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Wheel Bearing Brands

PrissiePantsGT

New member
It's become pretty apparent to me that at least one, if not both, of my front hub bearings have gone bad. (02 GP GT 4dr, 130xxx)
It started with the ABS/trac control lights turning on & some vibration when stopping but has now progressed to an awful humming noise. The lights seldom turn on now. (I'm assuming this is a bad sign?)

I've been browsing for the hub assemblies online since the local NAPA, O'Reilly, Advanced, & Autozone must make theirs out of pure gold.
I came across hubbearing.com and they have some REALLY reasonable prices.

Has anyone tried "Parts Plus" hubs? Or better yet, has anyone purchased parts through this vendor?

Should I just stop being cheap and go with the Timken 513179 model instead?


Planned obsolesce is a PTA! :th_angry-pissed:


2002 Pontiac Grand Prix - Front Wheel Bearings and Seals Parts -TIMKEN,PARTS PLUS BEARINGS- Hub-bearing.com
 


Stay away from Autozone or others that carry their own, they are really cheap Chinese made and don't last.
Stick with Timken or SKF. I have an SKF hub on my car which was actually made in Mexico but it's been good for over 50k now. (knock on wood so it doesn't go bad now :th_winking:)
 
I'm pretty familiar with bearings due to my job (manufacturing company) so I know timken & skf are quality parts. (timken is way over priced IMO)
Just wasn't sure if anyone had tried this particular brand.

This is the brands website - http://www.prec-auto.com/
 
ive replaced my front 2 assemblies with the cheap ones for like 89.00 from oriellys. my right side has had no problems after 10k miles but ive replaced my let side under warranty 3 times already.. so idk if they go bad that quick or something could be wrong with my car causing that. personally id stay away from online unless you can easily return it imo.
 
Timken is proud, and the price reflects that for sure. But, your looking at a aftermarket hub thats as good as OEM, but with out GM's price, so in a way, its a good deal.

The cheep "house" hubs that the parts store carry, ya...crap. They are ONLY good to buy to fix the problem when you plan to sell the car soon, if not right away. Long term investment...no, even if the "lifetime warranty" sounds appealing...you will use that several times if you plan to keep your car for a while with those installed.

Next best thing is find a good low mileage OEM one from the junk yard if you want to save a buck. Most salvage yards around here wont sell them, because they cant be for sure its current shape and condition, and its not worth the hassle of selling it, only to have it turn out bad and have to go through all that return stuff. That, and many customs would return the bad one they JUST removed, and say this is the one you sold me and its bad, and get their money back and walk away with a free hub. So, them scum bags kinds ruined it for others who are honest. The one salvage yard i know who sells them, marks the ones they remove and sell in case that crap tries to happen. Even then, the looser will get upset with the salvage yard trying to call him a thief, so that goes back to then not even wanting to mess with it in the first place.

~F~
 


Autozone sells Timken but they are overpriced. I would only use Timken cause they are made in the USA. I found a really good price on Amazon when I got mine.
 
^good info and advice.

One thing a local learned the hard way buying a wheel bearing on line with a lifetime warranty, was return shipping when it went bad. Don't remember if it was a Timken or not.

HE had to pay shipping to send it back to them, wait so many days to get a response from them telling him it was deemed bad indeed, and then wait so many days for the replacement to arrive in the mail. Not sure if he had to pay shipping on that again...I would say not because of warranty, but you never know.

If he would of bought it local, remove, get a ride down to the parts store where he bought it, exchange it, and head home and install the new one within the same hour.

Food for thought.

~F~
 


national and EVERY thing else is garbage never used smk but i get timken from NAPA pay the money and dont do them every 45 50k like i was when working at oreillys. I walked in to NAPA still wearing my oreillys work shirt a long time ago to but Timken hubs fro my 02 grand prix. Ill never use any thing other than those.
02 GP coupe bought 66k sold 146k begin of july I bet i went through 5 hubs on that car and 3 were rights. Oreillys does have a good warranty tho if you like doing crap over and over. Even considering my employee discound i still got napas i hated them that much!!!
 
