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I realize that's a strong title, and may get my post deleted, and may even get me blocked from this site. But after what I've gone through trying to do a simple mechanical job that I've done on many of the cars I've owned in the past, the title and the attitude are justified.
Ready...
I tried to change the front wheel bearings on a 2004 2WD Kia Sorento.
On many other cars, it's fairly basic procedure any adequate shade tree mechanic can do in their driveway with a relatively standard set of hand tools. But on this car the hub/bearing design is so poor that you have to replace the entire hub assembly! What are the problems you might ask if you're still reading this?
1 - Sealed bearings so you can't re-pack them as part of regular brake maintenance. Granted I'm just on the other side of 50 and my 1st car was a '64 Oldsmobile that you could replace EVERYTHING on, but come on, some of us keep our cars longer than the extended warranty and like to maintain them ourselves. (As demonstrated by the existence of this very forum)
2 - OK, so I don't have to bother with re-packing the bearings at every brake job, that's great. But then make the hub so thet the bearings can be replaced when they wear out, or every 50-75k miles just to be safe. But no, you have to replace the entire hub because you cam't remove the threaded ring that holds the bearing in place in order to press them out! The bearings are available for anywhere from $25 on up at any 'normal' auto parts store, but why provide a way to replace a $25 part when you can replace the whole hub for $200 - $250 instead!
(FYI - After I pulled the hubs & took them with me to Pep Boys to get the old bearings pressed out & the new ones pressed in, only to find out they couldn't, I took the hubs to the local dealership where I was told by the service mgr: We won't work on them if they're not on the car. One of the service techs came out to look at them to try and give me some advice and promptly said "I've never had to replace wheel bearings, they must not fail until after they're out of warranty".
3 - Timing belt - Belts are another one of those things that should get checked/replaced as part of regular maintenance, so why put one where you have to take off the front 1/3 of the engine to get to it?
4 - Remember I'm old - Why does the entire engine depend on a bunch of $1.98 sensors (that cost $80) to keep the damn thing running? After I spent $2K to have the timing belt, crank position sensor, and water pump replaced, the 2nd crank position sensor failed after less than a year, randomly crapping out & leaving my wife stranded (it's her car). I'd come to pick her up & sometimes the car would start right back up & run fine for several weeks, but 3 times we had it towed in to the shop where they couldn't reproduce the problem and it never threw an OBDCII code indicating a sensor failure. $700 later in labor & parts we have a new crank sensor that *seems* to be ok for now. Why were distributors so bad? Points, plugs, and condensers weren't that hard to replace, and timing lights are actually kind of fun to use.
Anyway, I've ranted enough for now.
Ready...
I tried to change the front wheel bearings on a 2004 2WD Kia Sorento.
On many other cars, it's fairly basic procedure any adequate shade tree mechanic can do in their driveway with a relatively standard set of hand tools. But on this car the hub/bearing design is so poor that you have to replace the entire hub assembly! What are the problems you might ask if you're still reading this?
1 - Sealed bearings so you can't re-pack them as part of regular brake maintenance. Granted I'm just on the other side of 50 and my 1st car was a '64 Oldsmobile that you could replace EVERYTHING on, but come on, some of us keep our cars longer than the extended warranty and like to maintain them ourselves. (As demonstrated by the existence of this very forum)
2 - OK, so I don't have to bother with re-packing the bearings at every brake job, that's great. But then make the hub so thet the bearings can be replaced when they wear out, or every 50-75k miles just to be safe. But no, you have to replace the entire hub because you cam't remove the threaded ring that holds the bearing in place in order to press them out! The bearings are available for anywhere from $25 on up at any 'normal' auto parts store, but why provide a way to replace a $25 part when you can replace the whole hub for $200 - $250 instead!
(FYI - After I pulled the hubs & took them with me to Pep Boys to get the old bearings pressed out & the new ones pressed in, only to find out they couldn't, I took the hubs to the local dealership where I was told by the service mgr: We won't work on them if they're not on the car. One of the service techs came out to look at them to try and give me some advice and promptly said "I've never had to replace wheel bearings, they must not fail until after they're out of warranty".
3 - Timing belt - Belts are another one of those things that should get checked/replaced as part of regular maintenance, so why put one where you have to take off the front 1/3 of the engine to get to it?
4 - Remember I'm old - Why does the entire engine depend on a bunch of $1.98 sensors (that cost $80) to keep the damn thing running? After I spent $2K to have the timing belt, crank position sensor, and water pump replaced, the 2nd crank position sensor failed after less than a year, randomly crapping out & leaving my wife stranded (it's her car). I'd come to pick her up & sometimes the car would start right back up & run fine for several weeks, but 3 times we had it towed in to the shop where they couldn't reproduce the problem and it never threw an OBDCII code indicating a sensor failure. $700 later in labor & parts we have a new crank sensor that *seems* to be ok for now. Why were distributors so bad? Points, plugs, and condensers weren't that hard to replace, and timing lights are actually kind of fun to use.
Anyway, I've ranted enough for now.
