BMW E46 Front Wheel Bearing Replacement DIY

[@martymeyer4125]

5 years old, and still the easiest video to follow. Thanks, Kid!

[@nastynate2175]

Thanks 50's kids. I rely solely on you to repair my 325ci. Everyone always wonders why i have such am amazing car when i don't have much money. I do all my own work. Don't know what i would do without ya. Keep em comin fam.

[@donaldwhiteman3224]

Man I really want to meet this guy, every thing i learned about my car was from watching this guy. Well sub frame and another video was another guy.

[@MrDhens00]

Your videos are very much appreciated. Every time an issue comes up with my e46 I head straight to your channel !

[@flipvdfluitketel867]

Lol like you I am here every week

[@TheRedcroatian]

@@flipvdfluitketel867 same 😁

[@Dicer328]

Great video as always. Those caps can be removed with much less savagery. Once you have an ear of the cap lifted use your flat-blade screwdriver with a twisting motion or I have also done well with a metal pick and then pulling the cap off with ease. But I remember when I had removed a cap with the same "can-opener" approach thinking that it was more secure than it is. Also a dead-blow hammer could be used in many instances with this particular job. One of which being to remove a stuck rotor to the hub. Simply tap the inner edge of the rotor as you spin it round and it will come off with little struggle. Another clever way to remove the outer bearing for someone in a bind and without a puller, is to flip the now separated rotor around backwards and reinstall the lug bolts with the same number of twists (ex, 10) and then (with some very minor damage to the rear of the lugs) use the rotor as a slide hammer to pull the bearing apart with a few small bumps. I'm sure a buffer could be fashioned to spare marring the lugs ever so slightly. But like I said it's just a work around. Japanese bearings are also fine. Koyo, SKF... I have used FAG also.

[@50sKid]

I like your rotor puller idea. Nice.

[@mattwoodcraft474]

Another awesome video mate 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 You have made maintaining the BMW's I own so much easier

[@anders949494]

Good to know that its easy to change the bearings in the front when you have a E46, just hope they never go bad in the back :P

[@RCNITROPRODRIVERS]

Yeah i have had many front bearings go bad, and they all just fall right out without a fuzz, rears have held up Great tho

[@theradicaleducator6181]

Hey 50's Kid you do know that when you do this job or when replacing your struts you don't have to split caliper from the mounting bracket. Unless you are going to change the pads at the same time. Just back off the brake shoes undo the bolts and hang it up with your hook like you illustrated in the video. This trick works for the front and the back wheels. Other wise great videos Dude.

[@chipschenk3010]

Haven't done this yet on the e46, but have done a bunch on an e30- same thing. Couple things I do is drive the car around and get it all heated up- makes the old bearing come off much easier. Be careful though as all the brake stuff is hotter- please use caution. Once I get the brakes off and the nut off, I will attach a wheel and can pull the bearing right out. Of course the inner race will get left behind sometimes and then the fun begins. I do like the modification you came up with on the puller. Plus as others have said- remove the dust cover and attack it from the back side. The other thing I do is to put the new wheel bearings in the oven at around 180-200F and let them heat up, and expand some. I will do this before I take the car out around the block. This makes them slide right on without much if any hitting. But watching this video and using the 36mm socket, they seemed to have gone on fairly easily. Again, another great video!

[@lycanzhp1141]

I would be buggered without your videos! Thank you 50's Kid !

[@J.P_Sullivan]

Ayo you're the man 50skid, just did wheel bearings and lower control arms, took me about 5 hours with a lot of sweat, I also live in a very moist rusty climate so that doesn't help either😂 but thx again, you made me overcome the fear of doing it myself❤ love

[@jamesmack3266]

Thank you very much 50's, as I followed this great video to replace the wheel bearings on my 2001 e 46 and saved a bundle. My car had already had the front wheel bearings replaced once before i owned it with the chinese wheel bearings with no ridge for a puller on the inner race. However the inner races were not pressed on tight, I was able to get them off with channel locks on one side. On the other side the inner race didnt want to come off, so i took the brake backing plate off and was able to easily pry the inner race off with a screw driver after taking off the inner bearing dust shield. I do think that if you take the brake backing plate off, you can get a puller behind the flange of inner race of the non grooved chinese wheel bearings. Also I do not think the chinese ones press on by design. I bought a chinese one at direct auto (for like only $45!) It slid on tightly - no tapping with hammer needed. It doesn't have to press on to work ok, because that huge axle nut holds it on, though a press on would be of course nice for another level of safety as bmw intended.

