iaacek

I took a picture of both sides last night: http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l355/iaacek/DSC02887_zps0m8jds6q.jpg http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l355/iaacek/DSC02894_zps0yvzfjkf.jpg I tried to take it at a maximum angle so it's really obvious. When I put my fingers there, I think it's about 3mm gap. Can anyone check theirs please? I'm still wondering whether I assembled it incorrectly but it's 4 pieces (hub, shaft, backing plate and the HBA), I don't really see how. Anyway, I'll be checking it today. Since it has been apart and I've put anti-sieze on everything, it'll be 30 minutes to get it apart and back together, maybe I'll find something... I'll be definitely returning the noisy bearing. But I need to get a new one first and then send the noisy one back, the car is my daily driver. Just thinking whether I should try a different brand, like Moog or SKF.

Finished my 2 rear bearings two weeks ago. I had one front that was shot so I did the front and while I was at it, I did the rear as well. One was good and one was a little bit noisier but it would still go. I used TIMKEN bearings. I noticed couple days ago some strange sounds from the back. I've put the whole car on jack stands and noticed that the parking brake was dragging just a touch. After adjusting it, I had my friend to sit inside, start the car and accelerate to 100km/h. I was running around the car and listening to the bearings. All were good but the driver's rear was noisy. It's a new bearing as well. Now what? Could it be faulty? It is only noisy from 60km/h up, but you can definitely hear it on highway. Could it be the axle, is that possibility? I'm thinking about removing it and putting it back together or is it compromised already and I should get a new one? One more thing that I noticed (on both sides): when looking at the hub from the inside, the half axle has a silver lip at the very far outside end that covers the speed sensor. On my car, there is a slight gap (~2-3mm) between the hub and this axle lip/ring/guard. Is that normal or should this sit flush with the hub? It is rotating with the axle and the hub is stationary but I didn't noticed how it was before I took the old bearings out... can anyone check his car and let me know?

Yes, they are different. They differ in the hole layout, this is a picture of the rear one, HA5900119: http://www.rockauto.com/info/118/HA590119-A__ra_p.jpg The holes are evenly spaced on both sides. On the front ones, on one side the holes are further apart.

That is actually not true. HA590315 and HA590118 are both front bearings (HA590119 is the rear one). I don't remember where I read it but the HA590118 is the older design. HA590315 has less material on the hub and more on the flange. On my 2008 (2.5i though) the OEM one looked exactly like the HA590315. I just looked on rockauto.com and for GT (05 and 08) they only list HA590315 for front and HA590119 for rear. I would go with HA590315. You can always take the front wheel and rotor off and check what you have there now...

Yesterday I did both front wheel bearings on my 2008 Legacy 2.5i. I used TIMKEN HA590315. The car is my daily driver in Alberta and everything had some rust on it. On my first try I did use WD-40, 24" breaker bar and 30" cheater pipe = the breaker bar snapped. Yesterday I borrowed my neighbors impact gun, boughts 32mm impact socket at Napa and used liquid wrench penetrating oil after reading this: http://forum.miata.net/vb/archive/index.php/t-453091.html, the axle nut was down in 10s, I was so happy. The hub was frozen on the knuckle. Chisel and hammer for 15 minutes fixed that. I've put anti-sieze on all mating surfaces and assembled everything back together. Torqued to spec (162lb-ft), tested on the road and works great. Noise is gone (passenger side had the bad one), cruise control works, no abs light. I am very happy with the timken bearing quality, it was made in US, looked exactly the same as the oem one and everything was tight and smooth. Rear ones will be next =)