Hello all,

It’s time to replace the front wheel bearings, on my 96 Civic EX, which I’m going to do with OEM bearings. At least one of the front wheel hubs also needs to be replaced. Would you use aftermarket hub or OEM as well?

I appreciate your feedback!

 

use whatever is cheapest.

 

Yeah, whatever is cheapest.
While you have the knuckles off, and in the press, replace the ball joints as well.

 

Also, Someone will tell you that you can bang the bearings out with a big socket and a sledgehammer. Yes you can do that. Don’t. It’s a pain and you will be replacing the bearings again it a year because you WILL smash the new bearing as you drive it into the hub. Spend the money and take the hub and bearing to a shop that has a press. It will cost maybe $50 a hub but we’ll worth it

 

Or you can by the wheel bearing press and do it yourself without removing the knuckle from the car. With a torque multiplier I cracked the knuckle ring off one side with it being I had forgotten to remove the c-clip before trying to press out the bearing. My dumbass had to guy buy a knuckle from the salvage yard that weekend.

Basically one of these, not sure the quality of this one but it's the tool that if good quality works wonders.

 

Obviously. aftermarket is almost always cheaper than OEM. But, when you factor in the potential of lower quality, inconsistency and possible failure, they may end up costing more in the long run. On RockAuto, we're talking AT LEAST 10x cheaper i.e. they have a DURAGO hub @ $18.70, and that's not even the cheapest, it's the one with the that they sell most often; the cheapest is SKP @ $13.26. To me, an OEM bearing is more important than an OEM hub, but my concerns are an OEM bearing fitting/working properly on an aftermarket hub as well as the fact that I'm not very familiar with aftermarket brands. That said, I do see aftermarket wheel bearing & hub kits, which come pre-assembled & pre-greased, but I'm not sure that I'd go with them.

Are you suggesting replace just lower ball joints or upper as well?

 

Lower, uppers are in a thin steel arm and tend to stretch the metal pressing out an in. Typically for the uppers you replace the arm.

 

Thanks!

Yeah, I've been down this road once before, with the other front wheel. That time, I looked into buying a 12-ton shop press, but ended up renting the EverTough 67213 hub remover and installer kit for a refundable $370.00. For some reason, I didn't use it to remove the hub, but rather I took the knuckle off the car and used my 24oz ball pein hammer & a 32mm socket. The only issue I remember was the race stuck to the hub and I had to cut it off. I may have used the EverTough kit to press the new bearing on, but I honestly can't recall. This time, I haven't found any used shop presses for sale, locally but my local Harbor Freight has a 20-ton for $250, or I could drive over an hour away to get their 12-ton for $170, but I really don't see myself doing that.

@TomCat39, the kit you posted looks similar to the EverTough, aside from not having the large horseshoe adapters & the large C-bracket, which I believe are to remove the hub. FWIW: the 23-piece kit for $73 appears to be identical to the Dayuan for $96 that you posted, this 25-piece for $77 is similar to the others, but it comes with a grade 8 (GR8) drive bolt, while most other kit drive bolts are a lower grade GR5; and many reviews mention the GR5 failing, while Astro's drive bolt appears to be the only kit i've seen with GR8. However, I don't believe one can remove the hub with any of these kits, so a hub puller would most likely be needed as well, if having trouble removing the hub.

That said, I'm probably looking at renting the EverTough again, or investing in ​​​​​this kit for $320 that appears to be identical to the EverTough.

 

To remove the hub I used my slide hammer. And the Astro kit is the one I have with the grade 8 bolt.

Not this brand but this exact same set.