[@cub222]

Great video, thanks for the tip on modifying the clamp. I had to do that today after half the bearing was left on!

[@NorthernChev]

2002 E46 330Xi front wheel bearing and hub is COMPLETELY different... Just sayin' for those of you who are here for the AWD versions. This is not the video for us.

[@Dicer328]

Also 1-13/16" socket is perfectly interchangeable with a 46mm socket. I have used both to do this job.

[@alicandonmez6748]

Great content man, with all the part numbers. much appreciated

[@Statureman]

The other day I was driving my E46 and thought "I wonder how you do a wheel bearing on this car? Maybe 50sKid will do a video at some point." no lie.

[@50sKid]

hehe

[@danielchalupar4437]

,,,

[@williamking7897]

Just simply great. The tech made the job easy to follow. All in all.......Super

[@emkoemko3117]

50skid you are best bmw mechanic

[@betatester2560]

Thanks Jason.. referred back to this video for the current round of bearing shenanigan's.. not sure if was just lucky but the baby jaw pulled have now had absolutely no problem pulling off the inner race even though its the most tinny grove that its got to grab onto, I used a brass fitting that protruded enough from the ring of the hub to get the point of the jaw puller positioned nice and centrally.. and it slide it off like butter with the number 10 adjustable.. just pulled 3 in repeatable reliable fashion :)

[@AgentTekk]

12:09 "Yeah, so-same guy". I died laughing!

[@PandleHandle]

About to start this on my e85, love your videos! Keep it up!

[@DowntimeMedia]

Is this the same process on a 325xi?

[@jonathanbock8435]

Can you add rear wheel bearing video as well?

[@Salmonleap2023]

Great tutorial video as usual my friend, have you come across the front bearing using the same abs ring as the rears ?

[@jcue]

great vid sir. those caliper bolts have cross threaded on me before. i would feed them in by hand as much as possible first, then tighten them up. but thats just me...

[@robertstorozyk2431]

Hi, do you have a video covering replacing the rear bearing? Thanks!

[@brandonraf6161]

Robert Storozyk Been looking for the same thing had to try some forums 😣

[@kalashnikov6930]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fImUhqBvpdKWh8k

[@bigt8699]

Absolute brilliant video! Can i use the 46mm socket instead of buying a 36mm to bang the bearing in?

[@DIYTEA]

Hi 50's Kid! I like your videos. All of them are really interesting. I would like to say something about changing the front wheel bearing of the e46: well I 've done this on my car a couple of months ago and I did'nt needed a puller at all. The old bearing was pulled just by hands. Also the inner small ring of the bearing. I was also surprised just lile you. But it was the case on all my friend's e46. No one needed an puller for changing the front bearing. Also to mount the new bearing, it was just done by hands: no hammering was needed. Just center it on the shaft and it should slide by applying a smal force by hands. I installed Meyle bearings which are a good quality here in germany. Price ist about 100€ for one pair of front bearings.

[@50sKid]

Sounds like something is wrong. These types of bearings are a press fit. That's why bmw makes a special tool to do it. Not supposed to just push on by hand

[@DIYTEA]

50sKid that's right. I was about to by one of these special tools but it was so expensive. I said lets give it a try with a standard puller but finally I didn't use it. I saw also other forums where people were discussing the same topic and many of them did it by hands. May be the tolerance on the diameter is varrying from supplier to another?!!?

[@johnnyckrock]

It looks like you replaced the entire hub with new bearings already installed. Is it possible to replace just the bearings and re-use your old hubs?

[@50sKid]

+J they don't sell the bearings individually for some reason like with every other car.

[@johnbinford3287]

That wheel nut should be torqued to ~214ft-lbs. Ramming it on with an impact wrench is probably what the last guy did to booger it up. You can tighten the nut with the impact wrench a bit but then mount the wheel, put the car on the ground, and then torque the nut appropriately.

[@johnbinford3287]

Don't need to mount wheel and put it on the ground. The spindle doesn't turn...the nut holds the center race of the twin wheel bearings.

[@phakamisa_mandindi4232]

Love your videos. So helpful 🙌🏾. You have a fan all the way from South Africa. I'd like to know how to replace the rear wheel bearings? Have you done a video on that yet? Can't seem to find anyone who explains things like you. Would be dope🥺

[@50cts]

It would be better to torq the bearing nut to specification (290 Nm) instead of just using the impact with no measuring at all. Impact should be only used to loosen screws imo.

[@Matice21]

Sebastian Pfennig exactly! Wheel bearings takes a lot of abuse if not, the most. I was surprised too that he didn’t use the torque wrench

[@black328is]

Find a 145 pound person to stand on a 2 foot breaker bar.

[@PlymitBoy]

It's not 290 ft lb, it's 290NM which is about 210 ft lb, but good luck finding a torque wrench that does that for somewhat cheap :/

[@1rewd133]

I have an e46 325xi, the torque spec for the axle nut on this model is 420 Nm, or roughly 309 fp.

[@neb-co2cs]

290Nm for rear wheel drive and 420Nm for all wheel drive as per maintenance manual

[@rredderr]

I cant find a video on e46 rear wheel bearing replacement, any chance there is one in the works?

[@brendam455]

So you take out the rac? But you don't put back the rac? I am confused does the new one come with the rac? First time doing this

[@johnbahadur9018]

Please do a video for the read 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@devinsmith4151]

Always replace the hub nut, dealers will usually have them instock. Not overly expensive. The inner race, you can get off easily by cutting into it using a cutoff wheel and then split it using a chisel + hammer combo.

[@50sKid]

You can't get a cut off wheel in there because of the shape of the dust shield.

[@dantheman1337]

@@50sKid outside of california those dust shields need replacing at the same time too, rusted to pieces.

[@raedin4190]

Great Job. What’s that power tool your using at 5:02 ?

[@50sKid]

It's this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sHycZ2qOapiGl80

[@fvresonanator]

To get the inner race off, you can use a bearing puller. You'll need to remove the dust shield but far easier

[@rhafzal]

Excellent video, thank you. I need to replace the brake dust shield, do I need to remove the wheel bearing? Thanks in advance.

[@popeye9048]

What was your findings on this? I also need to replace the shield.

[@popeye9048]

@@Gsscvgggfdertfffhhjiuytdsss thanks for the heads up. I actually done it last week. Turned out that the bearing was on it's way out too and the bearing dust collar had all but rusted away to nothing so had to replace that too.

[@johndavis5827]

Great video. Well communicated. My car shakes when I'm traveling more than 100km. Could the reason also be my Front wheel bearing needing a replacement 50sKid??

[@toniocastro5426]

Is there the need to put grease on the wheel bearing before installation.? Is the wheel bearing comes already greased. ? Thank you.

[@50sKid]

it's a pre-greased sealed bearing.

[@rsobral560]

Any rear wheel bearing video for e46 ?

[@jayhuang1720]

Thanks 50sKid for the easy to follow video! When I used the 36mm socket to hammer the bearing on, it took several tries, and I noticed the inner and outer race separate (not sure I'm using the right terminology). The inner race caught onto the axle, but the outer race was tilted with the rest of the wheel bearing. I eventually got the outer race on, tightened the big bearing nut, put everything back and all seems ok. Is the bearing messed up now since the race separated?

[@jayogolmic]

Great video as usual! Do you think autozone will have the right pullers via their loaner program?

[@matreyia]

So you did you forget to torque down 214 lbs./ft or did you not think it was that important? Also...reusing that 46mm nut is not recommended in any situation. Thanks for the video though.

[@eclipsetrekker]

Great tips, keep up the good work!

[@HV71851]

Do these bearings come pack with grease? You did mention it at all...

