kentubman

I'm replacing wheel bearings on my 2000 986 S. Does the bearing / hub carrier need to come out of the car? It appears I have to get the strut out of the way in order to get the tension bolt (stub axle?) out of the way to pull the bearing. Is there a way to do that without removing the entire assembly?

Also, when disconnecting the control arms, how hard should it be to get them disconnected?

Thanks.

AlpharettaRK

If you have an in-car bearing puller ( I have the one from Sir Tools) you can do it in the car. You remove the caliper and rotor, then the 2 bolts that holt the strut in the hub and the 3 bolts that hold the strut bearing up top (mark where the bolts are in the slots so you don't have to get an alignment). You'll need a spring compressor so you can remove the strut and spring as an assemblyif you have stock springs. On my car with lowering springs I could pull the strut assembly out using a little muscle (I don't have much) without a compressor. You do not disconect the control arm if you are doing it in-car. If you don't have an on-car puller but have access to a press it's not that much more work to remove the hub and remove the spindle and bearing using a press (but then you need an alignment. I think if you do a search on wheel bearings there's an excellent write-up with pics that somebody posted here a while back.
Good luck!
Cheers
Randy

EDIT - here's the writeup:

http://boxster.wikia.com/wiki/Wheel_Bearing_Change

kentubman

Thanks. I was trying to avoid doing an alignment. If marking the bolts is good enough I'll try that.

I also have the SIR tool for this purpose.

kentubman

Can you explain why I need an alignment after the carrier has been removed and reinstalled? The control arm and tie rod lengths have not changed so shouldn't they go back in and position the wheel in the same place?

Thanks.

insite

you don't