Dear Scotty, I have a 2020 Camry with 145,000 miles on it. I took it to the dealer to get my brakes checked out because I purchased the lifetime brakes from Toyota ;but found out the driver wheel bearing needs to be replaced. I don’t hear any noise indicating the wheel bearing is going bad. The dealership claims that they put a stethoscope on the bearing and concluded it needs a new bearing. What is the general cost associated with that type of job, the dealer wants $1,000 to do the job and that’s outrageous. And also what is the typical lifespan of bearings on Camrys? I have stayed away from the dealer because they are nothing but crooks. I generally do all the maintenance on the car myself, what do you advise?
Bearings can go bad for many reasons. Mine have decades and hundreds of thousands of miles on them with no problems. Others either wear faster or are damaged on the road. Get quotes from independent shops in your area and make sure they will be using an OEM bearing.
If they have to put a stethoscope on it to hear it then that means it’s not too bad yet. I would wait until you can actually hear it.
I don’t hear any noise indicating the wheel bearing is going bad. The dealership claims that they put a stethoscope on the bearing and concluded it needs a new bearing.
They don't mockingly call dealerships "stealerships" for nothing. The dealer has tremendous overhead, and they need to make money on their "service" side, or they would be going under.
What is the general cost associated with that type of job, the dealer wants $1,000 to do the job and that’s outrageous.
Depends on the front or back wheel. When I replaced a wheel bearing in my 2013 Ford Fusion, rather than screwing around with a bearing, I purchased the whole OEM hub, and I did it myself in a few hours with basic hand tools and a torque wrench. The main thing that ticked me off was I had to use a slide hammer to get the bad hub off, three years after they made it (this was 2016). All of the work was getting off that hub. I would assume a front hub wouldn't be that much different than a rear hub. It's definitely not a $1000 job.
Get a shop you trust to look at it. I have a 1979 Pontiac Catalina, and the rear main seal went out while I was driving down the highway. Long story short, I saved the engine by taking it to a trustworthy shop. The mechanic was younger than the car and I had to school him a little. It took a month to get my car back, but it hasn't leaked a bit of oil since. It cost $600 to replace the rear main. If I had taken that to a dealership and they had to hold it for a month, I'd be out several thousand dollars.
