Best Rear Wheel Hub Assembly?

[sdycke]

The 'one factory in china' analogy isnt too far from the truth in that they do produce different quality parts for differnet customers under the same roof. I know this for a fact. What muddys the waters further is that the SAME bearing can be sold by both a better name brand retailer (eg NAPA) vs a discount retailer with a MUCH lower price (with a MUCH shorter warranty. ie you pay for the warranty). All I can say is from my experience as a journeyman mechanic here, NTN-BOWER seems to work well. Timken is probably the best known and maybe works as well but how many times have i looked at a new Timken bearing and found 'made in Romania' or wherever on it and wondered hmmmmm.....like the set of Dunlops I bought that were made in Poland; with further investigation I found they were made at the Buna rubber plant the Nazis built at Auschwitz/Birkenau. But they ran fine and lasted...I guess thats the price for globalization. Maybe those Romanian Timken bearings were the best out there? Untill I get burned I will continue to use NTN-Bower, because they have held up for me (although I dont race) and definitely have seen many people get burned using white box/private label (autozone, partsource, whathaveyou...) bearings. Thats my experience anyway. PS I'm sure youre aware a bearing that can has no play by feel can definitely growl....buy/borrow an 'electronic ear' set up....its invaluable for times like these (eg customer says LF is noisy but you can tell him, sorry sir BOTH front bearings are noisy, LF more so....or no its just your tires or torqrue converter etc) cheers! Uh oh. last call.....In short, go with what you know or trusted people advise but know that globalization can change it all in a heartbeat, as when my beloved NTN bearings are sourced from North Korea or Cuba when the opportunity presents....