Wheel hub and bearing replacement, front and rear

Owners rate the front as fairly easy and the rear as harder (less access to the three hub bolts, plus the driveshaft). The official procedure is in the workshop manual (TIS). The job on the front is basically a brake disc change plus the three hub bolts. For which hub to buy and the front centre bolt, see Wheel bearings: which to buy.

Before you start

• Spray all the bolts and joints with penetrating oil the day before. One owner did this repeatedly for 24 hours and everything undid without trouble. Keep it off the brakes.
• Plain diesel is one of the best and cheapest penetrating oils, according to one owner, who says WD-40 is not much of a penetrant.
• Corrosion makes the job: some owners found everything came off easily, and others couldn't move a bolt.
• Use a 6-point socket and a good one. A cheap or worn socket rounds the bolt heads, and then they have to be cut off with an angle grinder.

Front

1. Raise the car, support it, and take the wheel off.
2. Remove the brake pads, caliper and disc, as for a disc change. See Front brake disc replacement.
3. Disconnect the ABS sensor wire so you don't pull it when you move things.
4. Undo the three hub bolts. They are slightly recessed, shallow-headed, and often very tight because they are thread-locked and corroded. Owners used a breaker bar (a 2 foot one, with the car jacked up high), a ring spanner on the nut with a club hammer on the other end to crack it, or an impact wrench. One owner couldn't shift them at home and had the whole hub and carrier assembly taken to a garage with an air impact wrench.
5. If your hub has a centre bolt (earlier cars, with washers and a nut), remove it. Many Turbos don't have one. See the bearing guide for why you should put it back.
6. Separate the hub from the carrier. They can be corroded together: use penetrating oil, a hammer and a small pry bar.
7. Fit the new hub, with a little mid-strength thread lock on the three bolts, and tighten to 90 Nm. If it has a centre bolt, fit it as well (see the torque note above).
8. Refit the disc, caliper and pads, and reconnect the ABS wire. No puller is needed at the front, since there is no driveshaft.

Rear

One owner photographed his rear job in June 2025. The steps, with other owners' notes:

1. Remove the wheel. Free up the handbrake cable and disconnect it from the caliper.
2. Free up the brake pipe. Remove the caliper, using its two bolts (a good Allen bit and ratchet for the lower one), and slip it off.
3. Remove the split pin from the hub nut. The kit should have a new one.
4. Disconnect the ABS sensor wire now, so you don't forget before straining the ball joints. Remove the disc screw and the disc. The toe link also has to come off to release the hub, per another owner.
5. Lock up the hub, with a trolley jack under it.
6. Undo the front lower ball joint nut but leave the joint in for now. Next come a pair of bolts that will probably be rusty with awkward access (the thread doesn't name them). Keep the shims in order. This frees the top of the hub, so you don't need to release the upper ball joint, which the author judged harder. Then free the lower ball joints.
7. Driveshaft: remove the castle nut (a 30 mm socket was used by one owner, a 32 mm deep reach by another, with a big breaker bar). Free the splines with a few firm taps on the end of the driveshaft with a copper-faced or soft mallet, and a hub puller if it won't move. One owner's advice is to "kiss" it, not smack it, and says it only needs to move: movement proves it will release at the hub end, not at the gearbox, where you don't want to pull on the shaft and spill fluid.
8. Hub bolts: the three bolts are tight and have worse access than at the front. One owner used a plain 19 mm hex bolt and a couple of washers under the head for better access in future, and says never to use Allen heads there, because they are weaker when rusty. He says the original star-head bolts are nice, but a plain hex bolt is hard to beat for simplicity.
9. Tap the old bearing out. There is some friction, but you shouldn't need to force it. Fit the new unit and refit everything in reverse.
10. Tighten the hub bolts (90 Nm) and the driveshaft nut (see torque notes), and fit a new split pin.

• One owner changed his rear bearing without removing the hub carrier, which he found finicky but doable with the right spanners. Another says it is easier to take the carrier off and work on the bench with an impact gun, and that you don't have to.
• Use a hub puller on the driveshaft splines if they won't release. One owner made a Halfords puller meant for 4-bolt hubs work.
• If the driveshaft doesn't seat properly in the new hub afterwards, one owner solved it by asking on the forum. The thread doesn't say how.
• While it is all apart, check the driveshaft boots.

Torque notes

• Hub bolts, 90 Nm (3 per hub): TIS, quoted by two owners, with mid-strength thread lock. One owner had read 220 Nm for the rear and questioned it, and two others answered 90 Nm.
• Centre clamp bolt (front, early hubs): one owner says tighten it to 45 Nm. Another says 210 Nm is for the big central nylock nut and the rear castle nut. These disagree, so check TIS. See Torque values.
• New Torx-head nuts are sometimes supplied for the rear driveshaft and are longer than the originals. One owner reused his originals.

Time

• About an hour per corner with a ramp, and double without (one owner), or about an hour per hub for a professional with air tools (another).
• A front hub was described as a couple of hours' work, including the brakes.