I had asked about rear wheel bearing scraping noise and red dirt or rust
coming out of the wheel bearing area when I pressured washed my wheel.  The
consensus of the list was replace the wheel bearing or risk an expensive
bigger job.

I cleaned the bearing reaching as much as I could from the outside with 2
cans of brake cleaner, then repacked the bearing again as best I could from
the outside.  No more noise.

But the warnings from the list kept nagging at me, so I had my mechanic
replace the bearing.  It was fine so $220 bucks down the drain.  He told me
ahead of time that he hardly ever has to do rear wheel bearings but agreed
to do it if I felt it may be going.  The bearing must have just gotten dry
and collected dirt inside.  Power washing it must have pushed the grit into
the bearings initially.

I'm sure I am better off with a propertly greased wheel bearing, but it was
an unnecessary repair.  Using brake cleaner and repacking it cleaned all the
crud out of there from looking/feeling the original bearings.  I just wanted
to pass this on so maybe someone else in a similar circumstance will hear
both sides.

Dave in Denver
Honorary member of the more money than brains club.