SOA quoting $109 rear and $198 front hub/wheel bearing.

I see a number of online suppliers selling them in the $50-60 range.

Fair amount of labor and more important dirty job so would prefer some longevity.

Any recommendations welcome.

Edited August 7, 201510 yr by brus brother

I've had good luck with Beck Arnley bearings. Ordered a set of B/A rear bearings for my 95 fwd and they were reboxed Subaru parts, complete with Fuji check logo on the hub. Ymmv

 

Timken makes decent bearings.

Not as good as SKF or NSK, but Timken doesn't cost as much either.

 

The really cheapos, partsmaster, FEQ, drivewrong. Made in China stuff won't last as far as you can throw it.

some people are having ABS issues with aftermarket hubs/bearings in 2005+.   i'd get name brand or Subaru.

Well it looks like SubaruPartsForYou.com which is online but local to me has the genuine parts for the rear bearing for less than the Beck and Arnley. So I guess I'll go genuine for that.

For those trying to save a few bucks, does it make sense to replace just the bearing or if paying someone to do the job, labor wise,  just bolt on the new assembly.

I was googling around before I came across the hub/bearing assembly and found a clever youtube video "pressing" a bearing in without a press. Basically put the hub in an oven, put the bearing in a freezer and then once at altered temps and shrinkage/expansion has been achieved, you can just drop the bearing into the hub.

 Start viewing at 8:42 where the fun begins. Wonder if the grease is affected as the temperatures reach equilibrium.

Oh well, not for the feint of heart or those whose wife wouldn't let you muck up the oven.

fairly common to use hot and cold, i've used the freezer many times on bearings.

 

separating the hub from bearing and races getting stuck - it's not a fun job if you get a tricky one.  sure if it all goes easy and cake...but in the rust belt how dependable is that?  it's not something i'd let someone borrow my tools for because i know more often than not i'd just be doing it in the end.

I didn't even think you could buy just the bearing for the newer cars.

I didn't even think you could buy just the bearing for the newer cars.

 

i've never seen it - i have to keep rereading the thread...is this about front or rear?  is this about a 2004 or a 2005?  or forester or outback?.....

05 might have HBAs. I changed one out on my daughter's Impala - fairly easy. Timken unit and it's still working for her.

 

similar to;

Edited August 7, 201510 yr by 1 Lucky Texan

oops sorry i missed the details. 2005 OB. rear is worse than front but was pricing it out in case i did both. search at Advance Auto brought up bearings as well as hub/bearing combo. if i go with the combo i will monkey around with the heat and cold method on the old one. as i mentioned the price of soa is better than BeckArnley. fronts are pricey with either.

bearings and hub/bearings

Here's a page for front hub/bearing combo as well as listing for 2 different bearings (one rear and one front)

The bearings are made by "National" and csr says made in good ole USA.

BUT are they even wheel bearings???

I'm gonna keep my day job.

Edited August 8, 201510 yr by brus brother

Those single roller bearings are mistakes in AAPs listings. Look to be differential bearings, but definitely not wheel bearings for a Subaru. Or at least not for your Subaru.

Partsgeek.com has Beck Arnley front and rear bearings for $80 and $94 respectively.

 

Rockauto has Timken front and rear for $75 and $73.

Thanks for the research FT4

Agreed about the bearing appearance as n/a to my project.

Still puzzled why SOA has such a spread where the fronts are way more than the rear (F- 198 R-109) as compared to B/A (F-80 R-94)

I'll post back when the project is done and the growling beast tamed.

Edited August 8, 201510 yr by brus brother

Like it was said before, there can be issues with the ABS tone "ring" inside the cheaper bearings. It can cause the throttle to pulsing while the cruise control is set letting the car go from 60mph to 61mph and back to 60 as an example.