Jump to content

Wheel Bearings


Josh350z

Recommended Posts

Hi

 

Just took my 2003 import in for it's first MOT today.

 

Unfortunately it failed due to excessive play on the front off side wheel bearing.

 

Anyway, I decided I may as well have both FNS and FOS replaced at the same time. (would be just my luck if the near side went in a few months!!)

 

The Garage phoned Nissan to order the bearings in, and guess what?, as soon as he mentioned it's an Import the guy from Nissan gave a sharp intake of breath!!

 

I'm being told the bearings cannot be adjusted/tightened and a whole wheel hub unit has to be replaced. Is this correct?

 

Does anyone know if there is a difference between the UK and JDM spec bearings? the guy from Nissan says they are slightly different and says he can source the JDM type but are £50.00 more!! £250 each as apposed to £200 each.

 

I find it funny, having dealt with Nissan dealers before, that this guy can source Japanese parts so quickly.

 

Is anyone else as cynical as me and thinks this guy is just trying to make a quick buck? or are the bearings for UK and JDM different?

 

The parts are being delivered Tuesday and would be good to be able to inform my garage before they arrive, if there is no difference at least they can try and get them at the cheaper price for me.

 

Any help would be much appeciated.

 

Cheers

 

Josh

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Be very careful if ordering the Hub, I have a UK spec car and when it was replaced Nissan sent the dealer the wrong part twice. My car was off the road for 4-5 weeks waiting for the bit to come in.

 

If in doubt phone the Reading Nissan dealer main Mech and ask which part no they used for my UK spec one and the part no of the wrong one. If they ask then explain that steve with the Z which has the ugly front recommended you call them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a pair of 40202-AL510 bearings in stock. Our discount price would normally be £162.19 + VAT (15% off dealer retail). However, for anyone in immediate trouble with this part, I can offer forum members (get a discount code) an additional 20% off our retail on this pair only (i.e. while current stock lasts), making them £129.75 + VAT per side. The part number would appear to be good for JDM also...

 

For reference, MJP offer a sliding scale of discount (depends on what Nissan give their dealers) on all Nissan OEM parts and can readily check and source JDM parts and assess differences...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reference the Ebay links above - front wheel bearings are in common through the Z range up to the last of the Z31 300ZX in 1989, after that the design changes completely. The 350Z is no exception and the bearing comes in a hub assembly which includes the wheel mounting flange and new wheel studs - hence the expense.

The second link is for a secondhand part and postage is another $90 on top of the price - thus £95 for a used part and the possibility of duty, VAT and clearing fees on top of that...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In some mitigation, Nissan have a similar design with the Z32 rear bearing - you have to buy part of the hub assembly with the bearing installed. The recommendation is that you should replace the wheel carrying part of the hub also - most owners don't. However, if you let the bearing continue to grumble you end up with a situation where this is essential anyway, more than doubling the cost of the exercise. With the Z33 it would seem that Nissan are trying to avoid a possible complaint process whereby you replace the bearing and then part way through its life have to replace it again because the wheel carrying part fails and takes the new bearing with it...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about visiting your local bearing supplier? We had to replace rear wheel bearings on a Ferrari Testarossa once (Yes! Really!) Anyway, not surprisinly the local motor factors didn't list them. The nearest Ferrari dealer wanted the keys to my house as payment so we took the rear stub axles to BRT bearings who supply wheel bearings, industrial bearings etc. They supplied us with 2 complete bearings for £28. We took the lot off to the local machine shop (JEM engines in Laurieston, near Falkirk) and they fitted them for £40 all in.

If you can keep the car off the road for a few days why not do this? A bit of running about but much cheaper than Nissan!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I haven't been around for a while, so late seeing this thread, but... what kerbside motors said - You can often disassemble the bearing/hub assembly yourself (hammer and chisel on my mitsi!), although a press makes things easier. New bearings tend to cost around the £30 mark so even if you pay your local machine shop an hour's labour to do it, you'll still be quids in.

 

Haven't needed to do the Z, but at those prices, it's the route I'll be taking when the time comes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...