This has probably already been posted on here, however after replacing a wheel hub on my car yesterday I noticed Timken bearings highly resemble cheap Chinese [censored].
The bearing I replaced was also a Timken and lasted me 3 years/60k which is good considering GM FWD cars eat hub bearings like clockwork. Upon the new bearing arriving in the mail the first thing I noticed was the box didn't say Made in United States this time, it said Made in South Korea.
Upon removing the bearing I noticed the plastic bearing seal was a different color than the one I had purchased 3 years ago. Lastly after removing the tire I immediately noticed the S. Korea bearing has shorter studs (1-1.5 cm difference) and the center hub that the wheel and fits over is now tapered and therefore considerably thinner than the old Made in USA bearing.
I'm not really expecting to get more than a year out of this cheap labor bearing after poking around online have seen prime examples of their inferior quality. One was an F250 where both front Timken replacements had a HUGE amount of slop after only 500 miles, a couple others had catastrophic failures where the lugs snapped off (on heavy duty diesel pickups) and customers having to replace bearings every 10-14 months.
Just thought I'd get that out there so no one else wastes their money on a poor quality bearing being sold at high quality prices.
The bearing I replaced was also a Timken and lasted me 3 years/60k which is good considering GM FWD cars eat hub bearings like clockwork. Upon the new bearing arriving in the mail the first thing I noticed was the box didn't say Made in United States this time, it said Made in South Korea.
Upon removing the bearing I noticed the plastic bearing seal was a different color than the one I had purchased 3 years ago. Lastly after removing the tire I immediately noticed the S. Korea bearing has shorter studs (1-1.5 cm difference) and the center hub that the wheel and fits over is now tapered and therefore considerably thinner than the old Made in USA bearing.
I'm not really expecting to get more than a year out of this cheap labor bearing after poking around online have seen prime examples of their inferior quality. One was an F250 where both front Timken replacements had a HUGE amount of slop after only 500 miles, a couple others had catastrophic failures where the lugs snapped off (on heavy duty diesel pickups) and customers having to replace bearings every 10-14 months.
Just thought I'd get that out there so no one else wastes their money on a poor quality bearing being sold at high quality prices.
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