Barbara_S

First off, I have read the tapered bearing thread, but as an A stock competitor I'm stuck with stock bearings. I've bought Timkin bearings for this car, about once a year now.

2 weeks ago I changed the bearings on the left side of the car and then drove 220 easy country miles , thinking that was enough to wear them in properly before doing the National Tour.

When I left the tour 6 runs later, a u joint in my axle was creaking. My mechanic is fixing the axle and let me know the seal on the rear bearing on that rear corner is leaking grease.

So, what does anyone think here? Is it a defective part? Or did I fail to drive on it enough before a racing event? Or worse, could the Hoosier A6's be so much grippier than 710s that they are shortening the life of the bearing this badly? Would GM bearings fare any better - (they are more than 2x the rock auto price.)

Thanks,
Barbara

BrianCunningham

Unless your running nationals, no one is going to care if you run the tapered bearings.

ghoffman

There is no competitive advantage to the roller bearings, and since they weigh a little more, you could argue the opposite is true. The advantage is simply durability, and if you went to the Runoffs, you might want to put the OE bearings back on to save a little unsprung weight.

renoops

The good news is that if you bought them at Autozone, they should have a one year warranty. So take both side back and get new ones.

Timken and GM are the same part as far as anyone can tell, I think. So no to that one.

New wheel bearings take a long time to break in. You'd be best getting some known good used ones as the race inside has had time to heat cycle and harden a bit. But even known good used ones are on borrowed time when running sticky tires.

You should probably expect to replace the hubs once a year at least if you do a lot of events.

My .02...

-John
2002 Z06

the blur

i learned the hard way not to buy bearings from autozone. luckily they take them back. napa sfk will last much longer.

lmtdconv92

Hey Barb its Chris,

Have you thought of sending a letter to the SEB to see if you can get an overwrite or whatever the SCCA calls if to try and use the new tapered bearings?

I think if you write it out clearly in short words that continously states that there is NO competive advantage (and maybe a little letter from the manufacturer ghoffman might go a long ways) and this is only for because the OEM pieces fail regulary and you need longevity out of this critical part.

Also state what might happen if such a part was to fail on the course in a 1.3g turn and the safety ramifications.

Some food for thought.

lmtdconv92

On another note and slight highjack,

Gary to you have a shop and do you do perfomance alignments?

Thanks

ghoffman

No but we sell a tool that allows you to do it yourself, at home or at the track. It is not that hard to do:

http://hardbarusa.com/uploads/image/...%20rev1(1).pdf

http://hardbarusa.com/hardbar/produc...products_id=44

96GS#007

I used to be a big proponent of Timken. Had a set that lasted 2 seasons. Last couple didn't even last a day.

The Timken and OEM bearings look similar, but I don't believe they are since my experience has been that the OEM bearings last longer. None the less, tapered will be going on when the current set is trashed.

FWIW