<VV> Rear wheel bearings

[Doug Mackintosh]

Chuck, I will share my experience as a Corvair daily driver, and a guy whose daughter has put over 100,000 miles on her daily driver.
Between us we have had 3 or 4 bearings go. They all gave at least a little warning, in some cases only for a short time before the "Screeching" noise stage. None of our failures resulted in any dangerous behavior, but they were a nuisance. I would say your Virginia inspection is not going to catch an incipient bearing failure. You would hear it long before they ever suspected anything.
 
My recommendation would be to get 2 rebuilt axles from the Corvair Ranch (last one I bought was reasonably priced, and they have disassembled, inspected and properly lubed them) and install them. Then send one of the old axles off the car with your daughter as a spare. Teach her to be aware of changes in sounds from the car, and to ask questions if something changes.
 
 Chuck asked:
 
<...My question
to you is whether those tricky bearings give you any sort of early
warning that they're about to fail, or whether they tend to give up the
ghost catastrophically and leave you suddenly riding on the backing
plates with no brakes at all. I've heard some spooky stories about this
and need to know what to expect. In particular, is there anything at all
I can check before I take this trip?...>

-- Doug Mackintosh
Corsa member since 1996
Corsa/NC member since 1996, Virtual Vairs member
Corvair owner 1969-1971 and 1996-on