OT:WTF is it with taxi and hire car wheelbearings ?

[Graham.]

Full lock U turns?

Doesn't explain the hire cars though.

[Jethro_uk]

Took 2 Ubers yesterday. A SEAT and a Prius

As with the last two I took, and the two before that (all various makes and models) it was clear a front wheel bearing was on the way out.

Which reminded me of the last 2 hire cars I had - one in the UK and one in Iceland. They too had a front wheel bearing on the way out.

Not the same one each time though.

[Sam Plusnet]

Careless drivers, unfamiliar with the handling hitting the curb?

Was it the left or right front wheel? (subject to driving on the left or right, in that location)

[Rod Speed]

Cant say I have ever encountered that with any taxi, hire car or uber or work vehicle.

And I have had to replace the front wheel bearing in a VW beetle that I had bought new in the very early 70s

[Jethro_uk]

Hadn't thought of that - good idea. (Not just full lock, but foot down :) )

[Jethro_uk]

This far in I can't remember. But the Ubers were both the LHS

[JNugent]

Over a lifetime, I have had various arms-length connections - family and otherwise - with the licenced taxi-trade. The Austin cabs (FX4 in its various evolutionary forms leading into the current model) were and are not noted for any particular problems with wheel bearings. Given the high mileage that such vehicles do when double shifted (1,000 miles a week is far from uncommon), the vehicle stands up robustly to such use.