Audi A4 (B8) repairs. Episode 11, Front wheel bearing and hub.

I have now reached episode 11 in my series of repair videos for the 2008-2016 Audi A4 (b8)
In this episode you will see me change the front wheel bearing and hub. This involves removing the brakes, CV joint, drive shaft and wheel speed sensor.
Obviously the process is sped up to fit the 10 minute video. If doing this job then leave yourself around 3 hours to complete it and have a new wheel speed sensor available as this will usually break as seen in the video.
Hope you find this video useful, remember to check out the other videos in the series and dont forget to like and subscribe for the latest editions when they are published.
Take care,
Dave.
Disclaimer.
This video shows how I did the job, you may chose to do it differently. It is your responsibility to keep yourself safe if you choose to tackle this job. If you dont think you can safely complete the job then please contact a professional.
I cannot be held responsible for any damage you cause to yourself, your car or anybody else.
#WheelBearing #2008AudiA4 #FrontWheelHub #10MinuteRepair #PlannedMaintenance #WheelSpeedSensor #Episode11​ #DaveCampbell​ #HomeMechanic​ #B8Audi​ #A4Audi​ #DriveWayRepairs​ #HowToFix​ #WatchMeWork​ #NoMusicNoTalking​ #NoVagCom

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

If you found this video helpfull and it saved you spending a lot of money at a main dealer or garage then I would be really grateful if you could drop me a wee donation using the super thanks button and help me make more of these videos. Thank you all, Dave.

[@xSLWRTHNUx]

I thought I was going to do this job. But, after watching this video, I'll just bring it somewhere. I thank you for making such a detailed video which prevented me from getting in too deep and having the worst time of my life (I live in Canada so everything will be nice and rusted on my 12-year-old car).

[@NetWibe]

I am doing this in february in my garage and still it's fun even with limited space around Q5. My knuckle cracked and have to change it.😏

[@dmperfection]

This will come in very handy for my wheel bearing replacement. Thank you!

[@MatGarey]

Brilliant video. Did my wheel bearing today and this was the best guide on KZbin. Many thanks.

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

Thanks Mat and really glad the video helped.

[@peterelliott8872]

Top marks for taking so much trouble to reply to comments.

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

If people take time to comment I feel the least I can do is reply. Sometimes my reply may even be helpful but no promises :-)

[@maverick242]

just got charged 512 pounds to change bearing wheel and pitted break disc on my a6. Nice tutorial. Maybe next time I try DIY. Have very busy week, need the car asap

[@nicozing4552]

Really useful video, thank you !

[@fv178]

Great video. Thanks Mat

[@keithbolger9152]

Great video very informative

[@christophermichaelson9050]

Good video. I also wondered why you removed the axle but it makes sense after reading your comments below. Only thing I would have done differently is cleaning up the axle C (not sure if it's called that on an Audi; just what we call it on the Jeep lol), and then applying some anti-seize there. I have had to replace several bearings on my Jeep and I always make sure to use anti-seize wherever I can. Thanks for the video! Well done!

[@YeiDCalle]

thumbs up fantastic job

[@pissedoften]

Great video. I jumped the gun and started undoing the wheel hub bolts before disconnecting any of the suspension components. It wasn't seized on and popped off with minimal effort without even touching the CV axle. Not entirely sure why taking the rest of it apart is necessary.

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

Cheers, glad you found the video helpful. As I have mentioned in other comments, I removed the CV axle for two reasons. 1 I had to show the bolts on the video and you couldnt see them with the axle in the way and 2, the bolts holding my hub on felt like they were ready to round so I wanted unrestricted access to them to avoid disaster.

[@felixsainz7498]

Good video!!

[@nicolaenicusor1232]

Thank you for video is very helpful

[@nathanielholloway8267]

I hope my mechanic does this just as.. I will send him this video as soon as I buy the parts, thanks.. Audi A7, needs it done.

[@charlesjmudd]

Legend... 💪😃

[@abdelbasetjledi]

Great 👌

[@DomenicoCecini]

Thanks

[@bryanrobertson3068]

I would recommend tightening hub bolt to correct torque to prolong wheelbearing life

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

I used the German torque setting...... Guttentight!

[@Hauntedbakeryouknowwho]

Great video, thanks for making it! I attempting a cv boot replacement this week and was having trouble rotating my cv axle like you did, do you put it on neutral to have it rotate freely?

