OEM wheel bearing - early failure

bw77 · Post by **bw77** » 20 Aug 2010, 07:47

I just replaced the wheel bearing. The bearing that went bad after only 10K miles was FAG, and that's the same brand I replaced it with. I hope the new one last a whole lot longer time. The old bearing was really clunky.

Post by **Matty Moo** » 20 Aug 2010, 08:11

I just replaced one of mine with an aftermarket unit from FCP 2 months ago. A friend put one on his car 20k ago and hasn't had any issues, so I went for it. No problems thus far. My car sees more highway than anything else.

Zenon63 · Post by **Zenon63** » 22 May 2011, 07:32

FYI.. Just added a 98 V70 XC which needs wheel bearings(front).. FAG bearings are OEM for front end and SKF are rear OEM.
The FAG bearings are made in India with a GERMANY imprint on it. Just looked at a Timken from AutoZone which has the FAG bearing(#574565C) and Assembly # HA594181(Timken).. I would imagine if Timken put their own bearing into the hub assembly we would have no problems let alone Sweden based SKF which is the OEM for the Rear.
Was gonna pick up a pair of National but they only had 1 ???? (always change both!).. Well it would of been $131.00 each for the National with year warr...But ended up with a pair of China made for like $91.. each with year warr..Can't be worse than a FAG ?
The 98 V70 XC I bought has 111k on it...Ask and find out the origin of the Bearing...

da7 · Post by **da7** » 22 May 2011, 08:03

hi Zenon63: where do you get the info that FAG bearings are made in India? In can understand the pads being made in India if they were clearly specified on the pads itself, but is it legal in your country to directly mislead consumers of the product's country of origin? Asking because the Volvo box is clearly marked "Made in Germany" with GERMANY also imprinted on the bearing as you know?

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 22 May 2011, 09:06

I have no specific knowledge of the specific parts referenced but I fear this is becoming one hell of a problem. I replaced the control arms on the Platinum a couple of years ago (with OEM Volvo parts) and now I have another shot ball joint (the grease boot is just fine). I drive a lot and I drive hard but 35k or 40k miles? That puts it in ScanTech crap land in terms of reliability and I paid a ton for the OEMs.

Waiting for the rain to quit so that I can work on my cars I have a huge box full of "Blue Box" Volvo parts in my living room and I wonder what quality of parts I am really using.

FAG bearings should be a genuine German product but in todays world it may be that it got put into a box in Germany and shipped from there after it got off of the boat from China or India; who knows?

/rant,

...Lee

copandengr · Post by **copandengr** » 22 May 2011, 21:45

Premature failure of a wheel bearing can also be attributed to driving over a pothole or an object in the road. Any type of severe bump places an unbelievabl shock load on the bearings. This shock can cause the bearing to fail because of "brinelling" the bearing race. This will result on a very rapid failure. The noise associated with this failure usually sounds like a deep rumble and can be felt through the floorboard. This happened to me on my 96. A new hub solved the problem and so far after three years and 40K miles all is well.

Removing the wheel and caliper and then turning the hub by hand will let you know if there is any rough spots as the hub is rotated. Any roughness calls for a replacement ASAP.

Post by **cn90** » 22 Aug 2011, 20:11

Actually all these 3 BIG Names (F.A.G., SKF, and TIMKEN) have been around for many, many and many years. They make great bearings. But sometimes in order to carry a full complement of bearings, they use each other products.

The BMW Story:
For example, my 1998 BMW 528i FRONT Bearing is going bad, so after some research.....I found out that BMW Front Bearing (OEM is F.A.G.) is low-volume item (from a mfg standpoint).
Since F.A.G. already has a factory set up for making this bearing, TIMKEN simply buys the bearing but puts it inside a TIMKEN Box.

This is exactly the case, TIMKEN put the F.A.G. bearing in their box!

- I went to my local Autozone b/c they have a TIMKEN HA593427 (for my BMW) in stock for $145.
I opened the Box and sure enough, the Bearing has the F.A.G. name stamped right onto it!
The box even says "Made in Germany". In other words, if you buy TIMKEN HA593427, you get F.A.G. bearing.

- So I went online and just ordered from Amazon for $111/each (shipping already included).

The Volvo Story:
- Back to the Volvo Bearing, as mentioned above, TIMKEN HA594181 is the part for 1994-1998 years.
I'd not be surprised if you see an F.A.G. bearing inside the TIMKEN box!
You can get this on Amazon for $95/each.
(eeuroparts.com sells F.A.G. Front Bearing for $130/each).

PS: As mentioned above, if the wheel bearing has the F.A.G., SKF, or TIMKEN stamped on it, it is a excellent product!

Good website to look up TIMKEN Bearings PN!

http://www.showmetheparts.com/Timken/

Post by **cn90** » 23 Aug 2011, 11:27

Update,

I learned about this F.A.G. and TIMKEN marriage yesterday LOL.
Kind of a sweet surprise!!!

Believe it or not, the BEST price I found was $82 for the Volvo Front Bearing from "Stockwise Auto"!

And yes, TIMKEN HA594181 has F.A.G. Bearing inside the box (I checked it with my own eyes when I visited my local Autozone store!).

Here is the Volvo link!

http://www.stockwiseauto.com/product_in ... _id/19136/

nzvlnr · Post by **nzvlnr** » 29 Feb 2012, 20:50

I was doing the front brakes and I loosened the hub bearing ( 99 volvo s70 t5 ) is there a special procedure to tightening this bolt back up properly, so it does not wear early, do to, the bolt being tightened to strong?

nzvlnr · Post by **nzvlnr** » 01 Mar 2012, 07:53

anyone.....Bueller....Bueller.....How do I tighten up my wheel bearing without destroying it...

OEM wheel bearing - early failure

Re: OEM wheel bearing - early failure