Restoring the Lotus Esprit S1 Rear Hub Carriers, Replacing the Rear Wheel Bearings

Replacing the rear wheel bearings on an S1 Esprit is easy as long as you have a press. I removed the entire hub carrier assemblies from the car (including stub axle, half shaft and u-joints) and took them to a shop to have the stub axles pressed out of the bearings (no, they won’t come out any other way). After the stub axles were out, I had the bearings pressed out too.

I had the hub carriers walnut blasted to restore their original appearance, and ordered a set of bearings and new grease seals.

Since the bearings didn’t slide back into the hub carriers, I froze them overnight and heated the carriers to 300F in my kitchen oven and then the bearings simply fell in without effort. After replacing the c-clip to anchor them in, the job was done!


The empty rear hub carriers after being media blasted. They will never look this clean again!


The frozen wheel bearings ready to drop in.


New seals and c-clips, ready to install.


Job done!