I talked to a dealership service guy, and asked him about warranty on a broken stud. Apparently, it's one of those things that aren't covered by the HondaCare warranty ( what exactly do they cover?? ). Anyway, he told me it's a $150 for labor, and $10 for the stud, and they don't replace the wheel bearing. From what I've read on the boards here, you SHOULD replace the wheel bearing correct? I'm not sure if I should just do this myself, or get the dealership to do it. Any advice? Thanks.

Sri

 

When I did the rear, I replaced both the hubs and bearings (and installed extended wheel studs). To have extended studs installed in the front, I just had the hubs pressed out, extended studs put in and then the hubs reinstalled. I was told that since my car has low miles, it is OK to press out the front hubs and press them back in. I will probably go to new hubs and bearings in the front over the winter.

 

You can get a bearing press for about $100 and do it yourself.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Disp...itemnumber=1667

 

I don't think my landlord would like that in the garage. She already says I have enough parts in there to make a spare car

So, should I just take the hub to a machine shop , and have them press out the studs and replace with new studs?

 

You have to take the whole spindle to the machine shop so they can press the hub out, press the studs out, press the new studs in and press the hub back into the spindle.

 

Looking through the service manual, the process looks a lot harder than I thought, and to make matters worse the dealer said he's never replaced a stud in 25 years of business.

Anyone know of a good machine shop in the So. Cal region? Or better yet, a dealer who knows what they're doing?

 

You should be able to take it to any regular shop (like a tire store, probably Sears too etc.) and they could do it. I took my rear spindle/hub to a little suspension shop called Suspension Plus to replace the hub and bearings.

 

The service manual says to "wash the knuckle and hub thoroughly in high flash point solvent before reassembly." Is this really necessary, and what kind of solvent do them mean?

 

I would think that brake cleaner would work just fine.

 

Ok, got the knuckle off. Should I take the hubcap off before I take it to the shop or is it ok to leave it on? Also , how exactly do you take the hubcap off, it doesn't seem obvious to me.

Last question, is my alignment gone to hell now that the knuckle is off?

Thanks