Best Aftermarket Wheel Bearing?

[gamingnemo]

Hey guys,

Wheel bearing just went out at around 94k and OEM replacements are way more expensive than aftermarket. Is OEM that much better or am I paying for the logo? What are the best aftermarket brands for wheel bearings and can I expect them to last very long?

[Tineo]

F A G and S K F are brands of great aftermarket reputation.
Of course, mechanical reliability is critical but an important point is that it does not interfere with the reading of the ABS system.


I have to replace one of the bearings and I have chosen SKF --less than 50 euro/unit in Autodoc (DE) website--. I expect to install it next week.

[A4x]

F.A.G. is the OEM supplier and you can get one from FCPEuro for $85. With their return policy, you could probably get future replacements for free.

[Spawne32]

SKF over *** for me

[adrianreece]

I replaced both fronts with ***, they worked well for me.

[Theiceman]

I replaced both fronts with ***, they worked well for me.

SKF over *** for me

*** really need to change there name lol


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[Spawne32]

*** really need to change there name lol


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theoretically *** is just a subsidiary of Schaeffler, so INA and a couple other brands are all the same. I've even seen beck arnley bearings out of the box that were branded ***.

[ps2cho]

Well *** and VAG usually don’t last long...;)

[Depthcharge]

At this point I'd listen to Spawne with his endeavors with the vibration haha.

[Spawne32]

At this point I'd listen to Spawne with his endeavors with the vibration haha.

I'm at the conclusion that its litterally just our roads, ive tried a dozen different highways around the area this week, and it only vibrates violently on some of them. Entirely possible the H&R OE Sport springs and bilstein B4 shocks are just translating jersey roads into the cabin. There seems to be a slight wheel balance issue at around 80mph but on some roads its barely even noticeable. I may take the TSB for road force balancing to my local shop and have them follow that procedure.

[jfo]

It seems the performance and life of any given wheel bearing is definitely affected by where you live and how you drive. I've been through front bearings several times in less than 100K km. I live in the mountains with lots of salt and lots of turns and bumps. This appears to stress the front bearings much faster than cars that live 2 hours away in Vancouver, with moderate winters, little salt, and generally flat, straight roads.
My dealer also comments on the difference he see's between cars from the city and up by Whistler.
There is no question that cars up here take a beating from road salt. My son's car from Vancouver is rust free...mine is a mess. I've concluded that front bearings also take a bigger hit.

[Kolbenringe]

Left front wheel bearing became super noisy a couple hundred km after putting on my summer wheels and rotating them. I figured that I'd try to swap the wheels and no dice, it's definitely the bearing producing that noise that sounds like tires. Ordered the SKF with a hub pre-pressed, impact wrench on the way and a 1.5kg hammer, and will handle this on Monday.

F A G would not bother with, as they are the OEM supplier and they are problematic enough in low mile vehicles (like mine, has 82k km). It also turns out that the SKFs are priced about the same or less than F A G. I can't imagine they'd be worse, and even if the same, it's worth a shot. I have no evidence yet, but sealing could be a potential issue, as I noted that new bearings have very little seal drag compared to bearings from years ago and we all know how far Audi has gone to reduce all friction, like to the point that the pistons need to be replaced in low mileage EA888 engines, for instance. Bearings of old used to be made so out of the box they were insanely tight and then after a significant break in, they would loosen up and the seals would seat and last a very long time. That era is over.

What I'm trying to find out is if there's a concensus on tightening the axle bolt. Old school Audi and still for numerous brands it was required to tighten the axle bolt with the wheel mounted and the ON THE GROUND or the bearing wouldn't last.

I've seen one German method doing just that, but the majority seem to just torque the bolt whichever way, some with the car in the air and a helper using the brake, some impact wrenching it to hell.

[Spawne32]

I rarely use bearings that are $100+. Last ones I put on were Dura International, which I have been using for years as a service grade part on the few customer cars i've done. Timken, which has been a go too brand for bearings for many friends, are absolute junk anymore since they opened their production facility in china. Most will be branded made in china, or if you read the back of the box they tell you they are selected from third party manufacturers to "timken standards". Repackaging, which is not uncommon is becoming a more prominent thing for alot of name brands, for instance, ACDELCO which you may know as the OE replacement for GM cars, is litterally all repackaged parts. Their ignition and sensor components are ALL denso, delphi, or bosch when you take them out of the box. Which is hilarious because you will pay more for the Denso boxed part then the ACDELCO box which has the Denso part in it.

[Kolbenringe]

BTW, for those that have done their own wheel bearings on North American models- were your bolts for the bearing carrier TX60 or M12?

I've noted that when I use tutorials or videos, the fasteners are often completely different compared to what I have on mine. My bearing carrier uses M12, which I confirmed yesterday and the NA cars appear to be TX60 in the tutorials I've seen.

