03 Accord wheel bearing question
 

Hi:

I noticed recently that my 03 Accord rear wheel bearings look almost
identical to the ones in the 87 Accord I used to have, except the tabbed
washer in the 87 seems to have been replaced with what might be a seal. In
all rear wheel drive cars I ever owned, about every 35K miles I pulled off
the sleeve and bearings, cleaned everything with gas, re-greased the
bearings copiously and put everything back together. Same procedure on the
87 Accord rear bearings.

My 03 Accord owners manual says nothing about ever re-greasing the rear
wheel bearings. Have they added a good seal that's supposed to last forever
and keep out all dirt? I don't want to re-grease the bearings if it's not
needed. BTW, I was suprised that Honda was still using the peenable nut
system after 20 years. I guess it works well. The old castleated nut and
cotter pin didn't give you the infinite position possiblies. On the other
hand, you didn't have to buy 2 new nuts either. Also, does anyone know the
proper torque to use on the nuts? I had shop manual for the 87 but gave
them away when I traded it in.

Wayne