Looking at replacement parts from the usual sources: Napa, Autozone, RockAuto, 1A Auto, etc and see prices from $27 up to $125 or more each for fronts. Do you get what you pay for when buying the name brands---Timken, Moog, Delco---or are they just the same Chinese part in a different box? If there is a difference, anyone found the sweet spot between price and quality?
I put used (119k) ones on my '93 Skylark, (187k) that seemed to be the way to go. Your car is likely nicer than mine, so new if the parts can be verified as domestic (U.S. /Canada) that would be a better option.
I used the cheap ones from Napa on my LeSabre. They lasted a year before the inner seal failed and the bearing was allowed to fill with road salt and snow. Needless to say it failed very quickly thereafter. You get what you pay for, and I would challenge anyone to find a set that was actually made in the US and not just packaged in the US. Most re manufactured parts come from either China or Korea with Mexico coming in 3rd; - they get labeled "domestic" when they're packed and packaged in the US.
The ones at work are one year warranty or three year warranty ( Moog ) . Certain part numbers don't have too much of a price difference . Probably all made in China or wherever . Just like lifetime warranty mufflers , if you are going to have the car more than two years you're going to need another later .
I've been using the Timken bearings on my 98 Riv. Replaced my left one when I bought the car in 2004, lasted 13 years, replaced it last year. Then my original right one went shortly after that. Replaced that with a Timken. Interestingly enough, one of the Timken replacements was stamped made in USA (on the part itself), the other was made in South Korea. They both looked exactly the same. This is the one for the 2002 LeSabre. https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=1118159&cc=1379796&jsn=535
I needed two front hubs for an Impala that I was working on. I go to the Federated store and the parts guy brings out two different brands. I opened the first box (Moog) and it looks just like the ones that GM sells. It has the green studs, the plastic harness retainer, and it's got the styrofoam with five slotted holes for packing. I guess that I should have opened both boxes at the parts store because the other one was painted black and just thrown in a plastic bag inside the box! I believe that all manufactures just buy them where they get them the cheapest and put them in their own box.
I don’t know if any of them have a “lifetime” warranty anymore or not. 3/45 is the best I’m seeing lately.
My Advance store will warranty for me. I won't put in a labor warranty but glad to get the part for free at least.
I would go Timken myself. They usually have some improvements to them over stock. I went through this when looking on the Grand Prix forums for a 2005 GP. They supposedly used to be made in the USA now Korea. Guys had good luck with both. So far so good been 2yrs. Timken, SKF, or Moog are top brands. There is a reason why hub ass. are cheap. Some say theirs lasted others say never again. Ray
If I push, I can get coverage out of warranty also, at least for the part. I don’t think anyone’s official warranty is lifetime anymore, but I could be wrong. And we will put in a labor claim during the 2/24 period.
Let us know what you get. I bought 2 at once from rockauto, got one made in the USA and one made in South Korea.
Let me put it in perspective for you as a person living in Minneapolis. I go thru cars like nothing due to the road salt and harsh winters. Its very rare that I hold onto anything for more than 4-5 seasons. So when a repair like that comes up, I ask myself this question: Will I be getting rid of this car soon, or will I be holding onto it for another 3-4 years? That determines what price range/warranty options I will go with. If I'm offloading the car within a year or so, I'll go with the cheaper option with the lower warranty. If I have some time ahead with it, then the higher priced/higher warranty option is the way to go. So...how long do you plan on keeping the car? BTW...I have been in the auto parts industry for over 25 years. All vendors that we deal with wether its NAPA, Checker, Kragen, Oreilly, Western Auto tell us that their parts are "OEM quality or made to exceed OEM requirements". Whatever you buy is going to be OEM quality. That being said, "duds" do happen. Guess what...."Duds" happen with factory parts too.
Our SKF's are lifetime warranty, but many of the NAPA stores don't know this. Heck, even our undercar rep says they're only 36 months. The computer list them as a 36 month for at least the last 5 years. Before that they were listed as lifetime. So I called SKF back when that changed on the computer and numerous times after. They say that is wrong, they definitely are lifetime. Every single one that we warranty out past the 36 never, ever came back. Which by the way we have far less warranties on these compared with our one years by a lot. There is a difference! Now that being said, starting next month SKF is going away (at all napa stores). And being replaced by the FAG (I know, right!) line with what shows as a three year warranty. So, on the phone with my rep explaining all this and he makes a phone call, gets back to me and says just keep doing what your doing and they will cover it. We will see...
