Have a "crunchy" rear wheel bearing. Prices for replacements are all over the place - does anyone have experience with good (or bad) brands? The aftermarket ones I have seen appear to have no plating. The very old OEM part appears to have some zinc plating, which is mostly gone now, but I haven't seen a brand new OEM one to confirm (it would be good to know, as that would make paying the premium easier).

Thanks for the help and thoughts!

These are the brands and best pricing I have found so far.
I ignored house brands for the comparison - based on part #33416756830

OEM list price: $250
Best online OEM price $180
Febi $97
SKF $151
Meyle $129
Timken $104
Beck Arnley $101
Moog $106

 

If Moogs bearings are anything like the strut mounts you'll be doing hte job again pretty quickly.

Chinwanese back alley junk

 

Timkins are great and the price is right.

 

This is true we avoid them. We use the OE ones in our shop
http://www.waymotorworks.com/wheel-b...0-r52-r53.html

 

Thanks for the comments. I went to buy some Timkens but then noticed they have no country of origin marked on the box or on the part. And, the parts have no manufacturers mark - not proof of anything, but made me suspicious it was a "reboxed" product.

The oddest thing is that all these bearings appear identical from the pictures posted on the Internet - they may really be, or there may be a lot of stock photography in use. Makes it hard...

 

Rockauto has timkins, they are the real deal.

 

Genuine and OEM are what we recommend. 31-22-6-756-889 here and ships for free. Image for it is the actual product.