My mot guy informed me that the front wheel on my 1998 916 had a slight knock. So after arriving back home, I started to remove the front wheel, on pulling out the axle bar, the bearing on the right side fell out. So I checked the recess face on the wheel and all looks ok, no damage or anything. Further inspection, it seems I can place the bearing back in using my hand and a little strength, Also when the bearing is in the wheel I. Can rotate the whole thing. I removed the oil seal and speedo ring from the other side, and yep its exactly the same.. Anyone else ever come across this issue before? What next, without having to replace a front wheel?
Have the wheels been powder coated at some point? If yes the may have failed to protect the bearing seats when blasting the old paint off.
Loctite 638, make a threaded device to pass through the axle hole to clamp the bearings. Leave 24hrs to fully cure. Had to do this on my 999 wheels after getting them back from powder coating.
This can happen with age / mileage / soft ally... I also vote loctite bearing fit if the clearance is not too much. If the clearance is larger, the proper way to fix this is a new wheel, maybe could be machined & sleeved if the wheel were very rare and unobtanium. The hack's way of fixing is to go around the perimeter of the bearing (with the bearing in place) and punch the ally with a centre punch, crude but can fix for a while.
