Wheel bearings and mechanic horrors

[thomash]

Hi. I have a '96 Sephia. One of my wheel studs snapped off on the front driver-side wheel when I was attempting to rotate tires. I didn't feel comfortable changing it myself, so I took it to a local Goodyear place. They charged $65 to do this, which I felt was reasonable. This included replacing a second stud, which they apparently broke on the passenger front wheel. (Previous shop obviously cross threaded the lug nuts.)

On driving out of the shop's parking lot, I immediately heard a grinding noise in the front. I did not hear this grinding noise before, but from experience on other cars, I thought it would be the bearing. The shop said it was the front bearings and charged me almost $700 to replace them.

Looking in the Kia shop manual, it looks like the wheel hub has to come out to replace the wheel stud, and the wheel hub plugs into the bearing. I discussed this with the manager and he said there was absolutely no way his workers ruined the bearings -- he said they were "ready to go" because the car has 113k miles. He said the mechanic "didn't even touch the bearings." I told him that it didn't make the noise before I brought it in, and it made the noise afterward, but he said he didn't care because he did not test drive the car and it is his word against mine. He refused to budge but to give a 10% discount on labor.

I am thinking about taking the shop to court. Is anyone familiar enough with Kia bearings to speculate on how the shop could have ruined the bearings while replacing wheel studs?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[thomash]

I spoke with a tech at the local Kia dealer today -- he thinks it is a certainty that the shop ruined the bearings. Apparently with these cars, the usual practice is to take the whole steering knuckle/hub assembly out in order to get the hub out to put in a new wheel stud. He said it is quite possible that the hub couldn't be separated from the axle and that the shop used heat or excessive force and destroyed the bearings.

He said that the usual practice is to contact the customer in advance and to get their authorization to replace the bearings before using excessive force. Instead, these guys just broke the bearings and put it together, hoping I wouldn't notice. Then they turned around and lied to me and said that the hub "just slipped out".

[1fastkia]

They probably were beating the broken stud with a hammer to get it out and in turn broke the bearings. It happens a lot actually.

[Juggalotus]

I would most def take this to court, I mean it could be a freak accident, but highly unlikely. I have had to replace my rear wheel bearings, and I did it myself. When I had called around for prices, they were no where near $700 to be replaced. I was only getting about $400-500 quotes, but I will say, I wish I would have had someone else replace them, they are a pain to do...

[1fastkia]

I had the fronts done a long time ago. It was a nightmare but still only took 2 hrs. cost about 115 bucks. Parts and labor.