FAG wheel bearings for E9X

[Luckyone]

Only just got my E93 335i on the road, it passed the MOT with an advisory on a front wheel bearing. Seemed a odd as there was no noise from it driving to the test. But checking my self at home after I found there is a alarming amount of play there.

So I got a quote from my friend but even with her staff discount it was over £200 for one from BMW.

eBay is full of them for £30 but they have to be pants, I won’t like to put them on a 316 never mind a 335!

Searching about people seem to go for FAG or SKF.

Euro carparts have a FAG on their offer at £97 at the moment. They seem to be about that on eBay too. The cheapest SKF I can find is £145.

Any opinions?

[Riggie]

Febi Bilstein, not much wrong with these - not sure it's the right one for your car, but might be worth checking with the supplier.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FEBI-Front-Wheel-Bearin...

Edited by Riggie on Saturday 4th January 19:12

[Zener]

ECP will sell you NTN/SNR or INA/FAG and I would fit either of these brands they are trusted OE brands

[naturalaspiration]

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/skf/1363054

SKF - £75.

[Luckyone]

Riggie said:

Febi Bilstein, not much wrong with these - not sure it's the right one for your car, but might be worth checking with the supplier.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FEBI-Front-Wheel-Bearin...

Edited by Riggie on Saturday 4th January 19:12

Funny enough thats the one I’d go for if I hadn’t done any searching on the web first!

[Luckyone]

Zener said:

ECP will sell you NTN/SNR or INA/FAG and I would fit either of these brands they are trusted OE brands

This is what I’m seeing on a lot of posts, but brands I’ve not heard of.

[Luckyone]

naturalaspiration said:

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/skf/1363054

SKF - £75.

31222405866 Is the part number I need, searching that with them gives the same price. I saw a post where a guy said the original bearing he took off had SKF on the back. Again its the first time I’ve heard of the brand so would be going on recommendation alone...

[naturalaspiration]

You will often find SKF bearing sold by FAG and vice versa - they have split part production to lower costs. Febi is also repackaging other (reputable) manufacturers' stuff to complete the offering, e. g. M54 camshafts sensors are OE Siemens/VDO. Most likely this includes bearings too.

[Luckyone]

naturalaspiration said:

You will often find SKF bearing sold by FAG and vice versa - they have split part production to lower costs. Febi is also repackaging other (reputable) manufacturers' stuff to complete the offering, e. g. M54 camshafts sensors are OE Siemens/VDO. Most likely this includes bearings too.

Ah thanks, I’ll probably go with the SKF from Autodoc then, not bought anything from them before but seen a few recommendations for them. I see they have a Meyle bearing for £77 too.

Incidentally I got a cam sensor for the M54 in the 530i from eBay for £20 I forget the manufacturer but it was one I have seen stamped on Vauxhall main dealer parts, I think maybe delphi or gates, it was rubbish didn’t work at all. Had to give in & get one from BMW for £100. Seemingly you can get some that have the BMW logo removed that work well, maybe the VDO ones you mentioned....

[naturalaspiration]

I had the very same issue with Delphi cam sensor - rubbish.

[Luckyone]

Luckyone said:

I’ll probably go with the SKF from Autodoc then, not bought anything from them before but seen a few recommendations for them.

So I did order that one, I didn’t realise it had to come from Germany though, still waiting for it, tracking shows its still in the early stages of its journey

Trouble is now every time I hit a bump the car has a fit with DSC, active steering, runflat & even roof not latched warnings going off.

I’m not sure about the roof but assuming the others are because the wheel is wobbling about messing with the gap to the ABS sensor?

I’m hoping they will go away with the new bearing fitted when it finally turns up...

[E-bmw]

Long shot, I know, but have you tried making sure the hub nut & wheel nuts are all tight?

[Luckyone]

E-bmw said:

Long shot, I know, but have you tried making sure the hub nut & wheel nuts are all tight?

Thanks, worth pointing out but it was the first thing I checked, wouldn’t have been the first time I’d forgotten to torque the wheel nuts up! But they were all tight. I don’t think there is any hub nut as such, the bearings all come with a new hub & back plate to bolt directly to the strut. Should make changing them easier though.

[Luckyone]

The bearing finally turned up, it seems 7 days is the usual wait for anything from Autodoc, with returns being a right expensive pain, don’t think I’ll be using then again! Hopefully I won’t need to try the returns process but it’s making an odd droning noise now it wasn’t before, although I did swap to different wheels with non runflat tyres at the same time so maybe the new tyres need to bed in a bit.



The SKF bearings aren’t exactly the same as the original as I read on a thread on a different forum. The brand name is only printed on so I guess they could be made by anyone really...

As least the thing is easy to fit, quickest wheel bearing replacement I’ve ever done. Great design by BMW, sure beats trying to strip loads of the suspension down & arsing about with hydraulic presses!

[thatdude]

is the droning noise only at a certain speed, or is it there regardless of speed?

IU'm only saying because I had a droning noise, turned out is was odd wear on one of the tyres. Got them changed, had an alighnment done and it was happy days again.

But do have the work checked, a failed wheel bearing can cost lives.

[Zener]

Beemers (amongst others) are techie for tyre blocking/wedging wear and even certain tread patterns causing a low speed drone that can be easily;y mistaken for wheel bearing drone you have been warned seen many a BMW that as been incorrectly diagnosed as wheel bearing woes when in fact it as been wedging/deformed rear tyres for example creating noise issues

[Luckyone]

Thanks, yeah probably is the new tyres, it’s very much low speed. Not annoying, just noticed it’s there. We have a long gravel track to our house, thinking about it I don’t think the noise was apparent on that I’ll have to listen again.