Most branded skate bearings have nylon cages, whilst cheaper bearings will have steel cages. Nylon cages are usually used in high speed bearing applications, but for skateboard bearings its a less clear cut advantage.

That might be the best way to describe a wheel bearing - a key component to safe and efficient driving. A bad wheel bearing, however, can really impact your driving - and your safety. And it's a big part of why a faulty wheel bearing should be immediately serviced.

Most quality wheel bearings can last anywhere from 100,000 to 150,000 miles before replacement is necessary. However, once it’s time for your vehicle’s wheel bearings to be replaced it’s important to do so quickly to keep your vehicle running smoothly and safely.Â

ABEC is an acronym for Annular Bearing Engineering Committee of the AFBMA (Anti-Friction Bearing Manufacturers Association Inc). The ABEC scale of bearings is a set of standards for the manufacturing tolerances of bearings. All quality manufacturers around the world manufacture to at least ABEC 1 standard. If you were to ask your local bearing supplier for a 608ZZ, you would almost certainly receive an ABEC 1 bearing.

The "Cage" is the thing that holds the balls in between the bearing races. It acts to keep the bearings evenly spaced and therefore holds the whole bearing together.

To be honest, you really do not need to waste your money on anything higher than ABEC 1 for skateboarding applications. The ABEC rating only tells us how close the bearings dimensional tolerances are (that is, how close the bearing is to the stated size). There are many other factors relating to the quality of a bearing (shielding, quality of materials, lubrication etc), and most of these factors will have much more of an impact on how fast your skateboard goes than the ABEC Grade of the bearing.

If the bearings are labelled as ABEC 7 then in most countries the manufacturers of the bearings are compelled by law to provide ABEC 7 bearings. However, we don't know many people how are capable of measuring the difference between and ABEC1 and an ABEC9 bearing! So this is really just about who you want to believe.

Temporary fix forbad wheel bearing

One big advantage of a nylon cage over a steel cage is that nylon cages are easy to remove - so you can completely strip the bearing for a full clean. Steel cages are basically impossible to remove, so you wont be able to dissaemble the bearing and you'll be stuck with a half-arsed cleaning job.

However, it is worth noting that the conditions you drive in can impact how quickly your bearings will need to be replaced. For instance, if you regularly drive in muddy or wet conditions, water and other contaminants could wear away at bearings faster than normal.

"608" refers to the bearing size. The metric sizing system for bearings is a bit like thread size - each bearing size has a code, eg "6001" and "5307".

Again, you will not get any more life out of either high precision or low precision bearings. Aggressive skaters will find that they go through bearings more quickly, so the best advice is "Get the cheapest, as long as they are a decent bearing".

We are not psychologists but we can think of 3 reasons immediately. Firstly, if you had just paid several hundred pounds for a set of bearings, you too would "believe" that they were better than what you had bought previously for around £15-£20. Secondly, it's well known that if you really believe that something will make you faster, it probably will (it's all in the mind). Thirdly, how do you seriously compare the speed at which your new ABEC 9 bearings allow you to travel against the speed that your old ABEC 1 bearings allowed you to travel several months ago when they were also new? Are you going to get out the light traps and speed sensors and do timed runs indoors on glass-smooth surfaces? More likely you would be comparing against the speed at which the old ABEC 1 bearings allowed you to travel after they had worn considerably. Try this in reverse. Take out the old ABEC 9 bearings after several months and replace them with new ABEC 1 bearings and you will get a similar increase in speed.

If you are a fan of jumping down stairs and you destroy bearings really often, check out the Bones Big Balls or Bones Super Swiss Six Ball bearings. These have six balls as opoosed to seven, making them a lot stronger and therefore longer lasting.

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How to tell whichwheel bearingisbadwhile driving

"RS" simply stands for "Rubber shield." It specifically denotes a "Non Contact" rubber shield, which only contact the outer race - not the inner. Sometimes you will see "2RS" on a bearing code - this simply means that both sides of the bearing have rubber shields.

If any of the signs and symptoms we mentioned above sound familiar, then it's important to have your wheel bearings inspected. While you could possibly do this yourself at home with the help of a carjack, it's probably best to just leave it to the pros by scheduling an appointment at any of our local service centers for a thorough assessment.

It is not possible to have both high speed and minimal maintenance. We suggest you try both light and heavy grease and see which you prefer. See our skateboard bearing cleaning guide (with video!) for different lubricant recommendations.

