So in the off-season I decided to refresh the wheels studs and bearings on the RX-8 since they were all original and I had at least one buggered stud and a bad front wheel bearing. I wanted to try out locally stocked items with warranties because most tracks have auto parts stores nearby.

First, I tried Moog, since they are a pretty reputable brand and have a 3-year warranty. I used them at VIR, and both front bearings developed significant play after a few sessions, resulting in lots of brake pad knock back and sloppy steering. I got a pair of replacements under warranty... and those also failed after a few track sessions at the next event.

Discouraged, I decided to try Timken. Also a reputable brand, 1-year warranty. Both hub bearings failed after a single session. No offs, no rough driving. VIR has some curbs, but they are FIA style and are pretty mild.

At this point, I'm going to order some OEMs and hope for the best (although through the mazdaspeed racer support program, they have no warranty.) My national brand rear wheel bearings are still golden.

Has anyone else had rapid front hub bearing failures with aftermarket front hubs/bearings?

Mods for reference, my grip is pretty low, making this a strange issue:

Hotchkis RX-8 Swaybars
Fortune Auto 500 coilovers, 8K front 6K rear rates
Kosei K8R 17x9" wheels
Toyo R888 235/40/17 tires
About 3000 pounds w/ driver (full interior)
ALIGNMENT: -2.5 front camber, -1.5 rear camber, 0 front toe, +1/16" rear toe, OEM-spec front caster, 13.5" front and 13.75" rear ride heights

 

I use to race a miata and had issues with Moog. I had ordered my 2 Moog hubs I was annoyed because they sent 1 Moog and 1 one National hub. I guess I got lucky because the Moog failed after one session and the national brand one was fine for the season.... I have not had to replace the ones on the Rx8 yet but have new Mazda ones on it now and a set in reserve. I am also curious to see what others are saying.

 

Still on my OE ones, but only 25k miles on the odometer

The Miata hubs were a known issue, the heavier duty RX8 hub was considered an upgrade for them. Maybe they are sending/using Miata hubs/internals.

 

that is odd, did you install them? did the grease leak out?

 

I keep expecting mine to fail...I have likely hundreds of track hours on my OEM ones...and they show no signs of failure yet

 

I installed them. They are front hub bearings, and no grease leaked out. Try to torque to spec using criss cross pattern. I had the same suspicion as Team: they're using Miata internals/specs, not the heavier duty RX8 specs.

 

UPDATE: full weekend on OEM hubs, no play. Can't believe how terrible the aftermarket ones are.

 

Good to know. Mine have 125k on them and so I suspect I will have to replace them at some point...

 

I wanted to add some thoughts to this thread. I replaced my hubs last summer, after recommendations from Eric Meyer. He said that they really need to be changed every couple years, and with factory parts.

Apparently, they have a real exciting failure mode if you don't. The integral ABS sensor fails in such a way that the wheel locks up. Additionally, Eric told me this tends to happen at the end of a straight. That's going to get you in trouble real quick.

If the sources for remanufactured hubs are indeed using MX-5 cores, I'm not sure how that might exacerbate the problem.

 

Hi eveyone when i build my rallycar this Winther I fitted brand new SKF hubs witch are know to be some of the best in the world and original fitted on a lot of vehicles. However they lasted 1 test day on a track which is maybe 100 km. And there where a lot of play scary how much. I fitted 2 new Mazda ones which are double the price and one week delivery however they have done 2 rally's prints with full attack which is also about 100 km and much much harder on the suspension. And there is no play at all. I was very nervous that I had to change after 1 or 2 races since 2 original hub is about 1200 dollars here in Denmark.

I own a small garage where we fix about 2000 cars a year and has never had any problems with SKF

 

I was in the bind (track day tomorrow) and could only find aftermarket one locally. It was beck/arnley brand from Olympus auto parts. will report how it holds up.

 

Assuming you make it back ...

 

I will bring the old hub with me just in case.

 

OEM is the way to go. Even quality OEM providers like MOOG, SKF, and TIMKEN are showing a mixed-bag for parts, particularly for specialty or import models. Mazda used KOYO bearings for the rear wheel hubs, likely for the fronts as well.

I went with TIMKEN on my recent rear wheel bearing replacement (I believe it is an NTN source part from Japan) and all seems well for now, but time will tell. If/when it needs replacement, I'll be sourcing the more expensive KOYO/Mazda part.

 

That won’t get you through the pearly gate, lol

 

As per the first post, Timken lasted only a day for the OP

 

I am about to change my wheel bearing on my Rx8 too
I only use OE Mazda wheel bearing since my Rx7 race days

 

so we had open track yesterday from 9am to 3pm :-).

aftermarket beck/arnley wheel hub from Olympus auto parts held up just fine - zero play after beating on if for 4 hours around Shenandoah track were you are cornering 80% of the lap

 

 

So, I endurance race my RX8 and went through THREE sets of aftermarket bearings in 2 days. Finally another racer showed up with his OEM bearings and the car was perfect.

For the life of me so will never understand why they make bearings like this. Non-servicable and integrated with the abs. Probably the one part on the car I absolutely hate, because I am stuck using Mazda bearings when I know others are out there, but are total crap.




Anthony

 

Anthony,

What brand were the aftermarket bearings?

Spoke with an associate today and we've both been burned time and time again by aftermarket parts. I'm running a TIMKEN (by NTN Japan) bearing in the back of my car presently and I'm not sure how I feel about it; certainly not confident enough in it to install them on anyone else's cars. While the grumble from the right-rear is much quieter now, I still get a faint hint of noise, but I can only hear it when there is no other notable noise. We'll see how it handles AutoX next season.

 

Timken and some other lesser Chineseium brand that actually developed play, but never got worse. I suppose on the street they would be fine, but still should be able to handle a single event. Maybe not 9hrs of abuse, but 25min.

 

I just bought a set of rears from Mazda and they did not have a brand name on them anywhere. Last set I got from Mazda were Koyo.

 

I believe Timken makes the OEM ones. If you know who makes them, you can usually get them cheaper on RockAuto than what dealers charge you.

 

does the front bearings tend to fail more quickly then rear? i bought a set of front from rockauto awhile ago to bring to track as spares. i also bought a new set of OEM rear bearings from mazda but that's not something you can replace track side.