True, ‘duds’ happen, but they happen more often with store brand/no name. All the sellers are looking for business; some try to earn it by offering a quality part and building name recognition; they are more careful with their outsourcing and their warranties mean something. Some trade solely on price; they seek to gin up enough volume and margin to cover their defects. These sellers have turned warranties into just stickers on the boxes. Patrick
I believe every manufacturer will tell you that they either meet or exceed OEM specs, if they didn't they wouldn't be in business much longer. It has been my experience with 30 years of buying aftermarket parts that one rarely gets anything that even comes close to the OEM spec, it usually fails faster, never works quite as well, or when sent to the rebuilder, the original problem was never diagnosed or fixed, all they did was throw in a kit and clean it. I once had that experience with a major supplier of remanufactured carbs, went through 9 of them before I got one that an issue I could live with, the rest all had serious issues that affected runability and safety. So when I started buying things like hubs and shocks or brake parts, yeah, I expect that they'll work about half as long as the factory stuff did. As for factory stuff going south, sure it does, but never to the same extent. I've owned a number of brand-new cars and I've never had to do hubs or anything until the car was well into old age. However, on that same car, my wife had a factory replacement hub installed at a dealership, and it too failed within a year. Seems there are two different standard, what they install on the factory floor and what they sell to the idiot consumer are two different things. Remember that the business model of most dealerships is to keep you and your clunker coming back for service, they aren't motivated to keep you in that old piece of crap, they want it to fail and you to come in and buy a new one so the cycle of service and warranty work can begin again. It's now to the point where I'll run the factory stuff until it completely fails before I replace it. Even with my vintage Buicks. My Wildcat still has the original factory installed motor with 130,000 miles on it, it's still tight and stupidly quick but I know it's going to eventually need to be rebuilt. The plastic timing gear is still in it! (Yeah, I know, it has to leave, soon, or else) I'm scared to touch that thing, I know that engine will never be quite the same or run with as much punch as it does now; - rebuilds and the quality of the parts one throws in somehow changes it and it's never quite as good or the same, at least that's been my experience. So, getting back to the hubs and not completely hijacking this thread, regardless of the label on the box, I'd check where it was made, that will give you an indication on whether it'll last a year or two.
Guy, not sure I’m following you on SKF. The written warranty policy NAPA provides clearly states 3/45. Not sure how that can be interpreted any other way. Sounds like your SKF rep is telling a story, like most reps do. A few years ago, myself and my lead tech went to a NAPA class on wheel bearings. We only went because they were holding it at a trendy place to eat in town. The BS sales tactics are so unbelievably bad that I have to tell you what we were told. SKF bearing design is such that if a total failure occurs, the corresponding wheel will not fall off. If (we) buy Chinese wheel bearings, and the wheel falls off, the tech will be going to court by himself and will likely be going to jail. The BS sales tactics by aftermarket companies has gotten so bad (fear sells, is what they are told I suppose) and the outright lies are such that I don’t know how those people look at themselves in the mirror every morning. To address the other topic being discussed, meets or exceeds OEM quality and/or company X makes parts for (insert OEM manufacturer here) is more total sales pitch nonsense that means absolutely nothing. As you know, I am a NAPA Car Care Center. No signage, no blue and yellow paint, and I spend a small fortune with NAPA every month. We NEED aftermarket parts. However, the constant pushing to buy more more more is really annoying. A few years ago, our sales rep wasn’t taking care of our issues. So we “boycotted” buying NAPA parts for 1 week in protest. He missed his quota, and he was beside himself when he found out what we did. When it’s our money, it’s no big deal. When it’s his money, my how things are different. Shortly after I “fired” him. You can only take being lied to by someone so much. No regrets, our new guy is awesome!
I guess I'm the only one who hasnt had as much issues with aftermarket parts on his cars as the rest of the folks on this thread. I do know that this state is the harshest environment a car can go thru, plus the fact that a hard core lead foot like myself is behind the wheel pushing it when its 20 below zero and the road is covered in ice and salt. In the 30 plus years I've been working on my own cars, I would say the failure rate in my whole life is around 5% when it comes to aftermarket parts. And in that 5%...100% have been able to be returned for a replacement item(batteries pro-rated of course) or money back. So take the chance, or dont take the chance.
Be sure the wheel hub ass. is torqued specified by the manufacturer of the ass.. Many premature failures are due to not following instructions. Ray
