I just got through spending $232.00 to have a wheel bearing fixed in my 99 integra. I paid 70.00 for the part and labor came out to $160.00. Does this sound right to you? The place I went to charges $70.00 hr. so this would mean that the job took a little over two hours to do, does this sound right? If any mechanics could answer this that would be great. I just want to know whether I am getting a fair deal.

 

That's a reasonable amount of time considering that the whole knuckle probably came out and use of a press. Wheel bearings just don't install themselves like they used to that's for sure.

 

That sounds about right. I just did my wheel bearings on my GSR for preventative measures (174k miles). They run about $50 from Acura online so $70 sounds about right retail.

$170 for labor isn't bad, it took me a few hours installing and then you need a pretty big press to get the bearings in and out. You normally have to pull the whole knuckle so it's a big of work disconnecting the upper, lower, and tie rod joints.

You MAY be able to get it cheaper though. I had a gas station press in and out my bearings for me (only $20 cuz I gave them the bare knuckle. My little press wasn't up to the task) and they said they had this tool that enabled them to change the bearing while still on the car. That would greatly reduce the time it takes to change it so you could probably get it a bit cheaper if they owned that tool. Then again they said the tool was like a grand so they may change more to compensate for buying it.

I would definately have both of your bearings done at the same time. If one goes then the other is on it's way out and a wheel bearing isn't exactly something you can put off replacing. My '90 Integra's wheel nearly damn fell off when I drove about 50 miles with it grinding.

How many miles are on your car anyways? It seems kind of odd that a '99 would have the wheel bearings going. I just wanna make sure the place isn't trying to rip you off when you problem may lie elsewhere. On Honda's I(or any import for that matter), I've only seen them go when you're close to 200k. I did have one go at 130k, but that was on a crappy '89 Grand Caravan, the opitomy of reliability .

 

I'd say your pretty lucky that the shop you went to HAD a press and was able to do it in house. Alotta shops dont have presses and you end up having to pay for someone to take it over to the machine shop, then pay the machine shops fee on top of your garage fees. Seems like a pretty good deal to me

 

Just checked in my collision shop repair guides, and I came up with 2.1 hrs book time to do the job, so thats right in line. We charge $76/hr for mechanical operations, but labor prices vary from area to area. As for how long it took him to do it, thats somewhat irrelevant. The times are based on what it would take an average technician with average tools to do the job. An excellent technician shouldn't be penalized for being good at his job, which is essentially what billing at clock time would do. Now the kicker is, if it had taken him 4 clock hours to do the job, he still would've only been paid 2.0hrs to make the repair. As for the list price of the bearing itself, Acura was charging $63.47 list. So all told, it sounds like you found yourself a fair and honest shop, which is becoming more and more rare these days.