Question

How long can you drive on a bad wheel bearing?

Although not recommended, you can drive several miles on a bad wheel bearing.

Once you start to notice any sign of a bad wheel bearing, avoid exceeding 500 miles with that issue. A failing wheel bearing will increase your difficulty in driving. But with a high-quality wheel bearing, you can drive for another 1000 miles, as per the estimate, but we don’t recommend doing it.

Here are the various bad wheel bearing symptoms: 

• Grinding or grating noise from your wheel or tire is the most common and easily recognizable symptom. Take note of whether the noise is getting louder when accelerating the vehicle. 
• Low responsiveness when you steer your car often indicates a defect in your wheel bearing.  
• When the car is not responding as per your command, it also often indicates a worn wheel bearing. 
• Extremely uneven wear on tires also indicates false wheel bearings. 
• A failing ABS sensor.

Wheel bearings, in general, have a lifespan of 85,000 to 100,000 miles, and once your car is nearing this number of miles, you should keep an eye on the bad wheel-bearing symptoms.  The average cost for replacing a worn wheel bearing, excluding taxes, is $350 per wheel.