What happens to a wheel bearing making noise for 1.5 years?
 

I had my right rear wheel bearing replaced by the dealership (still under certified warranty) down the road about 1.5 years ago. After I complained about a low humming noise coming from the right rear wheel upon coming to a stop. Driving it out of the dealership that day I heard a similar noise, but told my-self that they "fixed it"! So now after about 1.5 years and no indication that the bearing was originally fixed or getting any worse than the original noise after being "fixed". What am I to do? Get it fix again or wait? Can the Quattro system be damaged due to a bad wheel bearing?

Happy New Year!

The B5 tends to eat rear wheel bearings.
 

My sedan has seen several pairs at least 3. My wagon somehow has only had one rear bearing fail during my ownership but the other side may have already been done. What amazes me is that these rear bearings are the same as the fronts on the 1.8T A4 but the same bearing in the front doesn't fail at the same rate or anywhere near the same rate.

So what problems are childern of a letting a wheel bearing go bad?
 

In your experience with bad wheel bearings what are problems that occur, or safety concerns?

Thanks, Phil.

a soft hum probably means that it's not pressed in straight, but the bearing is good.

weird, I put 165K miles on my B5 and never replaced a rear, only fronts.

Sure it's not your tires making that noise?

Generally there are no subsequent issues.
 

The worst thing I could imagine would be a strangely worn tire or unevenly worn brake pads due to increased deflection along the axis of the hub/bearing. In short... even if it is whirring away... all will be okay once you replace the bearing. I'm not sure what the eventual catastrophic failure will be, I'd imagine wheel lockup due to heat and lack of lubrication. I have never seen such an occurrence of catastrophic failure.

broken balls
 

I've had several rears go. The last one got pretty rough and, when taken apart, a number of the balls had broken and worn down. A catastrophic failure wasn't far off!

The only place I've seen that sort of failure is on timing belt pulleys.
 

I've seen an engine with nothing more than the metal casing and center section... balls and cage completely MIA from the roller. That bearing-free roller makes more than a whirring sound.

I put 105k on my car and never replaced any