I have one thats going out... are the replacements from Advanced any good, or should I order OEM ? Thanks, Brent
I always go OEM. I believe they are around $80 at the dealership. Go to Morries Minnetonka and get the 20% discount by saying you are an Mnsubaru member
Rule of thumb I have kinda gone with is I wont use anything that does not have at least a 3 year 20k mile warrenty.
SKF, FAG, Timken, or Subaru OEM bearings. The OEM will be $80-$100, the other brands will be half of that and made in either Japan or Germany. The three other brands I named are probably the best bearing manufacturers in the world. I looked up, on rock auto, bearings for your car. $40 each for SKF bearings. The Subaru OEM wheel bearing seals are the best ones out there. Most others are single lip seals, and, unless Subaru has changed it, theirs are double lipped. Before installing, let the seals sit in you freezer for an hour or so. They will slid in pretty easy then, tap with a seal driver to set them properly, and everything will be all good. Get new snap rings too. You'll probably bend the old ones, and they're only a few bucks from rock auto (cheapest ones have worked fine for me, no reason to get expensive snap rings here). Start spraying down the lateral link bolts daily with penetrating lube for a week or two. Those bolts are hell if the car has been exposed to salt every year. I've ended cutting out more than getting out (although since I upgraded impact wrenches, I haven't had to do a wheel bearing job...). The ATD front wheel bearing puller kit ($80) is the greatest tool for this job. Works on rear bearings too, despite its name. Cheaper than the HF, longer warranty, and they just updated the forcing screw to a substantially better and stronger thread pitch than the HF or other cheap kits. Or get the OTC $500 kit if you can afford that! Cheap slide hammer works wonders for getting the hubs out of the bearings. Need any more info or advice, just ask. I've done a ton of these at this point.
FYI, Subaru bearing (28016aa030, MSRP $81.95) is just an NTN cr1-08a05cs95 (I see them on Amazon for less than $60) with a Subaru sticker on it. Still says NTN all over the box, and the NTN barcode is still visible. I only did one rear one, but "we" do a ton at work. The lateral link bolt at the knuckle is notorious for breaking, typically has to be cut in a couple places to get everything apart. Then the knuckle can be put on a press to swap the bearing. Then a ball-joint press can be used to put new bushings in the lateral links. So yea, you'll want the bearing and 3 seals. And probably that lateral link bolt, 2 bushings, 2 washers, and a nut. I've heard it can be done on the car without removing from the car with a hub tamer...but I'm not quite sure.
That's the one. I do have the old forcing screw and it lasted me nearly 12 bearing swaps. New one should be even better! Although, now that I'm thinking about it, I can't remember where I put the warranty new one I got... For each bearing the tool gets used 3x. Once for removing the bearing (I use an impact wrench), once for installing the new bearing (I do by hand ratchet to make sure not to bind the bearing up if you drive it in crooked), and the third time to put the spindle back into the bearing (again, I do by hand to make sure it goes in straight and doesn't damage the new bearing). Using this tool is WAY faster than using a press (Can leave the entire hub on the car). It is gentler on the bearing and less chance of damaging it on install. Can't recommend doing it this way enough. Seriously though, start spraying those lateral link bolts. 40" breaker bar usually does the trick in snapping them, making cutting them out easier.
When I did mine on my 02 wrx I had good luck getting mine out by using deep creep for a week or two spraying daily before trying to remove the bolts. Kroil Penetrating Oil also works very well.
