Wheel bearings: stock or aftermarket?

[Pearldrummer7]

Hey all,

I have my hubs pressed apart from the knuckle, and while shopping for bearings I realized that might be options other than the stock ones.

Is everyone going with stock wheel bearings? Anyone look into a longer lasting or maybe lower-resistance bearing? Are there even other viable options out there?

[svanlare]

I just went with the stock ones.

[STiPWRD]

I went stock

[D Clary]

I went stock but repacked them with redline high temp grease.

[Mechie3]

Stock. My 06 WRX never wore out the stockers at 70k miles and many autocrosses with R comps. Can't see a lighter car causing issues.

[Boog]

Lower resistance bearings sound interesting. Do you have a link? Or are you just looking at the catalogs of bearing companies for items with the same sizes as OEM?

[FFRSpec72]

Stock. My 06 WRX never wore out the stockers at 70k miles and many autocrosses with R comps. Can't see a lighter car causing issues.

Agree, I see no reason not to go with OEM if you are on a budget

[Slatt]

It seems most complaints about bearing wear are in the front, where the 818 is so much lighter that I doubt it will be an issue for us. The other question might be "what year front spindles do you have?" The bearings are much easier to replace in newer models. Sorry, I don't know what year they transitioned from 'hard to replace' to 'reasonable to replace'.

[Pearldrummer7]

Hm. Alright; thanks all. I have checked out a few bearing catalogs for some lower resistance ones. Seems I'll be thriftier than that for now. Perhaps when/if they ever fail I'll upgrade them

[Goldwing]

Seems I'll be thriftier than that for now. Perhaps when/if they ever fail I'll upgrade them

So may upgrades are like that! It seems unreasonable to spend the money for the upgrade until a broken part forces you to spend nearly as much for the original piece. I was fortunate to find a low mileage car, but because of that, I haven't been able to justify many upgrades. I have very mixed emotions about this, lol.

[Pearldrummer7]

So may upgrades are like that! It seems unreasonable to spend the money for the upgrade until a broken part forces you to spend nearly as much for the original piece. I was fortunate to find a low mileage car, but because of that, I haven't been able to justify many upgrades. I have very mixed emotions about this, lol.

Ha, I had a very high mileage 02 from NY (so rust galore). My wallet isn't terribly excited about all the "opportunities" to upgrade, but it's got some benefits.

I don't have front wheel bearings in place at this point, which is why the question is being asked.