Took my car in this morning to get an alignment following my replacement of strut mounts and tie rod ends this weekend.

....and the technician wasn't able to align it because my wheel bearings are shot. He was able to jiggle the wheels on both sides along the vertical axis with no effort....I just can't catch a break.

What are your guys' experiences with aftermaket hubs? I ordered the WJB ones from RockAuto since I can't afford OEM ones.

 

In for responses

 

My guess would be almost every person on this forum would go oem, or a known name brand like Timken . I went oem when I did mine.

You'll have to let us know how long yours last. Hopefully you get years out of it.

It's really easy to install too in case you were wondering.

 

I've used some rock auto hubs in the rear because I got them free from a friend. Had them for around 30k and they are holding up.

 

Who makes OEM?

 

Now that you mention it I dont know. I ordered this one from wmw, but he doesn't mention what brand it is, and I can't remember what name was on it. It came in a plain box.

https://www.waymotorworks.com/wheel-...0-r52-r53.html

 

Have installed 8 wheel bearing/hubs on two minis, basically all four. All from RockAuto. I think they all were Moog or something like that.

 

We had a thread on this about a year ago.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post4133283

 

I got a new pair for $80 (Amazon). These aren't particularly difficult to replace, should the cheaper brands wear out too soon. At $40 per side, that's a huge price difference from OEM. Same with axles. I wouldn't race on them, but if I get 50K miles out of them, I'll be more than pleased.

 

Aftermarket wheel bearings are about same quality as aftermarket axles from China. That said, typically about year or two. If your lucky maybe three years.

 

Cheap bearings are worth their weight as a boat anchor. We just had a customer who had a new wheel bearing installed along with a new wheel speed sensor, (both of which were cheap Timken China parts) who then came to us for a recurring ABS problem. We replaced the brand new wheel speed sensor and wheel bearing with OE aftermarket parts and problem solved.

Some cars the cheap stuff works on, but niche based cars aren't really the off the shelf aftermarkets strong suit.

 

So Timken is crap now too , that sucks.

Is there a good brand to get nkfry?

 

OE hubs or OE manufacture hubs. We use NSK as a cheaper option to the MINI hubs.

 

NSK is the OEM supplier. Still too expensive for college students!

My logic is if it will last me through the California trip (mine are rattling, growling, and pinging on bumps as of last night), then I'll be okay. When I'm back in Phoenix, I can leave my car at home and get rides until I can afford nice hubs/ATI pulleys/everything you guys with full-time jobs and adult-money suggest I get.

Exact reason why I re-booted my OEM axles. I know they're the better part, so I'd rather do more labor, keep the good part, and save money. Unfortunately, I can't re-bearing OEM hubs, haha.

 

If you are looking for budget. Get used oem wheel bearings off a parted out car. I bought cheap ones and they lasted one year. Then I bought some off here from a guy parting out a low miles car. All my bearing problems went away for really cheap. My original bearings lasted about 180k. So I figure my used set are good for at least 100k miles.

 

Worth a try to get a used one I guess but you would have to get it pretty cheap. One of mine was bad when I bought the car with 90,000 miles

 

My OEM bearings failed at 114k miles. Thought about used, but it wouldn't be here in time unless I went to a pick-a-part.

I'll let you guys know how my WJB hubs are! Out the door with a replacement window motor (includes $20 core charge) and next-day shipping for $155. Beat that!

Is there anything I can do to extend the life of these crappy aftermarket hubs, though? Could I replace some dust seals, lubricate anything, etc?

 

Torque axle nuts to proper spec. This is the #1 cause of premature bearing failure.

134 ft/lbs. If you dont have a digital torque wrench, 135 ft/lbs on the click type turn wrench wont hurt anything.

 

I agree with most of that sentiment. I mean, Minis aren't exactly Toyotas. But they aren't Porsches, either.

We'd all love to be able to afford OEM or OEM-supplier parts - wear items, especially. Far too often the prices for OEM are simply ridiculous - wear items, especially. I know all of you Mini parts companies have to pay what they charge wholesale, so you feel the burn as well. But we, the end-users, have to balance the cost vs reliability factor on virtually every part we replace, and I think that 5X the price for OEM vs "off-the-shelf" in this case isn't worth it. More than that, I figure that even the mid-priced parts are no better than the lowest priced comparable stuff. I wouldn't cheap out on something that's a bRitch to get to/replace, as I would expect around 100K miles on things like engine internals. But for something as easy to replace as wheel hubs; if they fail in a year, so be it. I don't think that will happen, but if I get 50K out of them, they're more than worth it.

 

So now timken is cheap Chinese crap? I'm not sure about that one...oem are not worth the cost even with the labor cost factored in.

 

Many airlines use timken bearings. Id trust them..

 

Timken bearings are top notch and should last a ong time, but remember, poor alignment and the fact that you can not grease any of them on a mini, shortens their life.
The good news, they are easy to replace, as they are hub packs. They are held in with four bolts.

 

OEM wheel bearings aren't that expensive you can find them for around $150. EcS has a kit that includes bolts and nuts for $316 for two wheel bearings.

I'm a really cheap person but for $150 I can get a part that will last me another hundred thousand miles. To me that's a no-brainer.

 

Timken is a US based company, and their quality standard on ball bearings is insanely tight.... they have a plant right here in NH. they would toss beaings with concentricity of .0001'' out

 

Difference being the bearings vs a hub unit. I've never had a problem with a Timken BEARING, but we have removed multiple Timken hubs because they either fail in a year or two or because the customer has ABS problems, take it for what it's worth.

To the my knowledge the last time I checked Timken hubs were manufactured in China.