[@lukel.3411]

Very appreciated on your awesome video. I have a problem with lug spinning bolt on drive side front wheel of my X3, someone put a wrong lug bolt, I do not know the thread of bearing hub was damaged or not. I need to take off the spinning lug bolt first. Do you have a idea on how to pull out the spinning bolt? Thanks in advance.

[@javi76s]

Nice DIY.

[@bbogdanmircea]

Amazingly easy job especially with Chinese bearings . Like the clamp idea

[@torks2339]

Thank you for the video. It taught me to get my wheel bearings done at a garage and not do it myself! haha! But still taught me something.

[@dredigital736]

Ok. My bearing nut is seized and I’m not sure why. I put so much torque on I was scared I would break my 3 foot breaker bar. Is there anything else holding it in place other than the tabs that you have to push out??

[@kashubelua]

Hi, did u know X models are not build the same?

[@chaseramos4865]

Also just a tip, take off the three bolts on the dust shield. Then use a crow bar and you can just pry the inner part of the bearings off

[@chaseramos4865]

Using a crow bar, for anyone else doing this

[@gehmirnichtaufdienuesse6820]

Obscene price for a no less obscenly sounding brand name...

[@brendam455]

You said 46mm but the Amazon link says 36?

[@matec7506]

Hello. I recently changed these hubs at home, but unfortunately it wasn't so colorful at my place :( I also bought SKF, only mine did not have a groove and I did not pay attention to it and tightened what caused that the dust cover had nowhere to hide and the hub did not want to And here I have a question, if the hub has no groove, do you need to remove the dust cover before installing the hub?

[@gsmecanica]

So you would probably won't recommend buying the 120usd bmw bearing installer tool, right? I thought the fit was tighter than what I just saw...

[@50sKid]

Unnecessary unless you're a bmw technician.

[@johnocallaghan9252]

Do you enjoy your working on cars ?

[@LFB_Jan]

Would it be possible to remove the dust shield to get to the inner ring, which is stuck on? that would make room for other tools to get that thing off. Just saw some pictures of someone doing it, someone got experience with that?

[@tomklar9584]

Really enjoying your videos mate. Quick question - how high does your Jack go? Do you always jack the car onto 4 stands? I went to replace my oil level sensor on the weekend and I couldn't get the lower splash guard off (they seemed way over torqued). But i felt i didnt have enough clearance under the car to get at all the bolts easily. Even undoing the sump plug was difficult. I think it may be due to my jack not going high enough and only raising the front of the car

[@50sKid]

I always jack up onto 4 stands of equal height, yes. I feel it's the safest way to go. Get a breaker bar.

[@deemdoubleu]

Great vid, no messing

[@VelezBiH]

Great video - question, what a typical clues if wheel bearings need to be replaced. I dont hear any noise, i have E46 M3 but given that my car has 126K miles on it, makes me think it might be time to replace them? I am about to replace my brakes and this could be convenient time to do the wheel bearings but i dont want to waste money on them if i dont have to.

[@50sKid]

Wheel bearings are not something you replace preventatively. You replace them when they go bad. You'll know it's bad because it will get louder and louder the faster you go. It's kind of a droning sound. Very hard to describe. There are different kinds of wheel bearing sounds too, but they typically always get louder the faster you go. One cool trick to tell if a wheel bearing is bad is, grab the coil spring at that wheel and spin the wheel...you will actually feel the crunchiness in the wheel bearing amplified through the coil spring into your hand. On a good bearing, you'll feel nothing.

[@VelezBiH]

Thanks, i think i will hold on replacing wheel bearings for now. I will do the test you mentioned when i do the breaks to see if i feel anything when i spin the wheel.

[@maxl5816]

Interesting taking the calipers apart. Not sure if my car is different somehow but when I changed the brakes on my car the whole caliper is just taken off to access the brake disc

[@Chrom35kull]

I would like to ask if it is possible to remove or replace that brake dust shield without having to remove the bearing/hub, as mine is now rattling around?

[@kay19833]

You mean an 1/2 wrench was compactible with that huge 46mm socket without any adapter or something? from what I know, 46mm sockets use 3/4 inch wrenches to unfasten them.

