Which rear bearing/hub assembly?

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Hello all - I've got the rear trailing arm out of our '09 Mazda 5 to change out the bushing, and noticed that the wheel bearing is making a bit of noise. It can be changed on-car, but will be easier to do while the arm is out.

I often go with dealer parts, and will phone for a price tomorrow, but am considering using an aftermarket part. In ascending order of cost:

World Parts $80
Mevotec $84
Auto Extra $98
Beck/Arnley $158
Moog $161
SKF $192

I assume the first three listed are not that great, but would like to hear others' experiences. I'm willing to pay more for better quality.

Thanks in advance.
 
Email Beck/Arnley and see where theirs is made, often times they rebox OEM stuff. Otherwise, Timkin or SKF.
 
Out of the OP's list, the cheapest I'd go is Beck Arnley. I've bought a lot of parts from them in recent years and I've been quite happy with what I've received. I've gotten a couple Chinese and Taiwanese parts from them, but they've still been good quality parts.

As already mentioned, email BA with the part number and they'll tell you the COO. They've done this for me multiple times and have given me great support when I had questions.
 
Thanks guys - great advice so far. Bear in mind that the prices I quoted were from Parts Avatar and were in C$. The more expensive options include free shipping. I presume the Rockauto prices would be in US$, and that I'd have to pay shipping.
 
From this list SKF only unless you can confirm the BA is OE or Timken, F.A.G. etc.

Edit: Moogs parent company bought National bearing some years ago, they were top a shelf bearing manufacturer but now are Chinese made by a third party, stay away.
If you can look at it before you buy and it has Made in USA on it the Moog is good (its a real NOS National).
 
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For hub style bearings- SKF (on certain number they incorporate improvements over OE), Timkin or BCA.

For double sealed, non hub style- All of the above plus Koyo, NTN, F.A.G.
 
Originally Posted By: Olas
If you're selling soon use the cheapest you can find. If you're keeping it for the foreseeable future fit the dealer/OE equivalent.
Olas, it's a hard-to-find manual-transmission minivan in a sea of automatics. I want to keep it for a long time!
 
Thanks all for the advice.

I decided I'd shop locally Monday so I could get the car back on the road sooner than if I ordered on-line. I had Monday off as a stat for Canada Day (which had fallen on Saturday). It's an optional stat for employers, and so was hit-and-miss as far as which stores were open. I usually give the dealer a call first, but they were closed.

Anyway, I bought the SKF bearing/hub assembly from NAPA. It was C$292 plus tax which was a bit more than I'd wanted to pay, but the alternatives were all pretty junky. (Trav, thanks for the tip about the Moog - it was C$199 at PartSource.) NAPA had a Chinese-made no-name for C$239 with a 12-month warranty. The SKF I bought has a lifetime warranty.

The old assembly was rusted into the knuckle and was a real bear to remove. I'm glad I had the rear trailing link out of the vehicle for the bushing replacement - the happy YouTube video of the fellow in the UK working on an unrusted Mazda 3/5 aside, there's no way I could have gotten it out in situ.

Everything went back together well. I chased all the bolt threads with a die, and was generous with the anti-seize goop.

Anyway, the car's back on the road and feels great. I'll have to remeasure, but the rear camber appears to be greatly reduced with the new bushings in place.
 
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