Just did front left at 160k kms (for the second time, pretty sure it was one of the 3 that were replaced under warranty before 100k kms). Thoughts/observations:
- I had the same experience as the poster who thought it was winter tire noise. I guess it fails so gradually that it sneaks up on you. Found it when swapping summers back on, and finding the wheel still loose after tightening lugnuts. So quiet now that I can't believe I didn't notice it earlier
- the dealer put the wrong bolt in for one of the 4 hub bolts. Too short, 17mm head, and threaded the whole way, so it tried to rust itself into place. I will be bringing this to their attention
- the bolts for the caliper bracket are similarly threaded, and always seem to get themselves well stuck, despite my using anti-seize religiously
- thx for the pointer about the rotor trick, I'll be using that someday I'm sure. For this one I just hammered on the half-removed bolts, I guess it wasn't very stuck due to having been changed already. I also always forget to use my air hammer/chisel, probably because it never seems to work when I try
- found stuck caliper sliders, and didn't have time to fix. Damn those things
- to get clearance to work on it, I removed the shock (about 5 minutes work if you put it in with anti-seize last time), and rotated the knuckle far enough down to get the axle out
- I had a spare (used) one in the garage, from the time I had to get a new-to-me knuckle. Yay to keeping extra crap around! Might just order up another one, seems likely I'll be needing it someday...
Andy