mysterious bearings

[FVEE48@xxxxxxx]

Hello everyone:
I am mostly a lurker, with an occasional question. I want to relate some 
strange occurrances with my 1995 325iA.
At 52,000 miles, my wife was driving on the Turnpike when the left front 
wheel bearing simply gave out. A frightening experience, to say the least. 
Car towed to our mechanic's garage, and repair completed. Cause: unknown.  
Now, at 63,000 miles, our  right rear wheel bearing began making growling 
noises and had to be replaced.  The car is back in today because the rear of 
the hub , where the bearing evidently butts up , was slightly damaged and 
they have to replace the bearing (again) and the hub. 
The mechanics are mystified by these bearing failures.  We are the second 
owners, getting the car in '97 with 20K miles. It was on a two year Corporate 
lease prior to our buying it.
The car has not been hit, wrecked, etc. No history of anything unusual.  In 
fact, the rest of the car has been outstandingly compliant.  But these 
bearing failures bother us. We are beginning to doubt the car's dependability 
yet don't want to sink money into the right front and/or left rear bearings ! 
Anyone have any thoughts on these mysterious failures?  ( As a dig, my wife 
says Ford Tauruses and a whole host of other cars go through their entire 
200,000 mile lives without wheel bearing failures. Unfortunately for our BMW 
egos, she is correct). 

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