Not necessarily. A lot depends on the angular loading on the bearingand what might occur if play were to develop. In a front wheel with tapered rollers, a lil play isnt going to harm anything. In a differential with hypoid ring and pinion gears gears, any play, even .0001", could cause increased tooth wear leading to failure. The darn things will start humming, resonating actually, and the teeth start to chatter. Too much of that and it will self destruct quite rapidly. And resonant frequencies can be most damaging. I am sure if Brian is playing with jet engine turbine blades, he is quite aware of alternate harmonic frequencies that cross each other at certain rpms, setting up opposing harmonic forces against each other which must be avoided.

Considering that the limits of acceptable brake rotor runout is typically around 0.004", how smart would it be to "give away" 0.003" with a shade-tree bearing adjustment? Not smart in my book, and it won't be happening on my watch. All things considered, bearing adjustment affects more than just tapered rollers.

You could say the same for putting air in a tire. Do you use a guage or just go by feel?

.003" is within some manufactures specs for runout at the edge of the hub. Lets not confuse runout with end play. But just for the sake of conversation, how much runout do you think you would see at the rotor, with .5 mm end play in the bearings? I would rather they were snugger than that myself.

This is where you are factually incorrect.

If you put excessive preload on an automotive wheel bearing, you will absolutely contribute to its early demise.

As I previously mentioned to you, and you failed to understand, there are several members of this forum who adjusted a wheel bearing in the exact manner that you state and they suffered a failed bearing because of it.

Maybe you want to retype that question................

Either that, or stop measuring end play with a yard stick!!!

It all depends on how you define "a lil play".

If you define it as .5mm (which I believe is a typo), you can sure as hell bet that you'll have significant problem with damage to the rollers.

The largest issue with excessive clearance in the bearings is the vibration of the rotor in the caliper when the brakes are applied. The fixed calipers on the M/B are very unforgiving of any rotor runout.

If the caliper was floating, a clearance of .003" wouldn't be of a concern. The bearings wouldn't care.

this has been beaten to death a number of times - I recently redid the bearings on the front of my E300D and had read about the MB technique and also a porsche technique. The porsche calls for preload

to be dead on accurate over a large number of variables like people with different levels of feel (diabetes, age, experience etc) its best explained by MB to use a dial gauge.

however porsche cars are driven harder and faster and yet they tell to preload the bearing - if you look at porsche they are actually not preloading the bearings - they are trying to counter the hubs gravitational pull hanging off the axle snout which is read as preload on the beam type in lb wrench. Same concept with MB or any other manufacturer. When using the dial gauge you will find yourself "kind of" tightening the bearings a bit - this is the weight taken up by the nut - and you have to pull the hub hard to read the clearance - when I was pulling the hub I was literally pulling it hard enough to rock the whole car.

To make it easier and to get real close to spec without MB technique is to work the clasp nut till the bearings seat - then take a medium sized flat screwdriver and use it to tighten the nut while moving the hub with disc attached - note this position - this is tight - loosen it back and advance by thumb and index finger with natural finger force - note this position it will be before the old position you did with help of a screwdriver. This is about right amount of clearance you want and you cannot feel this by hand even with the wheel mounted.

Reading different manuals for passenger car wheel bearing adjustment - the basic concept is the same since forever.

I have very cool running hubs since I repacked and am using Penzzoil 707 bearing grease measured with a balance scale to exactly 60 grams in bearings and hub and 15 in the cap - this forces the grease into the bearings under centrifugal force while moving down the road. - I used valvoline cerulean before - the cats meow on paper but too stringy to my eye - the penzzoil 707l is quite soft and flowy while the cerulean was a bit stiff and waxy - it caked out in the hub cap.

Pretty same concept in all good brand cars which tell you to fill the hubs to the races level for centrifuge pump action to keep the bearing grease under pressure while driving - this was in an old Honda manual, I had an old mzd RX5 manual that had such information too

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

My own experience with the Wheel Bearing Adjstumetn was that when I did it by Hand I over heated the Hub a little and ended up having to remove it and change the Grease.

After that I took about 2 Hours to find My Dial Indicators and Magnetic and set the end play to Factory Specs. After that I had no issues.

I have had the Front Hubs off x2 since then (about 4 Years ago) and always used the Dial Indicator to adjust the end Play when they went back on and have had no issues.

In fact since the first time I went and bought a Metric Dial Indicator.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

^^ I also used dial indicator - but when i changed out the grease brands (I got penzzoil in the mail later on) I played with the hand technique and dial technique.. Surely the hand technique requires some feel experience and positively knowing when you get no play without load on the bearings - (the screwdriver technique I used above) - its possible but not all peoples feel, experience etc is the same.

So to stay out of failure liability - stick to the dial indicator.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

HI 911. I have read your posts for years and enjoy your at times creative approach to problem solving. I am about to replace the rotors on my 84 TDT and how to set the bearings. The car has such worn front rotors that I suspect it has been a long time since the bearings have ever touched. I have the HF dial indicator. I gather I put the magnet on the rotor and the need on the end of the spindle. Then what? move the wheel in and out at 12 oclock, 6 oclock and see what the dial reads?

I only just noticed this today. It is close to bedtime for me so I am lacking some interest right now.
I go by the method that is in the Mercedes manual. There is online sites where you can see that but I no longer have access to my notes to post such a site.

Brake calipers should be off and moved to the side.

In the past HF only had inch type dial indicators. If that is so you need to look on the internet to convert inches to mm. If they now have meteoric dial indicators, you don't need to do that (why I eventually bought a metric dial indicator).
Put the magnetic base on the lower part of the rotor because gravity will send it there anyway.

This video is how it would be done if you replaced bearings and or regreased. The ides of seating the hub is to squeeze out the grease on the races so that the grease itself is not taking up clearance.
Use the clearance for your year and model not the one on the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddxsWrTWLUI

Look for some other vids to fine tune how to use the dial indicator and likely you will find for your year and model.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Thanks 911. I get the procedure. I have always done the shade tree method erring on the side of too loose rather than too tight on all manner of cars. I think I now have found religion and will use the dial indicator method. silly not to. I also plan to do a shade tree analysis just by feel to see if my shade tree matches the dial indicator.

Post what you get when you do it by hand. I used to do it by hand on all of my vehicles till I overheated the Mercedes wheel hub. I was cautious and drove it a few blocks and checked the hub for heat and it was to hot. It created a lot more work for me because I had to take things apart and clean out the roasted grease and start over. After that I spent the 2 hours it took me to find my dial indicator and the magnetic base I had not see for more than 10 years.

One of our past members Dormison (not sure I am spelling it right but he has some wikis) worked in a shop and had some of the shop members do it by hand and with an indicator. When it was done by hand the clearances varied. When it was done with the indicator the clearance was always correct as long as the indictor was used properly.

If you ever do a rear wheel bearing the indicator is a must. There is a sleeve that you crush. If you don't watch the indicator as you tighten the nut and go to far you need to take it apart and get another new crush sleeve.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel