66dts-v

'01 Z51 coupe 6 speeed.
So what is going on here? OE wheel bearings went 150k, replaced them and those went 20k miles, I got Detroit Axle 10 year warranty ones and it's been less than a year. My drivers rear is shot. My tires are wearing square, I replaced the ball joints at 150k and are tight. I have never raced my car, but I do a lot of backroad miles and I drive it aggressive, I guess. But I have been without traction control and abs for a year and haven't even squealed a tire, so it's not THAT aggressive.

So what is causing wicked failure in my wheel bearings in 10-20k miles? I mean, my car is at 198k miles and will likely upgrade this summer. But I would like to know what might be causing this. Any ideas? Thanks.

69

Have a look here to see if you can identify the issue including Timken install recommendations.
https://www.timken.com/automotive-te...ing-resources/

66dts-v

Thanks. I will get the replacement and check it against the photos posted and see what it says.

ArtClassShank

You bought junk bearings. I bought Detroit Axle wheel bearings too, took them out of the box and immediately thought "I'm not putting this crap on the car". Buy Timken or SKF. You can't expect a bearing under $50 to be decent.

66dts-v

I bought Timken the first time. I figured with a 10 year warranty they would be better. The Timken hubs failed after 20k, too.

redzg

Timken assures us the off-shore sourced bearings are as good as always, but I've yet to find any asia sourced steel to be all that good. Even Japanese steel. Alas, they days of knowing we have a good part because of the name on the box are long gone.

neutron82

find some that were made out of the twin towers lol... I replaced mine when I installed extended studs just because, not because they were needed, and I was able to source some oem gm usa bearings... there may still be some out there you just have to do some searching, or pony up and buy the skf xtrackers

66dts-v

So other than the spendy aftermarket ones, what are my options? Figure I will be selling it this Summer but I will be replacing them first.

awches

I went with Timken fronts and SKS rears from Rock Auto. Around 22 k miles since changing them out in Jan 2019. No problems.

redzg

Sounds like you're in a bit of pickle. You can put in just about any quality to sell the car, but you'd likely be dooming the new owner to having to do the work over again in short order. You can spend more on top-quality parts -- but while bad wheel bearings kill resale, I imagine very few buyers will be convinced to pay more for better bearings they can't even see.

66dts-v

Hmm, didn't know you could get the SKS hubs from Rock Auto.

fuggles

Timken sells a few different bearings of various quality. Get the South Korean built bearings. Very good. I got mine from Zip Corvette. Good bearings are not cheap.

strand rider

II can't advance the discussion past the advice already given, so should lay out, but didn't. I thought the tip about South Korea, in particular , had a lot of value ,

I have always heard that timkens were the best, from the old railroad days, but recently have heard that SKS were the best. I don't use enough bearings to know, first hand.

I can say it is possible that the poster got counterfeit parts. it happens easily with sellers that ship from a massive remote warehouse. and that might never actually see or touch the parts sold.

in those places where everything is shipped from the same bin for low handling costs, , a seller buying first quality parts is mixed in with every other seller of the same merch, even those that might not care about a counterfeit part. the parts all have the same identification, and the parts are distributed as the sales orders come in, so a guy buying only top parts to sell might have his order filled by whatever counterfeit crap is on top of the stack ready to go. Joes store might be filling his orders with counterfeit crap that jack bought, nobody is checking and they both get the same payment when they sell a part from the common shared shipping area.