Wheel Bearing at no miles

[sutoka]

Relative of mine called and told me she'd had her 2017 VW Polo at the garage as it was making a 'thudding noise' which got louder as she accelerated. This is an indy garage not a VW dealer but they've told her it's a front wheel bearing. I ask how many miles the car has done since she bought it new 5 years ago.

Just under 20,000. Over my decade and a bit of tinkering with possibly a hundred cars I've never seen a car with 20k miles needing a wheel bearing. I had a 160k mile Jaguar and a a few other cars with moon mileage that needed one.

Surely something is amiss?

[Rod200SX]

Surely depends on the type of driving? Our work cars don't do much miles but it's all city centre driving round unforgiving streets, potholes etc so generally have quite high wear and tear.

Still low miles for a wheel bearing but depending on the driving conditions, may not be unreasonable.

[The spinner of plates]

Impact it hard enough and you wreck a wheel bearing instantly.

On the other hand it could outlast the rest of the car.

[SteBrown91]

guy I used to work with did a bearing on his golf at a similar mileage - he skidded in ice and bumped a kerb. Easily done

[Depthhoar]

2010 Polo I had from new needed a new front offside wheel bearing and hub assembly at 31k miles. Not accident or mishap-related just regular motoring up here in the Scottish Highlands.

[anonymous-user]

Bearings are one of those things that used to be a common replacement but now last the life of many cars if they're not damaged.

Not if your car is lashed together by VAG though; last car they engineered and built properly had "Made in Western Germany" on the VIN plate.

[stevieturbo]

sutoka said:

Relative of mine called and told me she'd had her 2017 VW Polo at the garage as it was making a 'thudding noise' which got louder as she accelerated. This is an indy garage not a VW dealer but they've told her it's a front wheel bearing. I ask how many miles the car has done since she bought it new 5 years ago.

Just under 20,000. Over my decade and a bit of tinkering with possibly a hundred cars I've never seen a car with 20k miles needing a wheel bearing. I had a 160k mile Jaguar and a a few other cars with moon mileage that needed one.

Surely something is amiss?

20,000...is not "no miles"

And a "thudding noise" would seem unusual for a wheel bearing to make.

Without hearing or seeing it, who knows. But it would be unusual for a wheel bearing to fail at such low mileage unless there was some form of causation.