AC Delco vs. Federal Mogul-National Hub Assmbl

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I need front sealed hub/wheel bearing assemblies (bolt in w/abs sensors)

AC Delco @ RockAuto.com is pricing out at 271$/each

National Hub Assembly from a local parts at dealer wholesale is 91$/each. (171$ from Rock Auto!!)

First, does anyone know if AC Delco is rebranding Federal built units of this component type? The local parts guy is selling me this Hub at cash wholesale since I was once a service writer. I always considered Federal Mogul to be a good OE supplier. Is the rockauto price (on AC Delco) full retail price or is this also wholesale? I base this on the 100% mark-up of the Nationals based on my local parts dealer. The AC Delco price makes me cringe on visiting the GM parts counter. Finally, any quality difference between the 2? What I do not want is the assembly [censored] out in 35-50k!

http://www.federal-mogul.com/en/Aftermar.../HubAssemblies/

http://info.rockauto.com/BCA/Detail2img.html?NATHF_513090_fro.jpg&NATHF_513090_BAC.jpg

Application: 1998 Camaro V6 (RWD)

Thanks!
 
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The last bearing I put on my blazer was a National. It only took a few months and started to develop some play in the wheel. Plus I can hear it grinding at low speed.
 
The Federal-Mogul unit is aftermarket. I suspect the same is true with National. I can't comment on the quality of each brand because I'm not familiar with them. In general, aftermarket is always lower quality than OEM. Both with a price differential that can be as high as 4:1, it can be hard to justify buying OEM for an older car.

Our company makes both OEM and aftermarket automotive hub bearings. I qualify both. Our aftermarket business is booming.
 
Originally Posted By: Kestas

Our company makes both OEM and aftermarket automotive hub bearings. I qualify both. Our aftermarket business is booming.


I had a nasty experience with a National branded wheel bearing a couple of years ago. I purchased two of them at the same time for the same vehicle, a left and a right. One was American made and the other was Korean built. The American made look beautiful. The Korean had a rough casting and was even assembled wrong when compared against the American made. Remember that these were both the same National numbered parts. They ordered another one and it too was Korean made. After installing them, the Korean made bearing failed in about a month.
This one was definately lower quality than OEM.
 
That's funny you mention that. I recently purchased two front hub National Wheel bearings for my Grand AM. One was US made and one Korean. I thought the Korean made hub looked better quality. The US hub was purchased 2 months earlier and when I went back and bought another hub and noticed the box was a bit different. I assume that they switched production to Korea, but mayve just a different shipment came in.
 
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Good luck finding any aftermarket bearing made in the US anymore. Even OEM manufacturing is quickly moving offshore. Korea is a big player in this.

The only reason I have a job is that they need someone smart to "police" the process. Once good engineers are developed offshore, then my job is toast. It'll happen soon enough.
 
Labor cost is a small, if not the smallest, part of any company's cost structure. But it is the first to get cut.

Why? It is easy to understand, to execute, and quick to show result (on paper). The other stuff? They are hard and probably won't show a result quickly enough to bag that bonus.
 
Originally Posted By: Kestas
Good luck finding any aftermarket bearing made in the US anymore. Even OEM manufacturing is quickly moving offshore. Korea is a big player in this.


Funny, I just bought 2 Timken rear wheel bearings for a Nissan and they said Made in USA on the label and the bearings are made by Koyo - who is owned by a Toyota company.

OTOH not all things Chinese, Taiwanese or Korean are garbage - I've put in Taiwanese made NTN bearings when I had a Denso alt stripped spread eagle for brushes and the quality was still good. The local parts house had National ones made in China and India.
 
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Originally Posted By: Kestas
Good luck finding any aftermarket bearing made in the US anymore. Even OEM manufacturing is quickly moving offshore. Korea is a big player in this.

The only reason I have a job is that they need someone smart to "police" the process. Once good engineers are developed offshore, then my job is toast. It'll happen soon enough.


Not so sure...Falling value of US dollar should bring production back to USA. MAy take a few years, but it will happen.

Also, FWIW I talked to a long time tech the other day, and mentioned low cost of China Bearings. He said he has had very good luck with china bearings. Very few come back with low failure rate.
 
Slightly off-topic, but I've dealt Korean steel before in a welding shop. The quality was really inconsistent: The stuff was often warped and had hard spots. I wasn't impressed.
 
Neither Federal Mogul or National make hub units. Hub units are made by FisherAG/Schaeffler, Timken,Koyo, NTN, NSK, Iljin, Skf, KBI (old Delphi) and maybe 1 or 2 other Chinese manufacturers (Wiangxiang or C&U). So you are getting a private labeled unit. It could be from any one of these depending on size and design generation (GenI- GenIII)
 
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Originally Posted By: Jason2007
Timken still makes bearings in the US. I know because I have a friend who works at one of the plants.


Timken, INA, ARB, NTN, RBC, NSK, SKF, KBI, Koyo (Jtekt), NHBB, Rexnord, Baldor-Dodge, EPT/McGill, Kaydon, Rotek all make bearings in the US.
 
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