Wheels are the most important part of a car like a backbone without which riding is not possible. For a smooth ride of a car, it is important to maintain the wheel. The pre-assembled unit wheel hubs are responsible for attaching the wheel and car.
Now the question arises, what do you understand about wheel hubs? What are the replacement and repair costs? And before this, the main question is how can we diagnose wheel hub failure? When the replacement is required or the repair of the wheel hub is all that is needed.
To know the answer let’s discuss wheel hubs and their featuring components like precision bearings, seals, and sensors.
About Wheel Hub(Where it is found?)
Wheel hubs are a machinery metal part, it connects the axle of the vehicle to the wheel which is found between the suspension of the vehicle and the wheel. It is a crucial part of the steering system which simply allows the wheel to spin smoothly with the help of wheel bearing.
A small knowledge about wheel bearing is a set of rollers and steel balls that is wrapped by a metal ring contributing to the safe steering and handling of the vehicle. At the midpoint of the wheel hub, it is found as an empty piece of metal. It reduces the friction as it rides on the car axle shaft thus allows the wheel to spin for a smooth-riding of the vehicle.
What is the cost of a Wheel Hub?
Car repairing and services or tune-up of the car are always needed for the good maintenance of the car. As time passes, vehicles demand regular servicing vehicles as the parts of the car are also worn out and become inefficient. We know wheels are the essential parts of the vehicle as it is necessary to maintain a solid connection between the wheels and the car. Since today there are a variety of wheel hubs present in the market. So the cost of the wheel hub varies on the brand name and obviously from the seller whom you buy from.
How to diagnose the failure of the Wheel Hub?
As we know, driving with the failure wheel is dangerous. The failure of the wheel hub mainly happens with two components, either the wheel bearing is worn out or the whole hub assembly is not in good condition. As time passes the bearing of the wheel hub wears out which might stop the wheel from spinning to ride smoothly. This leads to your vehicle becoming shaky as the wheel is not in the proper condition. This might cause the degradation of the wheel hub assembly and fracture of the wheel steel because the wheels come off the vehicles. If you suspect that your vehicle has a failing wheel you must be aware of it. To diagnose a failing wheel there are some points to keep in your mind. These are:
- When you are driving at the speed of 30-45mph there is a sound of growling, humming, squeaking, chirping, or squealing coming from the tires.
- Your steering wheel of the vehicle starts shaking while driving.
- There is an ABS light coming on when the signal is lost and when the sensor is not reading properly.
How to decide if your wheel hub demands replacement or the repairing of the wheel hub is enough?
There is no constant maintenance schedule for the wheel hub replacement or repairing. However, it can depend on how you hit a pothole, tall curb, or speed bump at a brisk speed. Also, it leads to failure of the wheel hub bearing which may happen due to water, mud, road salt, or sand getting past the seal and coming in contact with the bearings. This will contaminate the grease, which causes the wheel hub bearings to prematurely wear down.
One should advise never to ignore the deteriorating signs of the wheel bearings. Because ignoring the deteriorating sign may cause tire and wheel break off, and send your vehicles out-of-control, which causes skidding of the vehicle may be across several lanes. Yes, it is possible if you diagnose any sign of the deteriorating of the wheel hub. Immediately call a reputable service technician for advice. They advised you after seeing the whole condition of the wheel that it is in repair condition or repair does not cause the problem to be solved so you need replacement.
How much does the repairing cost of the wheel hub?
The repairing cost of the wheel hub depends on some facts. These facts are as follows:
- Labor cost which varies from small worker to the reputable service technician.
- It also depends on the type of the car, like a big car sedan, XUV, Fortuner, etc may involve more process than a small one like alto, nano, etc.
- There is price variation from choosing the repairing service center
- Time is the main concern as taking time by the labor to repair the wheel hub also affects the cost coming in the repairing of the wheel hub.
Why do labor costs and time vary so much?
Labor time depends on the type of the car so, with the car variation of the car, labor time also varies. There are different factors that come while repairing a wheel hub. As the car was built exactly not the same so there is also variation in the time taken by the mechanics and dealerships.
