I've owned many vehicles and never had to replace the bearings on one before, and certainly not at a mere 38,000 miles (I am the original owner and sole drive). All the other vehicles endured the same road/weather conditions, as I'm a life-long resident of one of the snow capitals of the nation.

While on the highway, the car developed a persistent and unusual humming sound (only at higher speeds, however). But having NO IDEA that something so serious was wrong, I did continue to drive the car on the highway for another 100-150 miles toward my destination since I detected no problems in the vehicle's handling. I was shocked when told the reason for the noise (which was not very loud) and very upset to realize how close I came to having a serious vehicle breakdown if not an accident.

Even though the car has been repaired, I have to admit I've lost confidence in its safety--none of the repair people thought this was a normal occurrence at 38,000 miles.

The front wheel bearings on both sides have been replaced twice each over the past year. The passenger side just failed again. The only positive is that the replacements haven't cost anything except the inconvenience of having the car out of service. The repair shop has even switched brands of the hub/bearing assemblies they put on and claim they only use the top of the line parts.

The first failure was at 82,000 miles. The car now has about 102,000 miles; therefore, I've gone through 4 wheel bearings in 20,000 miles of just commuting miles to and from work largely on freeways.