Timken vs. AC Delco
 

I need to buy a front hub assembly/bearing for my car. 94 coupe. Corvette Recycling has original NOS AC delco for $199.99 plus shipping of $12.00. Of course the local Autozone has Timken for $185 and with tax it is $198.00 So the prices are oh so close...So now it is a question of Timken quality vs. AC Delco quality? The car is mainly a weekend toy with some autocrossing planned one day. I do not plan on road racing the car right now. What is the take on Timken??

Timkens
 

Installed them as a precautionary, all 4 corners, in my 94 6sp, 143K, 4 months ago...no runs, drips, or errors so far. Mines a toy too, no heavy demands.

Cheers

:iagree: Preventive maintenance = smart. Yeah it is also expensive right Jim!?! I am looking to do the same. Mine has 117K and the suspension is beginning to need some R&R. I want to go ahead and do some work. Tie rods, ball joints and maybe two hubs (one definately going bad!) I took a look in the road race section and the consensus seems to be that Timken is the OE provider for GM on corvette hubs!?!

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...ghlight=timken

PM Sent

Timken has been around for eons, good bearings.

A/C Delco is not a manufacturer anymore, just a re-boxer, getting their
various parts from other manufacturers. I can't claim to know who the
bearing supplier is to them, but it's either Timken or BCA. BCA is owned
by Federal-Mogul, once a proud American name, now made in Mexico.
:ack:

Do your homework first.I just bought some front hub bearings for my XJR Jag and although it said Timken on the box the bearings were stamped made in South Korea.I'm afraid we will see more of this every day.I don't know where the originals were manufactured but they failed at under 30,000 which doesn't say much for them either.

I would prefer made in the USA but you just cannot count on that now. I will see what I can get. Maybe just the NOS stuff will have been made in the USA, maybe!

Delco is now Delphi living in Mexico.

Timken makes good stuff. I put them on my rear wheel bearings almost 20,000 miles ago.......no problems.

They came very highly reccommended.

Bingo... I just bought front and rear bearings. They only had Timken rears and we had to settle for Automotive International Caddie XLR/C5 "OEM Equivalents" for the fronts.

Today the right front failed.. 610 miles after install.

This imported offshore junk being parmed off on us is getting beyong irritating.

The Timken bearings won't last 2 auto-x's.
The old GM bearings were good, now the GM bearings look like Timken, but reboxed.

SFK seems to take a beating on the race track, and stand up to serious abuse.

Holy crap 610 miles!?! I have been considering waiting on the Van Steel Bearing with tapered bearings that are coming out soon for the C4's.

Years ago I had good luck with Timken. The last two sets I've had lasted less than 1 track day.

I have GM bearings on there now, and they at least survived their first weekend of track use. We'll see if they survive an upcoming event in a couple weeks.

One plus at least, Timken does have a lifetime warranty....

Not much of a consolation prize if you lose half of a weekend that may cost upwards of $1,000 by the time you factor in travel, hotel, etc.

I have never lost track time over a bearing. just real annoyed that they loosen up & develop play.

I had one that went from tight to so bad after one day that I was seriously debating flat-bedding the car home.

This is my Timken experience w/ roughly 5 weekends of abuse.......

http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...akeduct006.flv

Unfortunately, it cost me $1000+ in lost contingency.............

After researching bearings on this forum, I went with HP tapered rear bearings from Wheel Bearings Inc. I replaced both with around 7,000 miles on them after one failed. The HP ones cost a lot more, but should hold up better than my last ones.

My front bearings were tight when I got the car and still seem OK.

113,000 miles. Not sure if they are original or not.