Wheel Bearings - OEM or After market?

My OEM front hub us still going fine 2+ years later.

 

The axle nut is a 32mm or 1 1/4" socket.

 

Timken or a couple others work great too. read JmP's sticky at the top of this forum the good bearings are listed in that thread.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/idea-web-links-saved-various-parts-219238.html

Ordering the wheel bearing assemblies 2 at a time will save you $. I got a better price on eBay. Just did a 1400 mile road trip using cruise control most of the time with no issues.

I just finished the first 1000 miles on a Detroit Axle front hub on my passenger side. No issues. Good deal for $35.00 delivered.

I just finished the first 1000 miles on a Detroit Axle front hub on my passenger side. No issues. Good deal for $35.00 delivered.

 

Where did you get $35 delivered?

Amazon, Sept 25th it was $35.00 with free shipping. Looks like the price has gone up to $54 and change...

I'm really hoping these DA hubs work well I ordered a full set of them and they should be here this week.

I paid 65 for a front pair on Amazon. Free shipping. Back in August.

I'm really hoping these DA hubs work well I ordered a full set of them and they should be here this week.

 

Just make sure that you clean off the rust from the knuckles thoroughly so that the HBA seats correctly. The gap between the wheel speed sensor and the back of the hub is critical. The WSS is a proximity sensor, if it's too far from the back of the hub then it doesn't sense the notches on the reluctor ring as they pass by the sensor.

What's the DA part number? Or what's the Amazon link..

 

Edit: never mind found it!

 

What's the consensus on abs and cc for these DA ones though?

Edited December 22, 2014 by Catalyst

What's the DA part number? Or what's the Amazon link..

 

Edit: never mind found it!

 

What's the consensus on abs and cc for these DA ones though?

I have the fronts on my car no issues with abs or cruise control.

What's the DA part number? Or what's the Amazon link..

 

Edit: never mind found it!

 

What's the consensus on abs and cc for these DA ones though?

 

 

I'd guess 80/20. most seem to have good luck with DA on the fronts.

I might just go with the Timken ones then..

my tales of woe for others who happen to stumble upon this thread as i have, and hopefully it will help them in their decisions

 

i work at a speed shop since 14 and have been working on my own stuff forever. the shop has an account with a local inexpensive auto supply chain where i get replacement parts cheap. no name wheel bearings have lifetime warranty and i get same day delivery most times. factory rear wheel bearings went and i replaced with said brand. that set went bad 2000ish miles later and replaced for free. no issues so far with second set of no name bearings.

 

factory front wheel bearings went bad a year or so later. replaced them with same no name bearings. everything good for about 500-1000 miles. slowly i notice cruise control surging at highway speeds (70-80 mph). over time it gets worse. cruise stops working altogether at highway speeds and surging at regular speeds (40-60 mph). no noise, no CEL. i deal with it and search the wealth of knowledge on this forum (no sarcasm, this forum is great). i come across this and other threads about junk aftermarket wheel bearings causing this. i wait until the bearings (as i knew they would) start to get slightly noisy and i came across this particular thread and see the success rate with detroit axle bearings. the old bearings were far more trashed than i thought they would and very quiet for how trashed they were. huge side play on the drivers side and gritty on the passenger side. so i buy two DA bearings off of amazon for $80.00 shipped. they look a lot better than the other brand, specifically the stud flange. all ready i feel good about this. i install them (getting good at it now, start to finish for two front hubs just over an hour) and go out for a test drive locally with max speed 60 mph. no problems and cruise controls works seamlessly. after work on the way home i use a highway. cruise works good until just over 70 mph. at about 75 mph it will work for as little as 5 seconds to about 3 minutes then shut off. at 80 mph as soon as you set the cruise it shuts off.

 

i will also add i am anal about how clean my stuff is. the knuckle the bearing slips into and where the sensor goes through are as clean as brand new. everything torqued to shop manual specs.

 

i'll be saving my money for OEM ones from one of the many fine sponsors of this forum.