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

Thank you and yes, put the gearbox in neutral (make sure your wheels are chocked and handbrake on) and you should be able to turn the axle.

[@uhjk91]

Great job! Did all those nuts and bolts come off so easily. 🙃😊😂

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

They did but I wasn't so lucky on the other side. A snapped ball joint bolt led to me replacing the full steering knuckle.

[@uhjk91]

@@AstonishingGlasgow Sorry to hear that. You should have posted that video as well. The very, very best DIY videos are the ones that show all the little & big problems that one will encounter. That is, warts and all. Thanks.

[@NetWibe]

I am not that lucky, my nuts and bolts are always pain in the ass. 3 days to remove the part and 3 hours to install the new one.

[@aimized1460]

The main bolt That goes thru the bearing assembly and holds the axle should of been torqued to about 200ft pounds before dropping the car back to the ground. In this case your bearing will fail prematurely as that bolt hold the bearing in place and when not torqued down and you let the car sit it just expanded…. Hope that makes sense everything was done good but you really didn’t need to take off the whee sensor nor the axle cheers !

[@TDRE88]

Those m12 are notorious for stripping the more space for access the better

[@markhouston3404]

Did a long drive yesterday and hearing humming, told the missus the wheel bearing must be on its way out, today you cane up on KZbin. They're listening. Would you still remove the driveshaft if you were to do it again? Can you get to the 4 spline bolts with it in place?

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

New technology is scary. Now you have said they are listening Im gonna get adverts for hearing aids when I go online. :-D. If I was to do it again I think I would still remove the drive shaft. I had no confidence in the quality of the spline bolts and the 10 minutes to remove the drive shaft is a lot better than the hours it would have taken to drill out the spline bolts if they rounded. It can be done with the shaft in place but its a much easier job with it out.

[@JamesChurchill3]

Might as well buy the ABS sensors along with the hub assembly, they never come out in one piece.

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

Yip, thats why I had one on hand. The bearing could have been swapped without removing the sensor but its hard to drill out the sensor without damaging the magnetic strip on the back of the bearing so I swapped it while I was here.

[@nichitaroberts5260]

Where did you get the wheel bearing and hub together. I can only find it as either the bearing or the hub. Euro car parts only do the full kit for rear and so does every other web

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

Would you believe there was a seller on Amazon doing the hub and bearing complete. Might need a search to see if they are still available.

[@andrewbehan758]

Great vids..learning a lot from theses vids..was wondering if ye can help me with this problem..my driver door won’t open from inside or out ?

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

Did you ask this in my Audi lock module video? I think you will need to try and remove the door panel to manually open the door then check the lock module is working and check for any broken wires in the loom as it passes through the door jam.

[@79active]

Next video will probably be a strut by the looks of it.. 😅

[@tubbycustard8866]

sheesh I didnt even take off the cv joint or anything and ONE side took me the entire day no joke

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

It is doable with the CV joint in place but I chose to remove it for 2 reasons. 1, it made it clearer on the video what I was undoing behind the hub and 2, I dont trust the spline bits unless they are completely seated and with the CV joint in place its hard to get a straight run at the bottom bolts. It would take hours to drill them out if the bit rounded them off.

[@masongoble190]

what do i do if i strip the 4 screws holding in the bearing is there anything i can do top get it out or do i have to get a new knuckle

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

That gives me the shivers just thinking about that. First thing to try is taking off the knuckle and drill the heads off the bolts (if your drill chuck can hold a big enough bit). If that dosnt work then its new knuckle time.

[@moeelza7816]

I've been looking for a wheel hub Assembly for my 2009 audi A4 and can only find the bearing . Any idea where you found them?

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

From memory I found the assembled hub on amazon.

[@ryancarlson8959]

Do you need the tool to press the disc into the bearing ??? I didn't see it in this video but other ones say yes 🧐🤔🤔🤔

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

I bought the hub pre assembled so no need for a press.

[@tm199100]

thats nice job! but man, that caliper and that knuckle have been eated by rust!!

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

They look bad but they work fine. I will give them a wire brush when I change the disks and pads.