[Zodiam]

I went with SKF, replaced the first wheel bearing on my car (front right) at roughly 99k miles

[Smac770]

What I'm trying to find out is if there's a concensus on tightening the axle bolt. Old school Audi and still for numerous brands it was required to tighten the axle bolt with the wheel mounted and the ON THE GROUND or the bearing wouldn't last.

Why not just do what Audi's documentation says to.
Crack the bolt not more than 90 degrees while it's on the ground, and then finish removing the bolt once the wheel is off the ground. Or just get the wheel off the ground and impact it if you have to go that route. My 40" breaker bar worked with ease; no need for an impact.
Then when putting it back, tighten the bolt to 200Nm before resting the tire back on the ground (just stick a screwdriver in the rotor, at least for the fronts). And then turn the 180 degrees once the wheel is on the ground.

[Smac770]

BTW, for those that have done their own wheel bearings on North American models- were your bolts for the bearing carrier TX60 or M12?

I've noted that when I use tutorials or videos, the fasteners are often completely different compared to what I have on mine. My bearing carrier uses M12, which I confirmed yesterday and the NA cars appear to be TX60 in the tutorials I've seen.

Not sure why you'd see T60 Torx heads there. This is the bolt that goes there. https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...ch/wht000237a/ It's M12 XZN head (it's going to be a M12 sized bolt regardless). M12 XZN heads are what my originals and replacements were. And they are shallow heads, which really sucks when it comes to trying to do the +90 degrees. Got mine to +45, left them at that.

[Kolbenringe]

Not sure why you'd see T60 Torx heads there. This is the bolt that goes there. https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...ch/wht000237a/ It's M12 XZN head (it's going to be a M12 sized bolt regardless). M12 XZN heads are what my originals and replacements were. And they are shallow heads, which really sucks when it comes to trying to do the +90 degrees. Got mine to +45, left them at that.

There's a tutorial on this very site with pics and a description thst shows T60s. Like I said, my car has fasteners that often vary from those in the US market, usually a switch of TX to XZN and often 12pt bolt heads.

https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...-cars-similar)

As for getting the 90 degrees, I should be able to get it in the space confines, but if not, I'll just mark it and then use the impact on it.

[Smac770]

Oh, there's plenty of space. It's just the damn bit keeps slipping out because the head is so shallow when you're trying to manually turn it with a long bar. One of those times where impact just works easier. I'll revisit them if I ever buy impact XZNs.

[Smac770]

Looks like in that thread, those T60 bolts came with the F.A.G. replacement bearing. My F.A.G. replacement bearing came with XZN bolts. I would expect all original Audi bolts to be XZN.

Looking up common Torx bit size for M12 bolt (T60 is rated 379-445Nm; didn't find my answer), I ran across this oddity:
AudiTorx is a tamper-proof fastener where a concave and smooth fastener head is topped with a break-away Torx drive that snaps off when the engineered torque is reached, leaving a rivet-like bolt head that can't be easily removed. The main application for these fasteners is in the railroad industry.

[Kolbenringe]

Oh, there's plenty of space. It's just the damn bit keeps slipping out because the head is so shallow when you're trying to manually turn it with a long bar. One of those times where impact just works easier. I'll revisit them if I ever buy impact XZNs.

Yeah, a small impact is actually recommended by people out here to get the bolts out with the least fuss and chance of damage. I ended up getting a pretty mega electric impact since I'm planning ahead for three more bearings and suspension work.

[Kolbenringe]

Has anyone had luck with pulling the axle bolt out with an electric impact? I got a newer Dewalt, pretty high on torque, but I don't have that much experience with it. Pipes are generally order items here and not kept in stock for the public. Otherwise, I'd just go that route. Will be starting the job in the morning.

[Kolbenringe]

Just finished the job and that was a nightmare. It took over 4 hours of hammering to break the extreme corrosion. Just unbelievable how they "engineered" this assembly to be so horrendous. I was actually shocked to see the corrosion builds up because between the mounting pads everything is open. Gonna buy an air hammer for the next one. I hope that will ease the next job.

Also, I have a 600mm breaker bar, that loosened the axle nut with little fuss and also allowed me to TTY the new one, though with a hell of a lot of force, no pipe needed. I suggest prybars on hand to get the axle end back into the housing. I pushed it out of the way to access the backside for hammering.

I used some chisels on the front side, which helped break the corrosion. Half a can of penetrating oil (WD40 penetrating oil, not plain WD40) did nothing, by the way. Whenever a fissure in the corrosion opened, I'd spray into it, see the oil leaking out elsewhere. When I pulled the assembly out finally, I saw the oil didn't even appear to be going very deep at all. I tried hammering to turn the housing and that also did little. It was fraction of a millimeter at a time and feeling out with the chisels that I was getting a gap.

