LOL...

I was on freeway, on my way to work this morning... about 70 mph... When all of a sudden, the LEFT FRONT WHEEL LOCKS UP!!!! Tire smoke everywhere!!! Fighting the wheel, trying to get to the side of the road..... And then the wheel caught on fire!!!!! Well, looks like the wheel bearing locked up on me... So, instead of having a nice evening at home, I'l lbe tearing into the 7....

Dan

 

damn sorry to hear that. Good to hear you made it out ok. I have a wheel bearing set that i got from VB, if needed that Ill sell ya. still new in the box.

 

Was it making any noise or giving off any other warning signals?

 

They usually dont go out like that... You can feel em going LONG before that happens.

In fact, any time I've seen a wheel bearing go out catastrophically, it was on a FWD, and one of the rear wheels, hub, and brake drum go flying off into left field.

 

Nope, no noise, no warning... I even checked them over the weekend.... no play....

Dan

 

damn...locked up at 70mph??? that is crazy

 

Crazy.

Good thing you didn't lose the other front wheel bearing and shoot into oncoming traffic.

 

Are you certain it's the wheel bearing? With the conditions that you described, I would think that a wheel bearing would be grinding itself away as it ran, creating more and more runout, until the bearing completely gave out - which would still allow the tire to turn smoothly, just not in a straight line.

You might have actually broken one of your brake mounts or the pad came loose and lodged between the rotor and the mounts - this would lock up a wheel at 70mph without question. I would be very surprised to know that a bearing would seize with the kind of rotational inertia that a 40lb wheel/tire generates at 70mph on the freeway.

Dig into it and let us know what you find. At least you're still alive to tell about it!

 

You have any apholstery left on your drivers seat?

I think after something like that I would have to have it surgically moved.


But, as the others say, I would doubt bearing since it wasn't giving you any warning.

 

Maybe it's your cv joint

 

I had a similar experience when my left fron tire locked up at about 90, except it didnt totally lock it locked and unlocked quickly about three times. Scared the **** out of me but surprisingly did not make me lose control or even change lanes, teardown revelled that the wheel bearing was totally chewed up into little peices, had to use a dremel to get the inner race off. Oh yea it had given me a little warning, since that time i have learned to listen to my car when it tells me something is wrong, I thought I was going to die!!!

 

I'm am now POSITIVE it was the wheel bearing... HA!!! Why, do you ask? I picked up new bearings at the parts store today, and began the disassembly... and promptly stopped... The bearing has welded itself to the spindle... So, it's off to the junkyard I go tomorrow!!!!

Oh, and my wheel bearing did close to the same thing that Rwatson did... Locked up, unlocked, LOCKED!!!!!! unlocked, got to the side of the road.... cooled down after the fire.... LOCKED.......

Dan

Dan

 

Same thing happened to my brother, except he drives an '85 Scottsdale with 4" lift and 33x12.50 M/Ts. Locked up on him on the highway, and if anyone had been next to him, at least one of them probably would have been badly injured. After he got the truck home, he tore it down and had pieces of bearing and god knows what else falling out.

Glad to hear you're alright, though.

 

Unintentional friction welding.

 

Dan are you sure you heard nothing at all? I have had several go out on me in the past, and always had some warning, did the cap pop off somehow, and lose all the greese? (or maybe rear seal)? thats kinda strange hearing nothing at all.

well I am glad to hear that you didn't get hurt, or damage the seven in a slide.
Oh and incidently how much weight did you lose from shitting your pants?

 

Ok, I'll be the first to say it:

Man you got lucky, glad it worked out in the end.

Seriously though, it's super weird that the bearing wasn't making any noise or showing evidence of play.

 

It got so hot that it blew the cap off!!! lol... But yeah, it really worries me... This car sees a lot of autox/track duty, and I can only imagine what that would've been like at 110mph on race rubber....

Dan

 

You are very lucky! I have had one wheel bearing fail on me, in a Rabbit GTI. It gave no warning, I went over an intersection 'rise', heard a godawful rattle in the right front and immediately the car pulled hard that way. When I pulled everything apart that evening, you could look straight through the bearing; the seals had melted. I'd only had the car a few months, and it developed an appetite for bearings, I believe I replaced them three times in two years. I HATED that car. German engineering, my ***.

 

If the junkyard gets too expensive (As they tend to do around here, unless you know of any good ones and are willing to share.) the driver's side suspension is still good on my GSL. (Passenger side was in the collision.)

I've got my whole SE suspension swap, in a storage unit.

My car is a 1985, so even if yours is a GSL-SE, any 85 spindle should work. I could let it go for cheap or parts trade... (Ooooo! Or a good deal on some Snap-On tools. )

 

Turn your stereo down so you can hear your car talking to you!!!!

 

Stereo was down, I was listening to the news.... I know how to work on my car, and I check it over completely at least once a month... I'm also Chief of Tech for the WDCR SCCA SoloII commitee... I know what a bad wheel bearing sounds, and looks like... This bearing gave no warning.

Pele- If you're looking for first gen parts, we probably have the #1 person in the country located right here in Northern Virginia... He sold me a spindle today for 40 bucks...

Dan

 

Not only does he check out his own car, but I garrendamntee he has any tools he needs for the job

 

Lemmie guess... Way out in BFE Maryland, past a small town called Sunshine? Knows Tofuball on this forum?

Or someone at Malloy Mazda in Hoodbridge? (I live halfway between Malloy and Browns Mazda... I used to live righ tnect to Browns, so I ususally go there.)

 

LOL.... if you lived right next to Brown's, you lived within 5 minutes of this guy... I'll PM you my phone number, and give you details...

Dan

 

Brown's Alexandria Mazda... On Rt 1... I think there's another one out in Fairfax or something.