Rear wheel bearings (+rant)

[SCANDINAVIAN13]

**The first part of this is a rant - skip to the line in italics to get to the point**

So, it's about that time of year my car gets a total shakedown and the end product is a 325is that is rather happy with itself.
Unfortunately, this year, that's not the case...

Last year (when I bought it), the car had a great start with a fresh inspection, nearly new wheels (bought it used, naturally), and just all around cleanliness.

Today, not so much.
I had an appointment this morning for the install of 4 tires. I got some cheap 40,000mi Yokohamas, as I plan on getting new wheels and tires soon. Then I got the car inspected. During inspection they found some misalignments, so that got fixed. Basically everything checked out...

I figured the new tires would fix the problem causing my car to sound like a Jeep on off road tires, but it didn't. Turns out the problem wasn't the wear indicators on the tires, it's the right rear wheel bearing.

Simple enough, right? The bearing's $40ish...
Nope...
The tool for bearings is $250. Nobody rents the thing and the people who are able to install it want me to buy a $70 bearing for a total of $300 installed.

To make matters worse, I had an hour to kill before getting to work this morning, so I stopped off and got some breakfast. On my way out I got myself a milkshake, just because. I got maybe 100 feet from my office and the damned thing tipped over and spilt everywhere. Luckily I know a place that does nice carpet shampooing. I took it while I was on a lunch break it only cost me around $20 for the whole car. I figured since I was there I'd get the thing washed on the outside, too (both jobs I'd normally do myself, but I don't exactly have a carpet shampooer thing lying around). So it looked great for a few hours...
By the time I was done with work it was covered in tree sex (my loving term for pollen), and my wonderful Diamond Black Metallic paint is now Diamond Black Metallic Mustard Extreme.

To the real point of this post:

Does anybody have experience with switching rear wheel bearings out, with or without the tool? Can it be done without the tool? Know where I could find one to rent for the day?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Pirate_copy]

Hey buddy, sorry to hear about your bad day

The Bentley manual has info on how to replace a bearing.

I was always under the impression though that you needed a press to get the bearing back in the hub :dunno:

[Pirate_copy]

Read this buddy :thumbup:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98164

[sillycar]

I've changed bearings on other cars, you don't need a special tool. it was a 93 mecury topaz, useless ford junk, the big car has a tiny bearing designed to fail and seize

also did it on my celicas, bit better there expected for 20 year old car

[E36 Phantom]

Wow old thread! Lol.

[SCANDINAVIAN13]

Rather.
...and yes, you do need the tool on the BMW, unless you want to risk ruining your car.

[DEFKON99]

yea dude you will need the tool dont bother without it. its a sealed bearing unlike alot of the domestic cars wher is you repack it and your off. It actually has to be pressed in. Personally if you not willing to have a headache take it to the shop and save your self the stress. You will have to dissasemble the rear control arm and such to get the axle out of the way.

[ffej]

I've done the job on my car.

If I had it to do all over again, I'd take it to my mechanic. I was able to borrow the tool and the job was still more of a PITA than doing the headgasket on my 95. By a freaking MILE!

Save yourself the aggravation and have a mechanic do the job. It's not worth the money saved. Seriously

[Xeek]

LOL "Tree Sex" (I've never heard that before, I fell out of my chair laughing.)
"Diamond Black Metallic Mustard Extreme" hehehe
It has been a while since I have read something with good humor.

[SCANDINAVIAN13]

Oh, I know. All three weekends I had to drive up to my dad's garage to use the damned expensive tool I bought to try and pull the blasted thing out each time, only to have to put it all back together again to be able to drive it to work during the week. It sucked.

This is an old post. Really old...

Glad you enjoyed the humour. My sarcasm shows when I'm miffed.

[Kintiiwa]

Is the rear wheel bearing significantly more difficult than the front wheel bearing? The Bentley manual and the guy who wrote this
http://www.unofficialbmw.com/e36/suspension/e36_replace_front_wheelbearing.html

do not describe the front wheel hub with integral bearing replacement as being so difficult...?

[SCANDINAVIAN13]

From what I understand, it is significantly easier, yes.