[@kante9022]

ECS tuning sells a 1/2 drive 46mm socket pretty cheap. I think its a Schwaben or something but great if you don't have 3/4 tools

[@kay19833]

I’ve figured it out. But thanks. I really appreciate it. Thank God for guys llike you.

[@MsMatth33]

Hey 50sKid. I've had a little bit of play in my front left bearing and now I hear the droning noise. I live in Utah and have to work on my cars outside in the cold winter. I want to wait until Spring when it gets warmer. Will I be able to drive on this bearing until then? Thanks.

[@aitorurriolabeitia5197]

stuk athon I have the same problem my mechanic told me not to drive over 35 miles an hour.

[@MsMatth33]

@@aitorurriolabeitia5197 You are right. I was driving around the city and it seemed fine and then on the freeway it was real bad. Thanks a lot this helps a ton.

[@USM3C]

When should one replace the rear wheel bearings, and how would you know if they need to be replaced?

[@747bender]

You will hear a sound as if you were on a plane or turned a loud washing machine sound starts with 50km/h

[@JohnLee-qi9xs]

Can I remove the wheel hub and bearing without removing the rotor? I’ve pretty much given up drying to get the bolts off the rotor and thought it’d be a good time to just replace the hub while I was replacing the rotor and pads

[@abro9598]

No type of grease needed when adding the new bearing?

[@50sKid]

Nope, it’s a sealed bearing. Grease is self contained

[@abro9598]

@@50sKid cool! Thx for quick reply.

[@benc693]

Do you have a video for E46 cv boot or cv axle replacement?

[@Guanakito503fcb]

Hey 50skid is there a way i can buy the conplete hub bearing assembly without me pressin the new one?

[@juanguzman8615]

Hi Kid don't you need to torque the bearings to a specific pressure?

[@50sKid]

Juan Guzman yes but most people do not have a torque wrench that can do it. You can figure out when it's tight enough by checking to see when the ears on the nut are back in the proper position.

[@Wa004DE]

Should of showed us what the noise was I might have that problem as well just not sure if it this

[@50sKid]

Wa004DE it's not something the camera mic can pick up very well. The road noise drowns it out. I would have if I could

[@MonoLucas123]

So... you didnt torque it according to spec, which is like 290 NM, that's pretty much.

[@mcycleserv]

another way of removing the bearing race sleeve is with a welder ...weld around bearing race sleeve and in a few seconds will just fall off but make certain you do not hit the axle surface

[@javierruiz6792]

Hello Team I have 2006 bmw 325 I . When I’m driving 60 miles is ok but after that I have a sound frictions and push off the speed sound and vibration is back and forward that happens only after 60 mi .

[@frozenmongolian3334]

Is the nut like a troll from bmw it self? I mean the model of the car is e46 and the nut size is 46 XD.

[@donnieharris4516]

Good morning, I have a question regarding the puller, I own a 3 jaw puller set from harbor freight will that work or will have to go but the two jaw puller?

[@heavenprieto8502]

Will the timken wheel bearings work fine?

[@FerasDishli]

Thank you for sharing this helpful video.

[@renegonzalez4863]

Hello please answer this one question pretty please please. My wheel bearing started making a roaring noise just a few days ago. The roaring gets louder when I drive faster n gets quieter when slowing down. No noise when turning just roaring. Beside the noise it drives ok. Can I drive a few more days before replacing or should I stop driving immediately n not risk it ?

[@50sKid]

People have done dumber things. I have to advise you to get it replaced immediately, of course

[@renegonzalez4863]

50sKid thank you so much that was a very quick response but unfortunately I'm going to have to drive it until tomorrow morning and I'm going to change the wheel hub and thanks to your video I now feel confident in doing it

[@hupfernum]

I drove on noisy bearings for about a year. Never fell off or seized. Like, 50sKid, I can't advise you to do that, hehe.

