OLLIE 26 Report post Posted July 16, 2006 Hello All just a quick story about my front wheel bearings that i replaced about 2 years ago with skf bearings. (e30) as you may know the front bearings on an e30 are a sealed double bearing unit. After 2 years both of the skf bearings i put in have rusted inside and resulted in excessive play! now obviously water is getting in there some how and there are 2 ways it can get in fron or back of the bearing. The front of the bearing is protected by the push in cap which no way can let water in, i even sealed it with gasket sealant. MY VERDICT ... the rubber seal at the back of the bearing (which is meant to be a sealed unit) simply pops out and hence water gets in through the dust shield at the back. (the original FAG bearings are a different design and the seal wont pop out it appears to be fixed around the outside edge, and theys lasted 17 years with no sign of rust.) Has anyone had similar experiences to this with their bearings? skf in particular? (please correct me if i am wrong) I am going to try and get skf to replace the faulty bearings and when i install them i am going gum up the seal at the back around the outside edge at hope that water stays out. i can put up photos if it is going to help with my explaination, just ask. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gus 5 Report post Posted July 16, 2006 go the FAGs Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Carl 3 Report post Posted July 16, 2006 I replaced a front bearing around 2001 to have it last only 3 years, both fronts are now SKF and coming up 1 & 2 years a piece, will be interested to see if there is a design flaw. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OLLIE 26 Report post Posted July 17, 2006 I replaced a front bearing around 2001 to have it last only 3 years, both fronts are now SKF and coming up 1 & 2 years a piece, will be interested to see if there is a design flaw. Well i went to skf today and they are not there anymore! i'll have to go to the south auckland branch later in the week. I went into precision bearings in albany and the chap Alan there was very helpful and we investigated the problem, it appeared that it may not be rust but discoloured grease or something. we eventually found the part number for the original FAG bearing and matched it up to the skf equivalent, guess what .... different part number to the bearing i had been sold!! f**king retards, the preload etc inside the bearing would have all been wrong and caused the bearing to overheat etc... so what do i do now?? take off both of my skf bearings and demand that they replace them with the correct ones? i can just foresee them saying that they're out of warranty or somebullshit even though they gave me the wrong ones in the first place. any advice appreciated please. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites