Timken or Valucraft

Bearings for my 924s that is. The savings would be well over $100 (for all 6 wheel bearings - 4 in the front and 2 in the rear) and seals.

I have always used timken and never had any issues. I have also used value craft replacement parts over the years with great success (not bearings though).

Normally I would not even ask but hay $100 is enough to make me think.

The Timken is made in the USA, correct? Timken.

Yes they are. The valucraft and the auto zone house brand. For all I know they could be timken just re branded.

They could be because Auto Zone sells Timken.

I am surprised at the cost of Timken bearings. It think they are $200 for the full front set for a Spitfire. The no-name are about $60.

Timken isn't necessarily made in the USA. One of their largest suppliers is Iljen, who is Korean (and makes their bearings in Korea). Iljen is the world's largest manufacturer of hub assemblies, and one of the bigger, better-quality bearing manufacturer of other bearings.

Here is another case of the selling-brand not being able to manufacture an entire line of products, so they are required to buy many (sometimes most) of their product elsewhere. This is normal for the auto parts industry.

Get the Valuecraft and open the box and take a look next to the Timken. Should be obvious.

Based on my experience from Advance, house brands are Chinese rip off copies. And sure they are "bearings" in look, but they might as well be made from rocks as tools and assembled in a sand pit.

I bought a cheap parts store brand once. I replaced them already. With Timken. Get the Timken. Unless you like changing bearings.

You may want to get the part numbers and take them to a bearing/belts/chains store. They are often quite a bit cheaper for the same parts. This is how I bought the bearings to rebuild my mazda rear diff.

There's a Timken plant an hour north of here. I always buy Timken.

Go with Timken. They've been around for ages and they know bearings inside and out. I replaced the front bearings on my non-turbo RX-7 and they work fine.

Im the most frugal person i know, I buy Timken

The first time i changed wheel bearings in the Malibu I used Valuecraft. They went about 15,000 miles.

Not all Timken bearings are made in the U.S.

Not all automotive wheel bearings are made by the company who's label is on the box. For example, I have purchased an SKF wheel bearing only to open the box and see NTN stamped on the bearing itself.

It was a double row angular contact ball bearing for the front spindle on a 3rd gen escort.

I'm sure they're not the only company to do this on applications like wheel bearings and axle seals.

I went to auto zone and put the question to "my" parts counter guy. He asked me if I was going to sell the car soon? Then said that the valucraft only last 2 year or 15K miles. (mimics what Wally said above)

Needless to say I got the Timken.

The front bearings are not that bad. Timken were about $10 more a side (including timken seals). Where it is painful is the rears. The timken are about $50 more per side.

I try to run Timken in almost everything. A few years ago I did pads/rotors/wheel bearings on the front of my Camaro. I put a set of Timken bearings in and adjusted them.Took the car for a quick ride to set the pads and when I got back to the garage, I noticed one wheel had more play than the other. When I checked the outer bearings on one side they were junk. The bearing had a nylon/plastic retainer that had got warm enough that the tolerances had increased quite a bit. I put a Valucraft bearing in, along with new grease, adjusted it correctly and it's held up fine for 4 years now

Timken or SKF if they're available. I'm biased though, having made oil seals for the CR aka Chicago Rawhide division (which is a phased out name now), but they seem like a good manufacturer of bearings and seals.

Timken, SKF and FAG get my business, regardless of country of manufacture. I'll open the box at the counter and if it's not one of those 3, it's not bought. This comes of experience with OTR trucking and the various bearing kits available for trucks. Lots better luck with those 3 than others.

Mikey52_1 wrote: Timken, SKF and FAG get my business, regardless of country of manufacture. I'll open the box at the counter and if it's not one of those 3, it's not bought. This comes of experience with OTR trucking and the various bearing kits available for trucks. Lots better luck with those 3 than others.

agreed there, plus timken is nearby and FAG has a plant in the industrial park up the street so i try to keep the business as local as possible. consequently the FAG plant sign also has INA and LUK on it, in the order that the sign says LUK INA FAG - i chuckle every day when i drive by.

Having worked at AutoZone for a few years I can tell you that in most cases the Timken comes with a warranty while the Valucrap does not. Also look at how they're packed. I always tried to sell Timken because in 98% of cases it is actually the better buy. I've also never seen a Timken bearing with a plastic race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zHBxwwOg6s

never cut corners on suspension, steering, brakes, or tires.

Ha, thanks for posting that Dave

I've given up on store brand parts. If i'm spending the time to swap something, I better know I'm putting in a good part. I'd rather spend the time and swap a proper part than have to do it all again soon.. I also nearly died when a cheap store brand brake pad seperated at 70 mph..

Now, If i'm selling the car soon..... Thats another story.

After you watch Dave's video please be aware that there is a huge difference between "Import" bearings from China and those from Germany, Korea, or Japan...

Wow... what a POS. OEM max tolerance is .001 or less.