Mazda3 wheel bearing brands and price

[stephen9666]

I'm a big- time COO nerd, so I've done tons of reading on the subject.

The labeling rules only say imported items must be labeled with a country of origin. Items that are made, assembled, partially processed, etc. in the USA don't have to be labeled. Many companies choose to put the COO on items made or assembled in the USA, but they don't have to.

So, if some final assembly or something of that hub was done in the US, then that would explain the lack of any COO.

You can also email Timken with the part number and see what they say. I've emailed them before asking the COO of a part number and they told me.

The SEMA article, which I've seen before, even notes in its opening "the need to accurately label the country of origin on imported goods." (emphasis added by me)

 

[Papa Bear]

I wonder why COO is so important for something like a bearing.
I would think the Chinese .. any country.... could manufacture a good bearing. It's not new/cutting edge/high technology.

I think a person should know where an article came from but why "quality/value" would be inferred by COO baffles me, especially in something so common as a bearing. I would think that Timken could build as good a bearing in Mexico/China/etc as they could here (if they wanted to). If a Timken bearing from China is poorer quality than a Timken bearing from the USA I would blame Timken, not the Chinese.

I'm 70 yrs old and remember when Japan meant "cheap junk" (because that's what was ordered). Today, most Japanese products are the standard to which we aspire to achieve (sadly) and boast about (our new Chevy is as good as an Accord/Camry).

Do Chinese cars/trucks/aircraft/machinery etc. use Chinese bearings? I bet they hold up well.

In 10-20 years I wonder if the Chinese auto names that have become so popular here will be as hard to pronounce as Toyota/Mazda/Subaru/Mitsubishi were 20-30 years ago ??

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: stephen9666
I'm a big- time COO nerd, so I've done tons of reading on the subject.

The labeling rules only say imported items must be labeled with a country of origin. Items that are made, assembled, partially processed, etc. in the USA don't have to be labeled. Many companies choose to put the COO on items made or assembled in the USA, but they don't have to.

So, if some final assembly or something of that hub was done in the US, then that would explain the lack of any COO.

You can also email Timken with the part number and see what they say. I've emailed them before asking the COO of a part number and they told me.

The SEMA article, which I've seen before, even notes in its opening "the need to accurately label the country of origin on imported goods." (emphasis added by me)


Interesting info. I wouldn't be surprised if some assembly in the US were the issue here. I just emailed Timken -- we'll see if/what they respond.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
I wonder why COO is so important for something like a bearing.
I would think the Chinese .. any country.... could manufacture a good bearing. It's not new/cutting edge/high technology.

I think a person should know where an article came from but why "quality/value" would be inferred by COO baffles me, especially in something so common as a bearing. I would think that Timken could build as good a bearing in Mexico/China/etc as they could here (if they wanted to). If a Timken bearing from China is poorer quality than a Timken bearing from the USA I would blame Timken, not the Chinese.

I'm 70 yrs old and remember when Japan meant "cheap junk" (because that's what was ordered). Today, most Japanese products are the standard to which we aspire to achieve (sadly) and boast about (our new Chevy is as good as an Accord/Camry).

Do Chinese cars/trucks/aircraft/machinery etc. use Chinese bearings? I bet they hold up well.

In 10-20 years I wonder if the Chinese auto names that have become so popular here will be as hard to pronounce as Toyota/Mazda/Subaru/Mitsubishi were 20-30 years ago ??



Because they are hard to make with high precision. The Germans an Americans have always been the worlds leaders. Why do you think it was so important to knock out German ball bearing factories during the war?

The Chinese cars are known to be rubbish and most of their military hardware is of Russian origin either in design or manufacture and the ones that are not probably contain Russian critical parts.
Chines rockets still use Russian Energia engines as will the new US orbital rockets.

The Russians can make decent bearings, they got the machinery and know how from East Germany and Czechoslovakia (primarily from Skoda in Pilsen and Tatra in Kopřivnice).
The Chinese are building Tatra trucks today under license for military use.

I am sure the Chinese can produce better quality but it wont be at a price that is attractive enough to US manufacturers to make it worth their while.
They buy from China because of one thing and thats price, the cheaper the better.

http://defensetech.org/2013/03/21/orbital-to-fly-new-rocket-with-old-russian-engines/

 

[chrisri]

I thought SKF are Swedish,and not German or American if we are talking first class bearings.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: chrisri
I thought SKF are Swedish,and not German or American if we are talking first class bearings.
.
World leaders doesn't mean or even imply worlds only. SKF was a huge supplier to the Axis in WWII and still product a large quantity of bearings in Germany.

SKF history is a bit sketchy.
Quote:
Treasury even allowed SKF to get away with posing as an American-owned corporation, despite the fact that Treasury had records of the Swedish-German ownership in its possession. When Lauchlin Currie became too inquisitive, Batt deliberately burned all of the appropriate SKF correspondence and accountancy files.


http://www.american-[censored].com/hig.tradingwithenemy7.htm

BITOG Mickey Mouse censor even censors decent links. Jesus H [censored] would someone with a little common sense please get rid of that thing or at least modernize it.
When i comes to bearings half the friggin post is censored.

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: rationull
Is it possible that the same part number actually has two different builds, for instance one made in China and one in the US?


No..........It's just that the main stream auto parts store chains are that more expensive. I just got thru buying lower control arms from RockAuto and the same brand and part numbers were $180 more from O'Reilly. And by the way, the Timken bearing hub assemblies I bought last year from RockAuto are performing excellent.

 

[artificialist]

Originally Posted By: Papa Bear

In 10-20 years I wonder if the Chinese auto names that have become so popular here will be as hard to pronounce as Toyota/Mazda/Subaru/Mitsubishi were 20-30 years ago ??


I am skeptical that China's own car companies will be common in the USA. I say this because VW and Buick are the top selling cars in China. The car companies based in China would have to change dramatically in order to become common.

The other problem China has in making things competitive is the lack of intellectual property. How often can you expect to see new things invented if the inventor gains nothing? Ben Franklin let his inventions become public domain, and Mikhail Kalashnikov lived where there was no intellectual property rights, but people like those two rarely show up in history.

 

[rationull]

Got a response from Timken customer relations, stating that this part number (HA590099) is made in Japan. Probably good on the bearings but not so great on the COO labeling it seems.

 

[Trav]

Thats probably a good brand name bearing. At least you know now, shame they cant be bothered to put that little tidbit of info on the box at least.