Anyone experience with aftermarket ones?
I checked Rockauto and they have ones from $60 to $300.

 

The only reservation I have with cheaper aftermarket bearings is sometimes guys will zap them too tightly with the air gun and booger up the bearing. The better ones are more reinforced and can take rough installation. That said, I haven't seen a pattern of failures with the cheaper bearing sets. Others may disagree...

 

Replaced mine on the R52 Gen1 and R56 Gen2 with the Febi , NTN, and NSK in the past. No issues. They are used as the OEM manufacturer in most cases. Replace the Hex nut at each end and I replaced the bolts also as the old ones were pretty beat up.

I would recommend to do them in pairs. I did one before only to have the other side go rumble down the road. If you do one side at a time. Listen and feel the steering wheel , you can most of the time feel / hear which side is bad in the fronts.

Gen 2 MINI.

http://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2008-Cooper-R56-S-Coupe-L4_1.6L_N14B16A/Drivetrain/Wheel_Bearings/



Good luck.

 

Hi Sabini,

If you are interested in OEM wheel bearings we can offer them at a good discount for you.

Front: $205 (MINI List is $250.87)
Front axle nut: $5.00 (MINI List $7.03)
Rear: $215 MINI List is $273.03)

We can also incude ground shipping free to the lower 48 states.

Please PM us if interested. We will have to e-mail you a PayPal request for this special pricing. Thanks!

MINIPartsMass.com

*Prices subject to change based upon current MINIUSA pricing*

 

CLARIFICATION for old guys like me ....

In the olden days (and on my 79 Mini) you replaced a wheel bearing .... and a kit looked like this (a Cooper S kit ... one wheel ... from Mini Mania site)



on a MINI (and most if not all modern cars) you don't easily get to the bearing anymore, so you replace the entire HUB. The bearing is sealed in the hub and requires no lubrication .... unlike days of old where one might pull the wheel bearings for a grease job . . .

IMO it IS easier to replace a hub in many cases ... but the hub typically costs more.

 

thanks, I noticed the wheel hub assembly situation..
I am also used to pressing out and in these things.

 

We keep these in stock:
31226776162 front bearing $180.62 http://thebmwminipartstore.com/parts...&siteid=218365
33416786552 rear bearing $212.96 http://thebmwminipartstore.com/parts...&siteid=218365
33306777695 nut $2.32 http://thebmwminipartstore.com/parts...&siteid=218365

 

We have some pretty cost effective options that we use and are reliable.
Wheel Bearing

 

Wow - everyone stocks them!

From practical experience - at what mileage do front MINI bearing tend to go bad ?

a

 

There is no particular mileage as it's pretty random.

 

little stumped, I've been hearing this grinding noise while driving thinking its the wheel bearing. BTW, its this constant humming even in neutral. anyway, I take off the pass side wheel, rotor and check. I don't feel any looseness at all. I put the car in gear and listen. I hear the humming/grinding but not from the wheel hub. If I sit inside the cabin its more pronounced. There is no play in the hub, when I turn it by hand I don't feel any resistance. But I hear the grinding. I hope its not a bearing inside the gearbox/final drive. Anyone have the same experience?

 

I'm having a similar issue with wheel humming/vibration on the front left, when it first started happening I heard a humming sound. To me it sounds like bearing grinding, after that humming sound stopped every couple of weeks I feel only vibration at random on freeways and only lasts for about 1 minute, then disappears until it returns again.

Friday when pulling out of my work parking spot (wheels turned) I backed out and the front left wheel was difficult to move almost like it was stuck, I heard my brakes squeal which I have never heard before.

Does anyone think that my CVD ball bearing were binding at the time I was pulling out of my parking spot?

 

Obviously, I'm not there to look at your car, and your symptom can be caused by many things, but if it is a wheel bearing that's starting to bind, do not drive the car! For a reference see what happens to Clarkson when he tries to drive a three-wheeled car.

 

Loved the video and watched the whole thing, great! The thing is my dealer doesn't want to waste my diagnostic fee on something that does act up in order to diagnose the problem, you can drive it for weeks and get no symptoms. Even my indy shops can't understand why they can't find any problem, they used crowbars to see if anything is lose or has play. Only for that one minute each week can you actually detect the fault, frustrating! It seems to occur less and less often now.

 

passenger side wheel bearing was the culprit. Fixed! replaced the driver side too.
thanks all for the input!

 

LOVE Top Gear! Anyway, to diagnose a bad hub bearing, and determine which side, drive at a speed where you start to hear the noise. Make sure you have room to manuever, and steer left and then right again, over and over, in a swaying motion. If you hear the growling bearing more when turning right, it is likely the left wheel hub. If you hear more growling when turning left, likely the right hub bearing. The bearing with the most load will make the noise more prominent.

Well, this works to some degree. Used to work every time, but....took my MINI in to the dealer under factory warranty, and told them I thought it was the LF hub bearing making noise, based upon my diagnosis. They test drove, agreed, I got a free MINI for a couple of days, no bill, was a happy camper for about a month. Then, the noise started again. My diagnosis method again pointed to the LF hub bearing. Took her in again to the MINI dealer. Got a free loaner for a couple days, again. They replaced the RF hub this time. Noise gone, and has not returned since. Both myself and the MINI tech had a bit of head-scratching going on, as we BOTH thought it was the LF hub the first time.

Moral of my long story? Just replace both. They have the same miles on them, so both will most likely fail at about the same point. Just like headlight bulbs, replace as pairs.

As far as rear hubs and bearings go? No idea, as mine have been fine so far. I would imagine the same rules would apply.

And I do see that the OP had the right idea.....replace BOTH! Just confirming, as this is not the usual. Normally, replace only the faulty side hub/bearing. Yet another MINI exclusive? LOL. Motor On!

 

Hey Sabini did you ever get intense vibration from either wheel bearings or just the noise? Thanks

 

as far as turning to determine which side, I tried that. It worked on my Saab, but not on this car. The only real conclusive way to find out is to take off the wheel hub and feel the rotation in your hand. i gave my 12 y/o son both to feel and he picked out the bad one right away. also there was no vibration felt thru the steering wheel. The. Splines in the bearing are to fine I think the transfer any real info up the driver, other than the humming.

 

I'm pretty sure I have a half-shaft problem, I have had RC cars with CVD's that cause vibration when the shafts bearings are on there way out, I can get it to act up now in I'm backing out of a parking spot with the steering wheel hard-over to the right while backing out, sometimes my brakes squeak. I bet that pulls on the CVD's bearings. Might as well replace the wheel bearings also after all that vibration caused by the CVD's shaking around.

 

Great to hear . Welcome.

 

Timken makes front hub/bearing assemblies for front and rear. Top quality.

#513309 front, $115 RockAuto + $7 shipping, $140 on Amazon delivered.
#512427 rear, $98 RockAuto...

http://www.showmetheparts.com/timken/