My right rear wheel started making squeaky noises on decel a few K miles ago. It took a few weeks for me to diagnose it as the wheel bearing. Not only was the wheel bearing bad, but the hub itself was damaged (scored by the inner race). I replaced both items, and the problem was fixed. A few weeks later, another local S2000 owner (elistan) had the same problem on his left rear wheel. His hub was fine, but the bearing was shot. Anyway, now my left rear wheel is starting to make the same noise that the right rear did! What's the friggin' deal?! How many of you have had this problem?

 

My rear left inner half shaft had pits in it at 30K....

 

Been there done that with the bearing / hub combo. A number of times. At this point i make it a once a year preventative maintanence item. Tho this only seems to apply to the rear bearing hub combo.

 

d'oh! i was I thinking when i said 008?

 

I'm refering to...
part #2 the rear wheel hub 42210-S2A-000
part #36 the rear wheel bearing 44300-S47-008

 

Davepk,

Those are the parts I had to replace. However, didn't you have to replace your hubs due to cracking? The only reason I had to replace my hub is because the bearing siezed, and the hub started spinning inside the race. My old hub had no visible stress cracks.

 

LOL!

 

Gernby,

The smiley was for the redundent pictures.
I have had a wheel bearing go and not need to replace the hub. I have also had one go and like you needed to replace the hub. It seems if you can catch it soon enough you can keep from damaging the hub. Frankly, its much easier to replace both than it is to replace only the bearing.

 

Since you pressed it apart, you were probably able to see the ball bearings themselves....did they seem low on grease or discolored(heat)? I know this car does lack in the grease department in some areas. It is possible to remove the inner races from the new bearing and push some good grease in there.

 

Unfortunately i've never looked that closely at the bearings. Tho from what i recall there seemed to be plenty of grease remaining. What i typicaly see is galling on the hub and it seems due to the inner race spinning on the hub.

I like the idea of using a better grease in the bearings especially if it would prevent this type of failure. But for me i have to replace the rear hubs once a year just to play it safe and it seems the bearings will last at least that long. So they all get replaced once a year.