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| Even SKF is now "Made in China" 😒 |
The last track day came to and end with cracked rear rotors. I learned the expensive way that even in "competetive mode", the active handling system is working the rear brakes to keep the yaw within its programmed limits. I really didn't notice until I completely disabled the active handling and found that the car would power slide on corner exits as I was too greedy on throttle.
Another sad consequence is that the high brake rotor temperature also killed both rear wheel bearings. The heat found its way into the bearings and boiled the lubrication. Afterwards, the dried out lubrication caused heavy bearing noise within the cabin.
Another sad consequence is that the high brake rotor temperature also killed both rear wheel bearings. The heat found its way into the bearings and boiled the lubrication. Afterwards, the dried out lubrication caused heavy bearing noise within the cabin.
Ultimately, I should have purchased the SKF X-tracker bearings, based on my use of the car, but I couldn't justify the price. Two X-tracker bearings with shipping and import taxes to Norway would have been at least $1250. I decided to go for the standard SKF BR930198 from Rockauto. Time will tell how this works out...
I changed the left side bearing first, with the hub still attached to the toe arm, but found that this saved no time at all, as it made it more difficult to torque down the bearing carrier bolts. This order of disassembly proved most time effective:
- Axle nut (Do this first, with the hand brake enganged).
- Hand brake cable (use a zip-tie!) and ABS connector
- Brake caliper
- Brake rotor
- Upper and lower ball joint
- Rear toe arm ball joint
- Spindle to bearing carrier bolts
If it hadn't been for a short sighted GM engineer, the bearing could have been changed in 10 minutes.
New bearing installed in hub