ok for the past month or so my steering wheel would shake while going in a straight line, going around curves also gave a unsecure feedback in the steering wheel ...so i suspected the wheel bearing is going....while i was replacing my caliper today i noticed something......i spin the front rotor without pads and it would spin without any resistance (i tried to pull the rotor(in/out) for play...there was none)...is this normal?....i noticed that the previous owner did not bother putting back the dust plate behind the rotor...would dirt get in the grease and wear out the bearings?.....and yes i searched and relaized that the balljoint and tie rod are also suspect in this problem...so i will be checking that soon...

 

Try setting your front nut torques via the FSM.

I always remove the stock dustsheilds and haven't had any problems with subsequent bearing failure; the brake dustshields can limit airflow to the rotor.