[@renegonzalez4863]

Jason Hupfer I just went ahead and changed it out, I didn't change the race though I couldn't find one quickly. But 50s kid video help me tremendously

[@davidweber6395]

So the same thing happened to me with the inner bearing race/brace staying in there. Harbor freight is closed and I don’t have the motivation to Modify a puller when I️ get one so can you just pull the new one out of the new bearing and just reuse the one that is stuck? Thanks

[@50sKid]

No don't do that. :-) That's a big no no. The old race that is still in there will surely be worn and if you tried to reuse it you will kill the new bearing.

[@davidweber6395]

Great, thanks for the reply.

[@davidweber6395]

So I ended up throwing that bearing on with the old race before you replied, buttoned it all together and my wheel felt locked up. So I called it a night and walked away lol. But this morning I️ took it all back apart and borrowed some type of puller from my buddy But ran into the same problem you had With the arms being just short BMW really knew what they were doing haha. But then it came to me I remove the 3 10mm nuts holding on the break dust shield and it gave me room to spin the stuck on inner race with a pair of channel locks. Hit it with some WD-40 and slowly twisted and pulled careful to not hit the sensor or the axle and Bam, took some time but got that sucker off. Hope this can help someone going through the hell of the stuck inner race.

[@hectorespana9078]

Hey 50s kid! Do you know if on a e53 the front is bolt on or pull and press?

[@50sKid]

press in type www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=FB33-USA-07-2001-E53-BMW-X5_44i&diagId=31_0560

[@macklynch1987]

Has anyone had a problem where the hubs just straight up seize when torquing the new hubs down? I can’t get them to spin and I’ve watched like 100 videos and they are definitely seated right

[@chaseramos4865]

And thank you for the awesome video!

[@petarbaleta5514]

Is this same on 328

[@mmarzett]

My '04 E46 compact had the exact same problem where the bearing assembly literally slid off without using a puller. It was in AWFUL shape. But it certainly made the removal much easier.

[@NorthernChev]

A hose clamp to hold the puller tightly together…. Thank you! Sometimes the simple stuff eludes me.

[@davo705]

A cold chisel and large hammer will bust the inner race open to remove, done this many times.

[@Switchsneakes]

You didn't describe the noise is it like a helicopter sound that was coming from the wheel?

[@50sKid]

The sound on this particular bearing was just "loud". Just loud road noise from that wheel. Not the normal wheel bearing sound, which is more of a... well, not exactly a helicopter, it's hard to describe exactly... but a helicopter sound can certainly be a bad wheel bearing.

[@DiscoFang]

Mine sounded like a roaring sound. Like riding on rough, coarse chip, sealed road.

[@aleung1946]

You are the best

[@black328is]

Instead of trying to find and balance a hardened washer on the end of the spindle, just cut the head off a large bolt and place it inside and let the puller push against that.

[@themechanic6117]

super easy job

[@FranciscoFerrante18]

How can i get it out with out a jaw ?

[@CompCrasher86]

Great video. Except I was very surprised to not see you using a torque wrench to set the preload with that wheel bearing nut.

[@50sKid]

You don't set preload on a sealed type bearing, only on the older style tapered bearings that you have to repack in grease yourself. I use the impact because I can see when it has been tightened back to where it was originally by looking where the bent ears are. Trust me, it ain't comin off. ;-)

[@gregsmith332]

@@pcsullog The thing is that Jason hates torque wrenches and he believes that he could do everything by feel because he's too lazy.

[@andreiput9492]

hello 50's kid. did the bearings need to be packed with grease or are they already done like that or dry install? I did not see you pack them so that's why the question.

[@rgreen93021]

waz thinking the same and yes they need to be packed.

[@50sKid]

andrei put no they don't need any grease. I actually cut out the part where I was complaining about all the grease the last guy used. The bearings are sealed and prepacked so you just pop them on. You can put a little grease on the outside to help protect from rust and corrosion if you want

[@facesmasher4216]

this particular system is pregreased.is your brain tha needs lube

[@NilsJakobson]

No need to take brake caliper off the bracket, you can just go straigh for the 16mm bolts that hold the bracket and remove it as one piece. And the bearing was moving because you removed the nut that holds it tight, obviously.. and here is more: 576681EA is not listed as compatible with E46 3 series, it says E34 5 series and and E32 7 series.. dooh

[@fox1110]

Im about to start tear down on both fronts