SKF vs FAG

I thought I read recently that some of you have had issues with newer FAG bearings vs SKF - can you please comment?

With that tip I tried to buy SKF's (which were made in Italy) from one of our favorite suppliers recently, but received - from their supplier - a chinese bearing in an SKF (made in Italy) box.

Stuff happens, so no issues with one of our favorite suppliers . . . you know who you are - we thank you!

I'll be attempting this replacement myself , so I don't want to do this again in 6 months, so should I insist on tracking down real SKF's?

Are the older SKF's made in Germany and more reliable (and available from 'Teeners)?

Bearings made in Germany, Switzerland, and Japan, in that order, are my preference... experience based on racecar wheel bearings.

Pretty sure I have at least one set of NOS SKF, made in Italy, bearings I'd sell PM me if interesteed

FAG and SKF are equal in my opinion. Bearing SHOULD have manufacturing country on bearing race. Germany, Canada, Italy, Spain all seem to be equal in quality. Just about any bearing made before 2000 is a good choice.

There have been discussions on bearing made in Slovakia not having enough grease.

Thank you all - I'll post a wtb for German SKF (or, alternately, FAG) - if that doesn't happen, I'll pm you, Perry.

-Marcus

Hello MM1....what symptoms are you experiencing that makes you think you need new rear wheel bearings? Would love to hear (no pun intended) what your answer is.
Thank you very much.
gg

Also....what are we supposed to do if we can't find NOS bearings? Doesn't anyone make high quality NEW rear wheel bearings? Porsches go 200 mph lately....someone must be making good bearings. Is it the size us teeners need that is the issue? Thank you,
gg

Does Timken make what we need? (I did a brief search but couldn't find any - I presume our suppliers would carry them if they were available).

Well - rather embarrassing - but (if you insist) my profile picture says it all. Jumping in with both feet and knowing next to nothing about 914/911's I thought that if the wheels are on it, I should be able to tow it . . .like any good ol' 'merican truck - right?

6 months later- I read something here about towing without the stub axles in . . .went to the garage and checked . . .yep massive wobble . . .it's a miracle I made it up and down the hills on the 101 without dragging my brand new money pit - I mean "project in boxes" - into the depths of true misery at 55 m.p.h. . . .


I truly look forward to replacing that profile pic with a resurrected driver . . .warts and all.

At least it's an original paint ivory white . . . (never liked white, but the hillclimber-look with positive stripe hooked me). I thought I read here a few years ago that a few of ya'll hadn't seen original paint ivory white in 20 years . . .is that true?

(cue dashed justification for not repainting/"only original once" music - now)

"Ode to Joy" or pleading the "Fifth" ?



Click to view attachment

Yes, Timken makes a correct bearing. Another good choice.

Timken 513106

Thanks, Mark - I wonder if it’s made in the good ol’ U.S. of A?

I could not find one picture in 15 min. of searching several suppliers that shows that Timken bearing with “ made in the U.S.A.” stamped on it. Granted-it’s the internet and some of these pictures are “representative”-but come on... some of these pictures are FAG’s made in Canada. They’re probably fine, but how hard is it to take a picture of the actual product one sells?

Guess I’m a dinosaur - I remember when the “made in the U.S.A.” tag or stamp was so common. . . it was often taken for granted.

Like the evils of post-war communism I heard about from people actually who lived behind the iron curtain.

Now we support the last communist empire with our trillions in debt and buying from Amazon every day.

And many kids today don’t know what any of that that means. . .

Sorry - rant over.

I’m going with the NOS German-made FAG’s - thanks to our fellow ‘Teener and thanks to you all- I learn from you all every day.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/porsche-wh...912-39443020365

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/porsche-wh...912-39443020365

Been using FAG without any issues. But the inhouse 914-6 projects will get SKF GREEN seal bearings. Its what I installed on the Rothsport Mexican 1000 winning race car. No issues ................

Slits aka Ron used to buy them from Volvo. Different name and number but the same bearing. I don't remember any more than that.

The Timkens add at Amazon has a review from 2017 w/ pics from a Boxter owner where he broke a new set open to find lubrication issues.
https://www.amazon.com/Timken-513106-Wheel-...customerReviews


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Thank you - notice the picture of the item is FAG with red seal.

Btw - this brings up another question: I thought I read on an older thread that one of our most active members suggested opening new rear wheel bearings and using a proper grease (don't remember what that was) . . .would you all consider that? Makes sense on a 100k bearing - but I would be afraid to rip a seal . . .

hmm ?? I never heard that only FAG had red seals, is that actually the case? Regardless, there is an opened Temkin box in the review picture. Maybe FAG makes bearings for Temkin or something? (I say this because the picture of the bering in the Temkin add - is a picture of a FAG bearing (engraving can read on the face)...[oh, that's probably what you meant].

.

That might have been me. After reading a few reports of FAG bearings shipping with little grease in them and the video linked below, I decided to pop mine open before install. Sure enough, one looked like it had adequate grease but the other had noticeably less. I repacked them with Redline synthetic bearing grease. @Superhawk996 has engineering experience with wheel bearings and thought opening and repacking was unnecessary and maybe even unwise. I'm just a dumbass hoping to prevent premature failure so can't say with any authority if opening and regreasing is good practice, but to my uneducated eye, the one bearing looked pretty sketchy to me.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A5kf5pXl4w

BMW uses the same one too. Just did the rears on my 97 328is. Didnt realize it at the time but parts cross reference shows it to be the same bearing.

In my experience, best chance at a quality part is to get it straight from the BMW dealer. Granted you will most likely pay 2x as much for it.

I did just that... here's my thread when I did it. I felt that my bearings did not have enough grease in them...

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...=337345&hl=

Thank you for explaining that, Brent.

Thanks, Luke - yep that's the thread I (partially) read.

I truly appreciate information and opinions from you all - both sides help inform my decision (but they are waaaay better/trustworthy than reading reviews on Amazon - and a hundred times more fun).

Ok....so now I am befuddled.....I want the best bearings available but not clear on how to get them. I see FAG bearings for sale but the pictures of them say made in Germany, Slovenia, and Spain. I kinda' want the German ones....any reason I should be thinking this? Then I guess I have to repack them from the get go....? Once I replace them I do not want to ever do it again.....any and all comments welcome. Thank you very much.
gg

Somebody out there with an answer, opinion, or ??
Thank you,
gg

PMB site show SKF or FAG are the ones being part of the 5 lug conversion.

You can try sending a message to Eric S (PMB Performance) or from Pelican has FAG canada and SKF Italy.

I believed both FAG and SKF should last for many miles or years if you just use the car for street or canyon drive.

We never repacked the new wheel bearings when I worked at the Porsche shop. Just installed, torqued to spec and drove them. I never heard of any issues from our customers. That include high hp, 12” rear wheel builds.

My theory on the Boxster spec car wheel bearing failure is they went from 0 to fast and hit the turns at speed and the grease in the bearings never warmed up and flowed to the entire unit. Street cars get driven at slower speeds with the new bearings and the grease has time to distribute throughout the bearing before the car hits a high speed turn. It’s just my own theory. I have no proof.

Hello....sorry to belabor this point....where can I buy FAG rear wheel bearings that are actually made in Germany? Does it matter? Something about made in Slovenia isn't working for me. Or should I just go SKF? Where are they made? I just want the best as you only do the job once every 100k miles as I understand it. Thank you very much.
gg

I have one NOS FAG made in Germany. Check with Rich at HPH and see IF he has anymore.