I just recently replaced my wheel bearings I had some difficulty with the right side. I felt like the castle nut was too loose (I had some play in the wheel). I would move it to the next postion (tighter ) ,where the cotter pin would fit through, and it felt like it had more drag on the rotor then the other wheel, however when tightened it did eliminate the play in the wheel.

I thought I had it all taken care of but now it seems like all the grease I packed in the wheel is comming out around the edges of the dust cap. The dust cap has some dents in the surface but appears to be pretty flush around the edges where it contacts the rotor. I am getting what seems to be a large amount of black grease on my wheels/rims. I was wondering what I should do to fix this and also if the blue grease should turn black this quickly (about 2 days after replacement).

 

No it really shouldn't get black that quick.

Did you replace the race that's in the rotor? If not, your new cone is probably already destroyed, and that's why your grease is getting burned and full of metal particles.

To properly adjust the bearing preload, tighten the nut to about 15 ft-lbs, while spinning the rotor a few times; then back the nut off until it's loose; then tighten it back to about 10 ft-lbs while spinning the rotor, and then tighten it some more until the next time the cotter pin slots line up.

 

Spin the WHEEL/TIRE while snugging the nut. Grab tire at top and bottom and twist. Back off nut until you just BARELY feel any movement and are close to a hole for the cotter pin when twisting on the tire and that is exactly where you want it.

The difference in DRAG from one side to the other could very well be your calipers dragging slightly.

 

I could be (and often am) wrong, but I believe the castle nut should be tightened by hand to remove nearly all of the freeplay, but should not be torqued.

I did that by accident way back when before I knew better and left it torqued at 12 ft-lbs rather then backing it off. Drove it for a year like that and when I took the rotors off (warped due to abuse), I noticed the hub and the bearings had turned blue from heat and all the grease ran out.

Tank,

The stiffness could also be due to a folded lip seal. Real easy if your not careful. Check that before moving on.

 

I am going to try to get this taken care of tommorow.

I do have one other question when I went to Napa they asked if I had the just the regular wheel bearings or if I neeeded the preformance bearings, apparently their is a difference in size. I got the regular. I was wondering if these are the correct ones. I was unsure if the preoformance ones were for the 1LE or if they were just for the 16 inch (5 spoke)Z28 wheels which my RS came with from the factory. Napa was unable to provide me with any further info regarding the application.

 

As far as the dust caps leaking, next time your at Napa, they sell new replacements in pkgs of two and they don't cost much. If you still have a problem with the grease oozing you can loosen the caps out about 1/4 " and run a bead of permatex high heat RED around the lip and tap the caps back in. Let them cure overnight and that should take care of the grease oozing out around your wheels center caps. Any pressure built up from high heat will escape passed the inner seal instead of the bearing caps.