News

Project E46 M3 - Replacing Front Wheel Bearings January 19 2014

We have a friend that had a bad wheel bearing, but kept driving on it for a while. Finally, the bearing seized up and the wheel locked up while the car was at speed. There was lots of tire smoke and plenty of steering correction, and a soiled pair of underwear later, the car came to a stop in the middle of the busy road. Luckily, no one was hurt, and no damage was incurred, but it could have been bad.

When our E46 M3 had started to make a whirring sound at certain speeds, we suspected a bad wheel bearing and wanted nothing to do with a seized wheel bearing. We had recently tackled this same job on our E36 M3, and the process is very very similar. Basically, you strip off all the brake components, pull off the wheel bearing, and then put new parts back in. With the right tools, it's not a difficult job, so let's get started.