people who might know here because I don't entirely trust the mechanics/svc manager there.

2/20/2007 3:07:24 AM

I'm looking at my shop manual for a 93 accord. Get a 2nd opinion. These bearings are pressed in and it's a little involved but not difficult. There is a hub unit that holds the bearing. It looks like they were quoting both the hub and bearing in an assembly instead of pressing the new bearing.

Try that Happy Japs place everyone talks about

2/20/2007 5:57:34 AM

take the car to foreign accents on market street and get a second opinion, that good year shop has been there forever and ive never heard good or bad about it but foreign accents is def one of the best shops in greensboro...

2/20/2007 7:21:23 AM

its not had to take off the spindles yourself, 2 strut bolts, caliper mounts, tie rod end, and 2 balljoints to take loose, take it down to carquest or t-hoff, they will install the bearings for you fairly cheap, and stick the spindles back on

2/20/2007 7:49:49 AM

just do it yourself

[Edited on February 20, 2007 at 9:08 AM. Reason : it cant be that hard.]

2/20/2007 9:07:48 AM