 

sorry for the lengthy story, i hope it may help someone someday...

I'm looking to replace the whole wheel hub assemblies at least on the front of my 08 spec b. When I got the car it was sitting for some time and theres some considerable rust, replacing wheels at this point as well and probably rotors soon or some machining at the least. Are moog the best from Rock Auto if I don't go oem, or is the consensus to go oem because of all said issues? Or are said issues maybe the cause of replacing the bearings and not the whole hub assembly with factory assembly? Thanks

 

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Moogs will be fine for the rears, the fronts need to be OEM or Timken, or look in the link in post #51 above.

 

See post #162 in that link.

Edited April 5, 2019 by Max Capacity

Moogs will be fine for the rears, the fronts need to be OEM or Timken, or look in the link in post #51 above.

 

See post #162 in that link.

So I tracked those down and that post #162 he also mentions BCA by NTN wheel hubs. I'm wondering why a mix of brands between the front and rear for aftermarket though. I found that Moog makes front as well and Timken also make rear. Some claim they meet or exceed oem, so I'm guessing some are truly better? I did find this SKF one but I can't figure if they're front or rear or both from them...

https://www.vsm.skf.com/us/en/products/BR930474

 

Somewhere I saw them rating skf better than Timken as far as manufacturers go but again maybe some capture certain car brands better with their r&d and product design.

Thanks

 

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Edited April 6, 2019 by SpecDubC

So I tracked those down and that post #162 he also mentions BCA by NTN wheel hubs. I'm wondering why a mix of brands between the front and rear for aftermarket though. I found that Moog makes front as well and Timken also make rear. Are oem truly better than all or are one of those aftermarket brands better?

 

Thanks

 

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The fronts need a higher quality bearing due to the abs system. You're gambling woth anything cheaper than a timken in the front.

 

I personally prefer the skf or ntn bearings for both front and rear.

The fronts need a higher quality bearing due to the abs system. You're gambling woth anything cheaper than a timken in the front.

 

I personally prefer the skf or ntn bearings for both front and rear.

Thanks sorry I just edited my post again with some info I found on the skf and then I also read #25 here mentioning Moogs not being so good on the front.

 

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Thanks sorry I just edited my post again with some info I found on the skf and then I also read #25 here mentioning Moogs not being so good on the front.

 

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The link you posted is for the rear bearing.

 

Buy this.

 

BCA WE60548 Hub Assembly

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FYY4DXQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_hOdQCb737KMV3

Edited April 6, 2019 by rhino6303

The link you posted is for the rear bearing.

 

Buy this.

 

BCA WE60548 Hub Assembly

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FYY4DXQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_hOdQCb737KMV3

So I also read here: https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3198272 that people recommend NSK over NTN and SKF even. Mostly a lot of it boiled down to which manufacturer was cheaping out on their QC standards and had multiple sourcing as far as nations of origin for their assembly/QC where standards might be inconsistent. All the three I listed above are rated good though and are often oem suppliers. When you go to parts geek you can see a listing of many manufacturers for our car here: https://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/2008/subaru/legacy/driveshaft_-ar-_axle/wheel_hub_assembly.html

 

Also some claimed that the NTN lasted longer than the SKF because it was a higher tolerance and not so much the sealing quality of the bearing. Almost all cheaply manufactured ones because of said lack of standards ended up failing very quickly. On page two a guy mentions this when ordering the same part from the same place and immediately comparing the difference with the man at the counter of the prone to fail Korean made one vs the American made one. If I can contact an online retailer and somehow have them cherry pick the one they send me to be sure that would help, but sticking with the above said 3 brands would probably be good as they seem to follow higher consistency in their quality standards.

 

People also mention in that post that MOOG which used to have a different name, had become bad at some point about said quality control or standards consistency.

