The straight answer to the the hub assembly question is that there are a few major manufacturers making hubs for the OEM. These are Timken, SKF, NTN, Koyo, NSK, Ilgin, F-A-G, and KBI(used to be Delphi). The rest of the manufacturers are from China/Asia and are all strictly aftermarket suppliers. Working in the bearing industry and seeing first hand the quality differences between the Chinese and OEM designs, I would never put a Value line or Chinese hub unit on my car. Brands like Duralast, Precision, Auto Extra, and other "house brands" are not worth the risk to save some money. I have a lot of info on these parts if anybody wants to know specifics. I believe the topic of BCA/Federal Mogul hubs came up in an earlier post. Most of the BCA/National hubs are made in Korea by Ilgin and are not bad quality.
Best Hub Assembly
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Originally Posted By: barfan
Working in the bearing industry and seeing first hand the quality differences between the Chinese and OEM designs, I would never put a Value line or Chinese hub unit on my car. Brands like Duralast, Precision, Auto Extra, and other "house brands" are not worth the risk to save some money.
Agreed!
My Buick was the unwitting subject of an experiment in hub quality. Both front hubs went out at the same time. One was replaced by a Korean-made National, the other by a Chinese-made NTK. I replaced the Chinese-made hub twice more in 6 months before returning it for another National (made in America this time). No more problems after that.
Working in the bearing industry and seeing first hand the quality differences between the Chinese and OEM designs, I would never put a Value line or Chinese hub unit on my car. Brands like Duralast, Precision, Auto Extra, and other "house brands" are not worth the risk to save some money.
Agreed!
My Buick was the unwitting subject of an experiment in hub quality. Both front hubs went out at the same time. One was replaced by a Korean-made National, the other by a Chinese-made NTK. I replaced the Chinese-made hub twice more in 6 months before returning it for another National (made in America this time). No more problems after that.
I put a set of National hubs on my truck earlier this year. They were stamped "Korea". No problems with them at all.
Originally Posted By: sciphi
Originally Posted By: barfan
Working in the bearing industry and seeing first hand the quality differences between the Chinese and OEM designs, I would never put a Value line or Chinese hub unit on my car. Brands like Duralast, Precision, Auto Extra, and other "house brands" are not worth the risk to save some money.
Agreed!
My Buick was the unwitting subject of an experiment in hub quality. Both front hubs went out at the same time. One was replaced by a Korean-made National, the other by a Chinese-made NTK. I replaced the Chinese-made hub twice more in 6 months before returning it for another National (made in America this time). No more problems after that.
NTK hub or NTN?
Originally Posted By: barfan
Working in the bearing industry and seeing first hand the quality differences between the Chinese and OEM designs, I would never put a Value line or Chinese hub unit on my car. Brands like Duralast, Precision, Auto Extra, and other "house brands" are not worth the risk to save some money.
Agreed!
My Buick was the unwitting subject of an experiment in hub quality. Both front hubs went out at the same time. One was replaced by a Korean-made National, the other by a Chinese-made NTK. I replaced the Chinese-made hub twice more in 6 months before returning it for another National (made in America this time). No more problems after that.
NTK hub or NTN?
Chinese made wheel bearing that was put on my old cavalier by the dealer lasted 9,000 miles before howling.
Originally Posted By: ltslimjim
Originally Posted By: sciphi
Originally Posted By: barfan
Working in the bearing industry and seeing first hand the quality differences between the Chinese and OEM designs, I would never put a Value line or Chinese hub unit on my car. Brands like Duralast, Precision, Auto Extra, and other "house brands" are not worth the risk to save some money.
Agreed!
My Buick was the unwitting subject of an experiment in hub quality. Both front hubs went out at the same time. One was replaced by a Korean-made National, the other by a Chinese-made NTK. I replaced the Chinese-made hub twice more in 6 months before returning it for another National (made in America this time). No more problems after that.
NTK hub or NTN?
NTK, now branded as "Driveworks". Isn't NTN an offshoot of Denso?
Originally Posted By: sciphi
Originally Posted By: barfan
Working in the bearing industry and seeing first hand the quality differences between the Chinese and OEM designs, I would never put a Value line or Chinese hub unit on my car. Brands like Duralast, Precision, Auto Extra, and other "house brands" are not worth the risk to save some money.
Agreed!
My Buick was the unwitting subject of an experiment in hub quality. Both front hubs went out at the same time. One was replaced by a Korean-made National, the other by a Chinese-made NTK. I replaced the Chinese-made hub twice more in 6 months before returning it for another National (made in America this time). No more problems after that.
NTK hub or NTN?
NTK, now branded as "Driveworks". Isn't NTN an offshoot of Denso?
NTN is a stand alone bearing company, they actually purchased SNR, who was a French bearing manufacturer. If you buy a Timken hub assembly for any hub unit that fits a passenger car from GM like an Impala, Grand Prix, Alero, etc., you are getting the OEM factory KBI hub assembly, that is who supplies Timken for those applications. KBI bought the GM hub assembly operation in Sandusky , Ohio from the remnants of Delphi a few years ago. They supply GM and the aftermarket with parts. I know GM hubs have a known tendency to fail early but the Chinese knock offs of these parts are made even worse, believe me, I have seen them up close. If you need a hub for a GM product that isn't a truck, stay with Timken or parts supplied by GMB(hubandbearingwarehouse.com) you will be getting the OEM part, same as the dealer for way cheaper.
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