I just got back from a shop that mounted my tires and they said they couldn't do the alignment because my driver side rear hub bearing is REALLY bad.

About 2-3 weeks ago I noticed a thumping noise and I thought it was because of my tires being bold (stock potenza RE050s at 18xxx miles), but the noise was still there even after they replaced the tires and it's due to the hub bearing being bad (tech said it was moving a lot). He told me this would be covered under the warranty without any problems.

Now, I called the dealership and they told me it would be covered under the warranty unless I hit a curb. About 6 months ago I scratched up my driver side rims pretty bad driving against sidewalk in a parking lot and there is a pretty bad scratch/scrape on the driver side rear rim, but I never hit any curbes dead on.

Could Nissan deny replacing the part under the warranty because of the scratch on the rim?

 

They could deny the warranty claim but the only way you will find out is taking your car to a dealership and discussing it with them. Hitting a sidewalk would be about the same thing as hitting a curb (talking semantics here).

 

I mean... I could re-mount the tires and swap left and right wheels.... that would cost me $40, but I'd rather not do that and discuss it with them first. I am just afraid they'll deny it if I don't swap the wheels but I don't really want to do that.

 

I thought that hub bearing couldn't really go bad with a minor curb rash... I thought you'd have to get in an accident or crack a wheel before the hub bearing would f up.

 

Yes. As KornerCarver mentioned hitting a curb soft hitting a curb hard. No difference.

 

Sorry, you're wrong. A hub bearing is NOT built to take any heavy side loads from an impact. Hitting a curb will void your warranty on that part. Hate to say it, but even if you switch wheels to hide the damage, when the tech pulls the unit they're gonna figure out it was operator error.

 

I had the exact same problem at about the same mileage, and I also had slight curbage on the wheel in question (not from any rediculous impact, just your average rash from kissing the curb). When I took it to the dealer to get fixed I was told this is a relatively common problem with our cars, and they replaced it under warranty without a problem.
At the time I assumed Nissan was having quality control issues with their bearings. For reference, I have an '08 Z.

I hope that helps.

 

THANK YOU! This is all I needed to hear!

And even if they deny it... parti s $140 and my friend that's pretty good with cars can replace it for me... there is an DIY on here.

 

My driver's side rear wheel bearing also went out but it never touched any curbs. Nissan replaced under warranty no questions asked.