Failure of my bearing was due to failure of the seal. There was grease on the housing that appeared to have been leaking out of the bearing. So, IMO, the bearing itself didn't fail, the seal failed (which are pretty weak anyhow), leading to the failure of the bearing. I hope the SKF replacement is much better, though I noted there are low amounts of drag out of the box, so I would say these are all 60k km throwaway parts.

Anyhow, for the next one, will have an air hammer and hope that helps. Might also consider trying to loosen the bolts a few turns and drive in my garage and turn the wheel a bunch to break the corrosion.

[b5v6]

Just finished the job and that was a nightmare. It took over 4 hours of hammering to break the extreme corrosion. Just unbelievable how they "engineered" this assembly to be so horrendous. I was actually shocked to see the corrosion builds up because between the mounting pads everything is open. Gonna buy an air hammer for the next one. I hope that will ease the next job.

Also, I have a 600mm breaker bar, that loosened the axle nut with little fuss and also allowed me to TTY the new one, though with a hell of a lot of force, no pipe needed. I suggest prybars on hand to get the axle end back into the housing. I pushed it out of the way to access the backside for hammering.

I used some chisels on the front side, which helped break the corrosion. Half a can of penetrating oil (WD40 penetrating oil, not plain WD40) did nothing, by the way. Whenever a fissure in the corrosion opened, I'd spray into it, see the oil leaking out elsewhere. When I pulled the assembly out finally, I saw the oil didn't even appear to be going very deep at all. I tried hammering to turn the housing and that also did little. It was fraction of a millimeter at a time and feeling out with the chisels that I was getting a gap.

Failure of my bearing was due to failure of the seal. There was grease on the housing that appeared to have been leaking out of the bearing. So, IMO, the bearing itself didn't fail, the seal failed (which are pretty weak anyhow), leading to the failure of the bearing. I hope the SKF replacement is much better, though I noted there are low amounts of drag out of the box, so I would say these are all 60k km throwaway parts.

Anyhow, for the next one, will have an air hammer and hope that helps. Might also consider trying to loosen the bolts a few turns and drive in my garage and turn the wheel a bunch to break the corrosion.

Once my Milwaukee impact gun wouldn't break the rear axle bolts loose I looked up on here to see it was a common problem. Went to the Home(less) Depot and bought a 9/16" titanium drill bit. Had both bolt heads drilled out in less than an hour. Just adding this for other people's reference as well. I agree with you about the surprising amount of corrosion. My P2 Volvo R has no where near as much rust as my Audi and seems to hold up far better to it. Will be using a ton of anti-seize upon assembly.

[b5v6]

I'm at the conclusion that its litterally just our roads, ive tried a dozen different highways around the area this week, and it only vibrates violently on some of them. Entirely possible the H&R OE Sport springs and bilstein B4 shocks are just translating jersey roads into the cabin. There seems to be a slight wheel balance issue at around 80mph but on some roads its barely even noticeable. I may take the TSB for road force balancing to my local shop and have them follow that procedure.

Maybe the CV joint/half shaft assembly? My Volvo S60R has this problem at highway speeds. One way to confirm is, at highway speeds (65 MPH+), if you have no vibration at times, then following a curve in the road the vibration is triggered.

[Spawne32]

Maybe the CV joint/half shaft assembly? My Volvo S60R has this problem at highway speeds. One way to confirm is, at highway speeds (65 MPH+), if you have no vibration at times, then following a curve in the road the vibration is triggered.

Well the good news is that the clunking has started becoming more severe in the rear, so its entirely possible one of the rear CV joints are bad.

[bb-tt]

Replaced both the TT wheel bearings with *** bearings never had any issues with them. It was also a pita getting out then pressing in


Edit: omfg it is the name of the company but apparently some snowflake might be offended so now you get "***" instead of f-a-g if you are that sensitive and just looking for something to offend you shouldn't be on any forum.

[kringtan]

OEM bearings often provide better fit and durability, but aftermarket options can be cost-effective without sacrificing quality. Reputable aftermarket brands like Bearing MFG offer reliable alternatives. While they may not last as long as OEM in some cases, proper installation and maintenance can ensure satisfactory longevity.

[audrobotic]

OEM bearings often provide better fit and durability, but aftermarket options can be cost-effective without sacrificing quality. Reputable aftermarket brands like Bearing MFG offer reliable alternatives. While they may not last as long as OEM in some cases, proper installation and maintenance can ensure satisfactory longevity.

Nice 4+ year necrobump. Sounds like it was written by an AI chatbot.

[Theiceman]

Nice 4+ year necrobump. Sounds like it was written by an AI chatbot.

and 28 posts in 5 years lol.

I wonder what kind of maintenance I've been skipping on my wheel bearing

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