Low Offset vs. Wheel Bearings

[Partsman]

Low offset won!





...after about 2 years of running the Style 42s et25 and camber plates "all in" finally killed my front wheel bearings. The noise was ridiculous.
I was scratching my head wondering why the factory hub/bearing assembly lasted 7 years and 125k and these only 2 years and a lot less mileage. Low offset and camber!

I pressed my 5x120 hubs in the new bearings today...

[maxmini]

You were fortunate to be smart enough to investigate the noise instead of continuing to drive. I see accidents waiting to happen at almost every car meet these days .

[Partsman]

Yea, I was starting to get nervous, and that takes a lot for me with this car. Those bronze ball bearings are supposed to be (polished) silver.

[Chase]

That is crazy dude. my wheel bearings have been a constant worry haha. No noises with them yet, but still

[MtyMous]

That's nuts. And I had no idea that the new minis were running caged ball bearings for wheel bearings. Tapered roller bearings are rated for higher loads. And they are designed to handle both radial AND thrust loads which would really help out in high offset/high camber situations. I swapped out my ball & cage bearings for tapered rollers when I went to the 13x7's and they have lasted well. Is there a different bearing design available for the new minis?

[Partsman]

I would love to use tapered rollers, but there has to be a reluctor for the wheel speed sensor to "see".


Chase...once you start putting miles on that beast, you'll see

[MtyMous]

Ah. that makes sense. I guess that's the one advantage of the ancient mini technology. haha

[Rally]

A lot of it is usually the use of spacer/adapter as that adds a great deal of leverage to the wheel's force that wouldn't be true of a simply low offset wheel with standard back pad depth. It's like tossing a breaker bar on there haha.

A low offset, wide wheel doesn't exert much additional stress to wheel bearings as the leverage addition is minimal. 8 et25 really doesn't add all that much to the front spacing when compared to the standard 7s that are available.

[Partsman]

I get what you're saying Rally...it's the only conclusion I could come up with, that and the camber setting.

I'm running spacers now that I have my M3 wheels back on, but the noise started way before I put them on.

[Rally]

Originally Posted by Partsman

I get what you're saying Rally...it's the only conclusion I could come up with, that and the camber setting.

Camber certainly adds to bearing wear as well because the angle of the force then has side load on the bearing.

Additionally, it's an R53 which is getting up there in age and I imagine you drive a fair amount. Do you use it day to day through the winter?

[Partsman]

I do drive it about 60 miles every day, year round. I just don't drive it in the snow, it stays in the driveway and I'll take the Explorer...I don't trust other people driving in the snow.

[Rally]

Even driving through non-snowy days with that sort of commute will tear through bearings on a stock car. The salt and wetness love to get in there. My dad has a similar commute in a wintery climate and he used to blow through Audi bearings on his stock car.

[Partsman]

I just figured they would have lasted longer than 2 years since the OE ones lasted what seemed to be forever. I've only been using original MINI parts.