[38bfast]

So what are you guys getting for life out of the wheel bearings using R compounds on the track?
Frt?
Rear?

 

[R'elise Me]

The hub and WB setup are from a Chevy Monza or some POS GM car with a lot more weight. Very durable actually. No known failures in my world and I see quite a few Lotuses on the track.

 

[38bfast]

Has anyone smoked a wheel bearing?

 

[codymac]

Has anyone smoked a wheel bearing?

Never heard of it with an S2 - see above.

 

[ewalberg]

I had a right front wheel bearing go bad at 30k miles of regular (daily driver) use. No track duty from me.

HOWEVER, my car was a Lotus press car (i got it with 4k miles on the clock) and it's got a replacement front a-arm on the side that the bearing went bad on (must have been from something that happened during it's "press" days)... so i suspect it was either bad adjustment of the bearing if they were re-tentioned after the accident, or the impact from what ever damaged the a-arm did some stress on the bearings which caused them to go bad early. It was warrantteed.

FWIW, they didn't fail catastrphoically... they just started developing play on the one side.

 

[Green Ghost]

Any one know for certain what car the front wheel bearings are from. One of my front bearings is not as lose as I think it should be.

 

[R T]

Any one know for certain what car the front wheel bearings are from. One of my front bearings is not as lose as I think it should be.

??

 

[Demonized]

Any one know for certain what car the front wheel bearings are from. One of my front bearings is not as lose as I think it should be.

Don't know what they're from... but what do you mean not as lose as you think it should be?

 

[Green Ghost]

When spinning it by hand, wheel off, the right side doesn’t move as nice as the left side.

 

[Guest]

Dont know what car the Wheel Bearing is from but a complete assembled replacement can be purchased from www.eliseparts.com Great guys and depending on the exchange rate British pound vs US dollar you can get a repalcement for around $100 USD. Bought a spare just to have it on the shelf. Hope that helps someone. Jon in Delaware

 

[Green Ghost]

I will probable go that root but I don’t have time right now to do such things. The next few months are going to involve a bit of travel and I’m not to sure where I will be in a few months. I have about a week left till I put my tools in storage at a friend’s house.
Finishing a brake job right now and noticed the bearing could maybe be a bit better, but it’s not bad.

 

[Arno]

Any one know for certain what car the front wheel bearings are from. One of my front bearings is not as lose as I think it should be.

In the USA the car the hubs and bearings are sourced from is sold as the 'Saturn Astra'

Only issue may be that in the USA they only sell the 5-bolt hubs on the car and not the 4-bolt ones. I don't know the lineup they sell in the USA.

If you were to go to the 5-bolt hubs you could use the front brake discs from the car too. Would need new wheels though..

SAAB's 9-3's use the same 5-bolts hub/bearing packs (based on a GM car as well: the Vectra) and you can use their bigger 308mm discs with spacers between the caliper and hub at the front.

Bye, Arno.

 

[chrisp993]

At least as a first approximation to relative loads on front wheel bearings:

Saturn Astra
Weight = 2800lbs
Front/Rear Weight Distribution = 38% / 62%
Weight / Front Wheel = 2800 * 0.62 * 0.5 = 868lb

Lotus Elise
Weight = 2020lbs
Front/Rear Weight Distribution = 62% / 38%
Weight / Front Wheel = 2020 * 0.38 * 0.5 = 386lb

Not to mention that the Astra will have far more weight transfer to front under braking and cornering (higher c-o-g) than the Lotus

So, no wonder the wheel bearings hold up well ............

 

[Green Ghost]

thanks for the info Arno.