So I took my Accord to get an alignment done, and the shop noticed that my driver side rear wheel bearing is loose and needs to be replaced. First question, is it best to replace both rear wheel bearings at the same time just to be safe? Also, is it ok to use Autozone's "Timken" brand bearings on a DD that sees the track 4-5 times a year, or is this one of those parts that must be OEM to function properly?

 

I would personally use OEM if you will ever be doing anything with it other than DD. Besides, OEM will last longer.

 

I wouldn't replace both. only the one that is worn/noisy. any of the name brands are fine (Timken, NTN, NSK, Koyo...) they will all be made to OE quality. just be ware of extremely "affordable" chinese units.

personally i would want a really good reason and proof of it to spend 3x more for the OE part over a quality after market part. have you found some independant test results showing the OEM bearing to be better?

 

Timken is not a "Autozone" bearing and is what the manufacture uses for the OEM bearing. If you look on the "Timken" bearing you will see "NTN" which is a OEM supplier.

 

If you want the Timken brand, then purchase it from RA as it will be cheaper.
Or you could compare the Duralast unit to the Timken and see if they are the same.

 

Got mine from Autozone for $56 the other day. Year warranty. The 3 year warranty was $80 something. Cakewalk if it is just a hub replacement. I did both sides in 45 min. The also told me both needed to be replaced, so I took one off one side and it was still good. Did the other side and found the culprit. The race was stuck on the spindle but it came off when I hit it with a chisel from the proper angle. Should be fine for a few track days.

 

You're right, Duralast is the Autozone bearing. I looked around and it seems like Timken really is an OEM supplier for many manufacturers. If that's the case, then there's really no point going to the dealership and paying $40 more for the exact same part.

I wasn't going to go with Duralast for a part like this anyways, but it seems like Timken is made of higher quality materials than Duralast. djkurious said Timken is an OEM supplier for many manufacturers and it appears to be true, so I'm thinking it'll be safe to use them on my car

 

Although Timken, National, BCA and others are OEMs they are not the wheel bearing OEM. IIRC as mentioned above it is NTN. Whom I don't believe you can purchase the wheel bearing from outside of Honda. With that said, I see no issues with using the above quality brands as replacements.

FWIW, I just checked on my front wheel bearings and the stub axle nuts went 30° past the original stake marks. If you plan on tracking the car, I would suggest that you verify all your wheel bearings are properly torqued. I do this anyway before going to any track, "nut and bolt" everything.

 

Correction.

Fed Ex just dropped off a pair of Timken bearings. Opened the box and the bearings are actually NTN units. Now I cannot say that these are the same tier as Honda purchased units, but I have no issue with using them.