Hybrid coasting and wheel bearings.

[theory816]

Hey Dave, this is more of a physics question I guess. So with Hybrids, people are suppose to coast more in order to regenerate electricity through the brake system. However, if the kinetic energy of the vehicle is mostly transformed into heat and friction through coasting, would the wheel bearings be the “bearers” or the one to take most of the kinetic beating? Would this imply that wheel bearings on hybrids need to be replaced sooner and more often on hybrid cars? Thanks.

[admin]

Hybrids cars have regenerative braking systems. When you first press on the brake pedal (up to a moderate level of braking force), you are actually not using the brakes at all, you are slowing the car down by forcing the electric motor in the hybrid system to provide braking force by acting as a generator that adds charge to the batteries. So you don’t need to coast, just try to brake early so you don’t have to use the friction part of the braking system. Most hybrids have a dash display feature to let you see when you reach the friction point. Whether the braking is done by regen or the actual brakes makes no difference to the wheel bearings. Wheel bearing life has nothing to do with the type of powertrain, just the design and quality of the bearings. the only things that increases the loads on the bearings are vehicle weight and how hard you brake or corner.

[theory816]

I see. Thanks for clarifying.

So does suvs/trucks, because of its weight, tend to need bearing replacement more often than sedans?

I know you said that as suvs scale up in size and take on more weight in structure. What other parts tend to scale up because of the weight on suvs?

• This reply was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by theory816.

[admin]

Heavier vehicles (like SUV’s) do not tend to have more bearing issues than lighter cars because the engineers specify bigger and higher capacity bearings.

[Author]

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