Wheel hub bearing life expectancy?

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Wheel bearings are not a normal replacement item for this platform, and strictly "as needed". It's not common without reason.

Not sure what I could be doing to cause undue stress on hubs. I’ve only had a few hard curb strikes I can recall, and they have all been the right rear which is the only hub I have replaced not out of necessity. There was one slow speed corner that I used to take the curb and lift a front wheel on, but my most frequented track where that corner is was repaved and that curb got reprofiled. It’s too abrupt now and I haven’t used it in years.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

Not sure what I could be doing to cause undue stress on hubs. I’ve only had a few hard curb strikes I can recall, and they have all been the right rear which is the only hub I have replaced not out of necessity. There was one slow speed corner that I used to take the curb and lift a front wheel on, but my most frequented track where that corner is was repaved and that curb got reprofiled. It’s too abrupt now and I haven’t used it in years.

Try putting a temperature sticker on your knuckles.

Damage is usually either impact or heat based.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Try putting a temperature sticker on your knuckles.

Damage is usually either impact or heat based.

My assumption has been heat degradation of the grease.

[Matt93SE]

My 2013 has roughly 8,000 miles on the chassis (race car since new), and I've replaced both front bearings when I noticed them making a lil noise during pre-race checks. I could probably get through a couple more race weekends, but I had spares in the bin and would rather not risk emergency surgery at the track. This car provides enough surprises for me as-is.

That said, my car runs 245 Hoosiers and aero. I try to stay off the curbs in general, but inevitably bounce off a few through a weekend. that much load is way more than you'll see on average with 200TW tires, so you should have much longer life- as others are reporting.

[renfield90]

I replaced my bearings at 95k miles. While they tested OK (i.e. couldn't wiggle them in any direction, didn't make noise), the car rattled over rough road and was easily unsettled. I half expected this to be a situation of "threw parts at the car without proper diagnosis, problem remains unsolved" but it was night and day difference.

My personal recommendation for heavy autox/track use is to replace on the same interval you replace your lugs/studs. You practically have the hubs out at that point, it's very little extra work to change.

If you're not noticing any bad behavior, sure, it's fine to skip.

[GrandSport]

I think I have 608k track miles (zero street) on mine and I've replaced one rear (knock on wood). I cracked a wheel and my wheel bearings were fine. I think I have a little play in one wheel though.

I hear this life expectancy drops dramatically if you run slicks or don't have good cooling up front.

I have brake ducts and AP endurance rotors to soak up a lot of heat.

[lutfy]

Front, 3rd set. On average they have lasted me 3K or roughly 2 season of track/racing before needing replacement. They started to howl and had a lot of play, especially front left.

Running 245 Hoosier R7 on full aero car and stints can be up to 35-40mins at a time (ST5 racing).

Same for the rear, they had developed some play and we replaced it (2nd set for the rear at least).

Have BBK with 2 piece rotor so assuming it is the grip and not heat (but could be wrong) causing wear.

OEM bearings. Advanced Auto one (needed in an emergency) did not last a weekend.

[Ultramaroon]

Once there's a teeny bit of peening on the races, game over.

[rice_classic]

Similar to Lufty... I am on Hoosier R7/A7 T4 race car. They are definitely a 2 season replacement item, sometimes 1 season if we're attending a lot of events. I always keep a loaded spare in the trailer (loaded with extended studs).

They should last several years on 200TW tires though.

[DocWalt]

Just killed the fronts on my BRZ, ~18k miles now and a shit-ton of autocross. I have a terrible clunky rattle and I hope it fixes that (like it did for renfield), but when spinning the bearing slowly it's kinda lumpy and spinning it fast makes a grumbly growling noise.

[Molez93]

Seeing DocWalt's reply prompted me to chime in too...
With 200TW tires, I went 39 autocross events and roughly 10 track days without any obvious signs of hub wear. Admittedly, I have no idea if and when they may have been replaced before I bought from the 2nd owner 5 years ago at 34k (now ~50k) miles. I replaced all four preventatively because I felt like I was on borrowed time. That job s#$ks b@lls. Probably the most annoying maintenance I've ever done on a vehicle

[DocWalt]

Does anybody know what's different about second gen front hubs? Nobody seems to know. Rear hubs are the same between generations. Considering the GR86 still has the steel knuckles I'd assume the bolt pattern of the front hubs is the same and it's something else like the tone ring.

[foshjowler]

Recently had to replace my right rear bearing. It had been making noise for a while, but never had any play, so wasn't a top priority. I was in the shop for an alignment anyways, so had them do it while it was there. Car has 137k miles on it, which seems like an acceptable service life to me. Assuming the previous owners also haven't had to replace them consistently.

[dragoontwo]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

Does anybody know what's different about second gen front hubs? Nobody seems to know. Rear hubs are the same between generations. Considering the GR86 still has the steel knuckles I'd assume the bolt pattern of the front hubs is the same and it's something else like the tone ring.

I'm going to guess that the only difference is the added plating on the parts that contact the aluminum hub. If you check the new car information in my sig it is on pg 250.