Along with this discussion on wheel bearings...I just picked up a 00 grand prix gt. I was positive it needed wheel bearings cause it got loud once i went over 40kmh and it either got worse or better depending on which way i turned the wheel while moving. So far ive only changed one (d/s front) cause i didnt have time to screw around with the p/s. When i took off the d/s, i had to take a punch and hammer to tap out a part of it that had the abs connect on it cause it never came off all in one piece like i guess it should have :P anyways, i drove it to see if it made a difference and honestly... it still sounds just about the same. Also, My abs light wont turn off and the traction light is on too...cant turn that off from the dash info centre. Ive double checked both front connecters and everything seems good. and no, no lights where on before i started this. Any suggestions on what going on here? and possibly how to get rid of these lights when im done both sides?? p.s. I work at a shop, so thats where my gt is now and all my parts/ tools. Thanks..
 
If you work at a shop scan the damn car and find out which corner is setting off the ABS also are you sure the cv shafts are clean? If not or have metal shavings from the old hub the reluctor wont rear properly and the ABS will just see a problem. If it wasnt doing it before my guess that cv shaft has shavings on it and therfore the ABS is going nuts.
 
Along with this discussion on wheel bearings...I just picked up a 00 grand prix gt. I was positive it needed wheel bearings cause it got loud once i went over 40kmh and it either got worse or better depending on which way i turned the wheel while moving. So far ive only changed one (d/s front) cause i didnt have time to screw around with the p/s. When i took off the d/s, i had to take a punch and hammer to tap out a part of it that had the abs connect on it cause it never came off all in one piece like i guess it should have :P anyways, i drove it to see if it made a difference and honestly... it still sounds just about the same. Also, My abs light wont turn off and the traction light is on too...cant turn that off from the dash info centre. Ive double checked both front connecters and everything seems good. and no, no lights where on before i started this. Any suggestions on what going on here? and possibly how to get rid of these lights when im done both sides?? p.s. I work at a shop, so thats where my gt is now and all my parts/ tools. Thanks..

the abs and tcs all run off the same power in the fuse panel. i had the problem but mine was a 1 in a 100,000 electrical short in the back of the panel... some heat issue.
 


Okay, im gunna throw the p/s bearing in next week (as you can tell by now this car is not my daily driver YET..) um, ill check both cv shafts and clean up everything along with that and see how it goes. Also i will check when im in next week is its fuse panels, i also thought it might be a better idea to scan it after the p/s bearing is in and clear any codes for the abs and tcs when its all said and done.. i should be good and they shouldnt come back on right?? Also, with the noise coming from faster than 40kmh... is it possible the tires are just **** lol. they have michellen harmonys on them and their not in bad shape (i can probably get another 20000-30000km on them) i wouldnt expect this coming from michellen but maybe the previous owner drove them improperly inflated all the time??
 
national and EVERY thing else is garbage never used smk but i get timken from NAPA pay the money and dont do them every 45 50k like i was when working at oreillys. I walked in to NAPA still wearing my oreillys work shirt a long time ago to but Timken hubs fro my 02 grand prix. Ill never use any thing other than those.
02 GP coupe bought 66k sold 146k begin of july I bet i went through 5 hubs on that car and 3 were rights. Oreillys does have a good warranty tho if you like doing crap over and over. Even considering my employee discound i still got napas i hated them that much!!!

i work at advance and use nationals all around my gt... no problems. i sell them to people everyday and they never have troubles.
 
I ALWAYS go with timkin! Never had a problem with them, they last very well, and on top of that, they have some of the best warranties out of any wheel bearing I've compared to it! Full Life time! Abs sensor in one goes out? call em up, get a replacement no charge to you! Those cheep ones will have limited warranties and will not last half as long as a timken! Also like others said, check rockauto, great place to get parts, I saved $160 when I bought my lower, and upper intake gaskets, valve cover gaskets and grommets, oil pan gasket, and pre-cat O2 sensor, so you can save some good money through them!!
 
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