[@markhouston3404]

Surface rust. Until you've worked on old British cars then you don't know of rust, lol

[@SmokeShow2007]

Hey I got a snapped off abs sensor. Can I drill it out with the axle in. Or do I have to pull the hub and axle

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

You can drill out the broken sensor with the bearing in place but be VERY careful. The back of the bearing has a very thin layer of magnetic material, a bit like old cassette tape or old video tape and if you scratch this layer you will get an ABS fault on that wheel.

[@SmokeShow2007]

@@AstonishingGlasgow sounds like it should be fun

[@lagzdinalagzdina3658]

BRO any part on my b6 with 317k miles looks twice better. Is this normal now on b8 or this is excessive wear and rust build up? Apparently copper grease still reacts with alu there was a better fit grease for this can't remember it now.

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

I live in Scotland. Everything is wet 90% of the year so bad surface rust is a thing here.

[@anthonwykman1357]

Where did you buy the whole wheel hub? Can not find anyone on google

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

I bought mine on Amazon of all places.

[@masongoble190]

fcp euro

[@jimlamble1564]

how long take to do , ill be around in a mo....

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

Took me longer as I had to set up the camera for every scene but I recon it could be done in around 2 hours if nothing strips or seizes. You can do it without removing the CV joint which would save removing the bottom ball joint but for filming clarity and to prevent rounding off the spline bit I removed the CV.

[@esmeralda9155]

Can the right cv joint rotate with the left wheel touching the ground?

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

On a manual car in neutral it can.

[@esmeralda9155]

@@AstonishingGlasgow thank you!

[@garyh3123]

I've done this job without removing the axle

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

I did the other side without removing the axle but there were 2 reasons for removing it on the side. 1. The top right bolt on the back of the hub had a restricted access and I didn't trust it to not round off. I was taking no chances. 2. If I hadn't removed the axle you would never have seen what I was undoing on the video as the bolts were hidden from the camera by the cv boot.

[@DAIINAS]

How log it take to replace one side

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

Took me longer because I was filming the job but I think without hitting any problems its around a 3 hour job for a driveway mechanic.

[@EJR20]

Thank you for putting this video up so that I know not to attempt this job. I wonder how much a shop would charge for this?

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

Sometimes retreat is the better part of valor. Glad the video helped.

[@evguenikretchetov9916]

Just paid £330 British Pounds for the bearing replacement on an Audi A6. I expect the hub and bearing will be the same, as the process is identical, and the parts are cheap.

[@lucamow]

Just had mine done in Nottingham, I paid £100 at a decent local garage door parts and labour. Great video, subscribed !

[@pr0xyfl00d3r_YT]

Can this be done without taking off the drive shaft ?

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

Probably but be very careful not to round off the inside of the bolts holding the bearing on. Access is tight and if you round them off you will be there for hours drilling them out.

[@pr0xyfl00d3r_YT]

Ok so I got the bolts for the drive shaft out, but after taking the big bolt from the bottom and jacking up that arm I can’t get it to free and pop out

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

You might need a ball joint splitter to get that apart.

[@hobby4004]

Hy . What Brand te wheel bearing is?

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

It was a brown box no name cheapo that will probably only last a few years to be honest but it is fine for now.

[@hobby4004]

@@AstonishingGlasgow ok

[@2001supachunk]

I gope he replaced that rotor. Looked like a nice crack right through it

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

There was no crack but they were changed the year after I made this video.

[@bedgezoobc5780]

You can actually do the job without having to split ball joint and take drive shaft out. It’s less work and hassle.

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

You can but I chose to take the extra time to remove the drive shaft for two reasons. First was so that the bolts holding the bearing could be seen in the video and secondly, and more importantly, with limited access I wanted to make sure there was no chance of the bolts rounding off so moved the drive shaft to make sure the tool was square in the bolt. 10 minutes to remove the drive shaft was far preferable to the time it would have taken if a bolt had stripped and as it says at the start of the video, "this is how I chose to do the job, you may do it differently".

[@bedgezoobc5780]

@@AstonishingGlasgow yeah I used heat to get the housing to expand for the bolts to undo with plenty of spray and mine cam undone fairly well

[@jamar8887]

Heard a humming noise change my but still makes a sound rotate the tire same thing any help ?

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

Have you checked cv joints and rear wheel bearings?

[@jamar8887]

@@AstonishingGlasgow it s the passenger side

[@jamar8887]

Front right

[@jamar8887]

I checked it but see no grease coming from it

[@jamar8887]

@@AstonishingGlasgow no I didn’t