The labor cost and time differ even for the similar model of the car as there are differences even between them. The time and the cost will start to add up if the suspension design requires special equipment and there are more steps to get the wheel hub. If the bearing of the wheel hub is pressed then in this situation it will add extra labor time and effort for the repairing or the replacement of the wheel hub.
The labor cost can vary greatly so you should gather more and more information from labor cost to the time taken by labor.
Nowadays, there is more fraud take place with the person in every field, so it is advised before going to your mechanic, gather all the information like you’ll not only know how long it should take so that your important work is not affected, but also you’ll have the confidence to know when you’re getting the right price.
According to some data the wheel hub replacement costs can range from $90 to $500 for labor alone. Some examples to show how the time varies for the repairing or replacement of the wheel hub of some car based on the year and model of the car:
- For the Sedans car labor hours vary as, Model number 2007 Honda Civic takes 1 hour, 2007 Dodge Charger takes 4.6 hours and the 2007 Mercedes Benz E320 takes 2 hours.
- For the Wagons car, labor hours vary as, Model number 2007 Audi A6 takes 1.6 hours, model number 2007 Volvo XC70 takes 4.4 hours, and model number 2007 Mazda takes 6 to 4 hours.
- For the Sportscar labor hours vary as, Model number 2007 Nissan 350Z takes 6.1 hours, model number 2007 Audi S4 takes 1.6 hours, and 2007 Chevrolet Corvette takes 8.4 hours.
- For the SUVs/Crossovers car labor time varies as model number 2007 Pontiac Torrent takes 2.4 hours, model number 2007 BMW X3 takes 1.3 labor hours, and model number 2007 Mercedes Benz R320 takes 3 hours.
How much does the replacement cost of the wheel hub?
As the wheel hub is an important part of the car without which your car can not even move it connects the wheel to the car. Wheel hub replacement depends on the variation of the type of car which includes how large car wheel hubs are and how difficult to take off these hubs play an important role in deciding the cost of the wheel hubs.
As we discussed above how the labor cost will vary according to the time taken by the labor and the time varies as the car varies, wheel hub replacement costs can range from $30 to $500 for labor alone. However, the replacement cost mainly depends on the parts of the wheel hub. Like the cost of the wheel hub(including assembly or bearing) can vary from the range as low as $40 and go higher as $100 and many more. We can not determine the exact price of the wheel hub. As it differs from car to car and from the brand name of the wheel hub to the seller from where you buy the wheel hub.
Why is it important to replace the wheel hub?
One should advise never to ignore if the technician says to replace the wheel hub after the signs of the wheel hub are deteriorating. Because ignoring the deteriorating sign may cause tire and wheel break off, and send your vehicles out-of-control, which causes skidding of the vehicle may be across several lanes. Yes, it is possible, therefore to ignore that type of situation you must replace your failure wheel hubs with the new one.
But, it is recommended before replacing the wheel hubs to make sure to double-check if it is the front or rear wheel hub, and which side is left or right side because every side has different dimensions, and it is easy to mix it up. So that you don’t have to end up paying twice and waste both your efforts and money for the replacement of the wheel hub.
One more important point is always to choose the wheel hub according to the budgets but never fall for the cheapest one from the local brand, as it is not strong enough to handle the pressure which might cause the breakdown of the wheel hub in between and you will be stuck in a bad situation. So for a good recommendation always choose the right brand according to the budget which is successfully worked in the field.
Conclusion
Wheels are the most important part of a car, it is important to maintain the wheel hub for the smooth spinning of the wheel. As time passes, when the parts of the car start to wear out and become inefficient, it is important to regularly service the parts of the car. And if by chance when there is the sound of growling, humming, squeaking, chirping, or squealing coming from the tires, the steering wheel of the vehicle starts shaking while driving, and there is an ABS light coming on when the signal is lost. Immediately call a reputable service technician for advice. The wheel replacement and repairing cost can vary from car to car which includes how large car wheel hubs are and how difficult to take off these hubs play an important role in deciding the cost of the wheel hubs. I hope with the help of this article you get all the answers to the question about wheel hub from time and cost to why replacement or repairing of the wheel hub is required.
