9 replies to this topic

[Vinay-RS]

Hi everyone, 

 

So my Mini recently came back and while the engine is running well, the specialists pointed out that the rear wheel bearings (particularly the LH side one) is worn and scratchy and needs replacing. 

 

Now, I suspect that the answer to this question is to get the Timken tapered roller bearings, but I wanted to know if people have run the non-genuine tapered roller bearings from Minispares on their cars and what the longevity/lifespan of them was? Currently, the local spares supplier has stock of the Minispares tapered roller bearings, but I am worried that these are not good to fit to the car and will fail quickly/catastrophically. 

 

Thanks for any advice here, 

 

Vinay

[nicklouse]

Can’t comment on the MiniSpares ones but I do have e a pair of KAD rear hubs that did not come with Timken bearings.

 

their tightening info is not as per the manual.

 

i would ask MiniSpares what the procedure is and do it per that.

[colinf1]

I ran the minispares rear bearings, both sides had failed after 1,500kms. Looked for a solution with Minispares and they had discontinued these bearings (and still have) and only offered the Timken ones.

[Spider]

Wheel Bearings - Options ?

No, there is no option !

Timken !!!

 

(There are others out there, I tried some a while back and they were disastrous)

Depending on your use of the car, if you can find name brand ball bearings, they were quite OK for light to moderate use.

[timmy850]

I installed a minispares one (in a powertune box) in 2014 and it's still fine. I had it out a few years ago to regrease and I was happy to use it again.

 

Worth mentioning I have a narrow track so perhaps the load on the bearing is less that a mini with wider wheels

[alex-95]

I'd Wait for timken, I ran the minis spare's one for 600 miles and one seized up meaning I had to replace a radius arm, hub and tyre. not had any problems with timken.

[Chris1275gt]

After using non genuine which lasted 9 months my 1st choice now is Timken 2nd choice would be Timken and finally my third choice would be Timken.

[Cooperman]

I found some NOS RHP (Ransome, Hoffman, Pollard) bearings from the 1970's in a drawer in my workshop. I will use those when necessary. Proper bearings!

[Gaz66]

Back in the day, circa 1988 I came across some old inch spacer S drums which I decided to fit.
Being young and skint I just bought a set of extended S wheel studs for the ball raced hubs I was running.
5 years later when the car was converted to an Autograss spec the ball races were still going strong 👍
Now I'm not quite as skint would I put ball races in? Probably not 😁
Not sure if today's ball races are up to the same spec as the 1980's ones but I'd hazard a guess they're not.

[Vinay-RS]

Thank you for all the feedback! This sounds like all the non genuine bearings are a problem. I'll order the Timken ones in the week and hopefully they arrive in the next week or so.