Story for you all.

With my 1996 Honda Accord
2.2 Liter VTEC

In August 2018, (about 250K miles) I had a
few things fixed/changed on the suspension.
Front bearing, lower ball joints.

At the time I was in Canada, and got some aftermarket parts
from Canadian Tire.

But they turned out to be awful.

...

Ball joints:

Within a year, the lower ball joint failed.
Symptom: Squeaking when I turned the steering wheel.

I took that to another shop, and they put another ball joint in.
Seem to remember that it was made by MOOG.

And, within a few months, that one started squeaking too.
So they fixed it on warranty.

And eventually, in a year or so, that ball joint started squeaking too.

A third shop squirted grease into the ball joint, through the rubber cover.
Which finally stopped the squeaking.


...

Bearings:

By summer 2020, the left front wheel was making noise again.

What was very disappointing was the wide variability in diagnosis.
One mechanic said that it was just the tires
The next one said that all the bearings needed to be changed.

So, I ended up doing the diagnosis.

Watched this and other videos

Must Watch Before Spending Money On a New Wheel Bearing
Ratchets And Wrenches
906,602 views
Oct 26, 2019


Test for bad bearings:
Jack up the car,
Front:
Grab the spring on the strut
Spin the wheel
Bad wheel bearing will transfer vibration to the spring


Turns out that both bearings were bad.
The one I'd replaced had only lasted about 1 1/2 years.
And about 14K miles!

Contrast to the OEM original, which had lasted for 250K miles


I couldn't believe how bad the parts were.
When I used to fix things on the old 1985 Ford,
once the part was changed, that part worked well forever, and
never failed again. I'm actually wondering, do the Chinese factories
throw dust into the bearings, so they will wear out prematurely?

So then, what was a good bearing that will last forever?

I ended up spending a few days searching for, and reading bearing reviews.
Turns out most everything is made in China now.
From what I gathered, most American companies outsource their work to China.

The only aftermarket bearing manufacturer that had satisfactory reviews was Timken.
I ended up ordering them online, and waited for delivery.
Then I had to find a mechanic that would install them.
Many won't. For either warranty, or retail markup reasons.


In the end, what should have taken perhaps 3 days to fix the bearings,
ended up taking 3 weeks. Very time consuming and tiring.


So, my takeaway; if I can buy OEM now, I'll buy OEM.

Unfortunately, many parts for the 1996 Honda Accord are no longer available.

And, good, long lasting, aftermarket parts can be hard to find.

Hope it's useful.

 

OEM is top quality where applicable, but honestly there are decent aftermarket options.
With MOOG I have found it depends on which line of their products. Part numbers starting with R are economy stuff and not very good, but the K or CK (aka problem solver) tend to be a lot better.

That said, where applicable I try to get Sankei 555 for my japanese vehicles. They make very good aftermarket parts. You might not find it locally but should be able to via online sources including shipping direct from japan (which is sometimes cheaper than buying north america anyway). Same applies to OEM parts

You may also want to look into rockauto and see what shipping is to canada, but they have an ok selection too

Timken is good stuff btw