Sharing a DIY to replace the wheel bearing on Volvo SPA. 2018 S90 with 51K miles.
Symptoms of the bad wheel bearing I had:
1- Vibration at low and high speeds but no play on the wheel when the car is lifted.
2- Typical wheel bearing humming noise that started just recently and way after the vibration.
3- Exessive runout when the wheel turn. I was able to see the rear wheel runout (right & left movement) using the driver side mirror on the rear driver side wheel. I didn’t find the same runout on the rear right side. Anyway, you got the idea.
Tools needed:
1- Wheel Bearing Kit: Volvo wheel bearing kit was about $225! It was too expensive and I found two aftermarket companies that probably supply Volvo with wheel bearing. Only available from European eBay or Websites unfortunately.
A- Optimal Wheel Bearing (full kit with 5 bolts) for around $100. Part # Optimal 890760. This is what I bought and used. Look identical to Volvo wheel bearing but the 4 bolts aren’t.
B- SKF Wheel Bearing (only wheel bearing no bolts) for around $100. Part # VKBA 7132
I definitely saved a lot from buying Volvo OEM kit although I paid for from shipping from Europe.
2- 13mm hex for axle bolt
3- 15mm hex for the two caliper retainer
4- 7mm allen for the brake calioer pins
5- Torx T27 for the rotor bolt
6- M12- 12 point bit
7- E14 female torx socket
8- Blue threadlocker for the 4 wheel bearing bolts
9- Grease to lubricate the wheel bearing hub area.
General comments on the installation:
At least for the rear wheel bearing, it’s a straight forward process. Before starting, release the rear parking brake and ensure to turn off the auto parking brake feature is off on Sensus.
Luckily , no need to remove the axle and the lower control arm. You will only need to remove the brake caliper, caliper retainer, and rotor to have access to the 4 wheel bearing mount bolts.
Start with untighten the axle bolt before lifting the car. Then, remove the brake components. Finally, work on the wheel 4 wheel bearing bolts.
Removing/installing the 4 bolts might be difficult due to the small space available. To ease the job, make sure you have a different sizes of wrenchs (length). Once the 4 bolts are removed, one hit with a plastic hammer is enough to separate the wheel bearing hub from the base.
Here are some pictures:
