Product review (5 stars): Keep your dryer running nearly forever!
About the only part on a normal dryer that wears out are these ... uh ... wear strips! The first dryer we had (nearly 40 years ago) had a similar arrangement and all I ever did was put in new wear strips every 3-4 years. At 23 years, the motor finally quit. The local parts dealer wanted $230 for a motor and the Internet and (appliancepartspros.com) wasn't around yet so we bought the present dryer!. Eureka. As it turns out, neither dryer was labeled General Electric BUT both were made by General Electric. And the newer design was even easier to check the wear strips! Sure enough, every 3-4 years the dryer starts making that little scraping noise as it runs signalling those slide strips need replacement. BTW, do NOT wait months to replace these. If allowed to continue for a long time (ie, months), the drum [carries the clothes around and round] will wear into the plastic framework that holds the wear strips and supports the front of the drum. Yes, it is also replaceable but why spend another $30 - $40 and the extra hour or so if you don't need to, eh!

So we bought the wear strip kit (<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Dryer-Drum-Slide-Kit-4-Pack-for-General-Electric-Hotpoint-WE1M316-WE1M333-WE1M481/dp/B004IA1HO6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Dryer Drum Slide Kit 4 Pack for General Electric, Hotpoint, WE1M316, WE1M333, WE1M481</a>) and headed for the laundry room with a Phillips head screwdriver and a can of silicon spray. Four screws and 15 minutes later we had installed four wear strips, sprayed them with the silicone, reassembled the dryer and were drying clothes. You can check but I would guess to have the local repair guy come to the house for that would run $175 - $200. Just amazing what you can do with a screwdriver! :-)

BTW, while you have the front off to replace the wear strips, take the opportunity to clean out all the lint in and around and under the dryer. A vacuum with a few extensions and the long narrow nozzle will make short work of the lint. Do NOT go banging into things / wires too hard, ya hear! LoL  If you find a lot of lint (like inches thick) under the machine, make sure the ductwork (from dryer to outside vent) is not clogged and that all the joints have been taped properly. Lint can be a fire hazard if it piles up too much in the wrong places. I clean that ductwork every 6 months (the outside vent cover more often even).