 

FYI, parts geek lists OEM in some of those on that page but not for Timken, so I'm guessing they aren't a major OEM supplier to either our cars or some other criteria I'm unsure of to warrant that branding. Also I believe the oem listed NSK there may be better even though cheaper than the second listed one just because of volume pricing and the lack of description on the other one. Manufacturer website may help narrow the differences down, maybe one is discontinued or obsolete to the other. I did narrow those parts by make/model/year though.

 

Hope this brings some clarity.

 

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Edited April 6, 2019 by SpecDubC

If you don't care about cruise control, get whatever. I think most after market are pretty good. The two after market I've used are surging on cruise control and have 60k miles

So I also read here: https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3198272 that people recommend NSK over NTN and SKF even. Mostly a lot of it boiled down to which manufacturer was cheaping out on their QC standards and had multiple sourcing as far as nations of origin for their assembly/QC where standards might be inconsistent. All the three I listed above are rated good though and are often oem suppliers. When you go to parts geek you can see a listing of many manufacturers for our car here: https://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/2008/subaru/legacy/driveshaft_-ar-_axle/wheel_hub_assembly.html

 

Also some claimed that the NTN lasted longer than the SKF because it was a higher tolerance and not so much the sealing quality of the bearing. Almost all cheaply manufactured ones because of said lack of standards ended up failing very quickly. On page two a guy mentions this when ordering the same part from the same place and immediately comparing the difference with the man at the counter of the prone to fail Korean made one vs the American made one. If I can contact an online retailer and somehow have them cherry pick the one they send me to be sure that would help, but sticking with the above said 3 brands would probably be good as they seem to follow higher consistency in their quality standards.

 

People also mention in that post that MOOG which used to have a different name, had become bad at some point about said quality control or standards consistency.

 

FYI, parts geek lists OEM in some of those on that page but not for Timken, so I'm guessing they aren't a major OEM supplier to either our cars or some other criteria I'm unsure of to warrant that branding. Also I believe the oem listed NSK there may be better even though cheaper than the second listed one just because of volume pricing and the lack of description on the other one. Manufacturer website may help narrow the differences down, maybe one is discontinued or obsolete to the other. I did narrow those parts by make/model/year though.

 

Hope this brings some clarity.

 

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Seems you came to the same conclusion we all have.

 

Moogs work well on the rears, Timken, NSK & NTN are what you want on the fronts.

I personally think Subaru OEM bearings suck, if they were built decently we wouldn't have this many issues...

 

I personally use Timken bearings on all of my cars, Subaru or not.

 

i was talking with my local parts guy a while back, he made a comment he has to keep a stock on hand because they go out so often

i've done wheel bearings on all 5 Subaru's I've owned, except for the one i bought last week :-)

 

 

i agree with timken, or moog as my personal preference

 

 

 

how much of a pain is changing the rear bearings on these? I know the older forester is a pain.......

 

depends if you live where there's rust. the last two i did, passenger side was easy but the driver side was a pain! i had to remove the hub assembly, knucke, lateral link, axle shaft, and upper control arm then disassembly everything using either a vice and BFH or a bearing press

use never seize when you reassemble, even on mating surfaces

Hi All,

Have read through the forum and am just trying to figure out at which KM or miles did anyones bearings actually begin to fail. My LGTB is picking up some high KM so I just wanted an indication on how long they generally lasted.

I did the fronts in mine at ~160k kms, but they really weren't bad. It was more that I had everything else apart, so it was a convenient time. They were making a little noise, so it was warranted. Rears were still fine at that many kms, but the aluminium trailing arms I installed came loaded with calipers and bearings, all of which looked nicer than what I had, so they also were changed about last year. Originals seemed to be fine up until then...

A lot will depend on your use case, I think. The first front bearing I replaced in my Outback about 7 years ago is on the way out now.... I've done the rears on that car a couple times now, but I also do use it to pull a trailer ocassionally, and regularly have the wagon back full up with pretty heavy stuff. (Rallitec Overload springs keep it all from sagging much under load.)

Rears are worse than fronts, and all are worse when abused, hah!