In our opinion, the best skate bearings only have a single shield, so you can give them a quick clean without removing anything.

Whatdoesa bad wheel bearingsound like

There are two kinds of metal shields - those held on with circlips, and those that are permanently crimped in place. The former is possible to remove with a pair of circlip pliers, and the latter cannot be removed.

The World Speed Record on a skateboard is 91mph (on 80mm+ wheels). You can see that even the lowest ABEC standard is capable of at least twice that! So next time you are feeling like you are being held back by your ABEC 1 bearings pushing around town - think again.

How longcanyou drive ona bad wheel bearing

To put it simply, very little difference. They are both standards which are applied to the chemical composition of Chrome Steel (also known as Chromium Steel and High Carbon Chrome Steel). SUJ2 is a Japanese standard, whilst SAE52100 is a U.S. standard.

You could switch to a ligher skate-specific grease like Bones Speed Cream or Sabre Bearing Lube. Lubricant is responsible for about 30% of the overall drag of a bearing - using a lighter lube will reduce that a fair bit.

The most noticeable result is that you will end up with less money in your wallet and the people that sold you the bearings will be eating out at restaurants at your expense for a few days. Under the following conditions, you may notice an improved performance.

ABEC standards cover the tolerances of all of the measurable dimensions of the bearing (except the radii). ABEC standards do not cover Running Noise, Starting Torque, Lubricants or Clearance.

Whathappens ifa wheel bearingfails while driving

If a bearing is to be used in high precision, high speed machinery, these tiny variations can make a difference to lifespan, vibration, noise and performance. However, skateboards and longboards are very, very far from the clean, shock-free environment of a machine shop. The moment you use a bearing in your board, after 5 - 10 minutes of use the tracks won't just be eccentric, they will become irregular (albeit minutely) enough to be practically indistinguishable from one another. Your high priced ABEC 9 bearing might as well be the cheapest ABEC 1 bearing out there.

Wheel bearings may sound complex, but their function is fairly simple. At the very basic level, wheel bearings are metal rings that connect the wheel and the axle. Within the metal ring is a series of ball bearings or tapered bearings, which help the wheel rotate efficiently and effectively, aiding in acceleration, braking, cornering, steering, and more vital driving functions.

The reason you see the ABEC ratings at all in skate shops is because skate companies are lazy and want to sell you stuff.

We don't take shortcuts when it comes to our work, and we won't mislead you or sugarcoat anything either. As a result, we've turned one-time customers into life-long ones. Doing right by our customers is the best and only way we work - regardless of the type of vehicle issue you're experiencing. Contact us today to schedule an appointment to address any wheel-bearing, or any other repair or maintenance.

Here at Vandem, we are lazy, we can't be bothered to clean our bearings that often, and we don't really think that super-spinning-fast bearings make that much of a difference to our skateboards. So our recommendation is to just bung some thicker grease in there from the outset and put up with a little bit of extra drag whilst not cleaning bearings very often. But it's up to you!

Yes - the other commonly used standard is the ISO (International Standards Organisation) standard. There are slight differences in the standards applied, but basically ISO Grade P0 is approximately equal to ABEC 1, ISO P6 approximates ABEC 3, ISO P5 approximates ABEC 5, ISO P4 approximates ABEC 7 and ISO P2 approximates ABEC 9. Please see our List of ABEC Grades for the exact values of these precision grades.

Wheel bearingreplacement cost

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Both of the above standards are exactly the same for 4 of the 7 major elements used in Chrome Steel. Of the remaining 3 elements the specifications overlap, meaning that an SUJ2 bearing steel is also in many cases conforming to SAE52100 and vice versa. That is not to say that all batches of one will also conform to the other, but the differences are minimal anyway. Don't let anyone tell you that one is better than the other.

While you may not be able to immediately visually identify a faulty wheel bearing based on its tough-to-access location between the wheel and the axle, you can listen and feel for signs of an issue.

The ABEC rating is designed to measure loads of stuff that doesn't matter for skateboarding, and doesn't cover loads of things that do matter.

Because of their long lifespan, failure is usually caused by the typical everyday wear and tear from driving your vehicle over time.

Higher precision bearings are designed to allow high precision machinery to operate smoother and sometimes at higher speeds than a standard bearing would allow. Keeping this in mind, a standard ABEC 1, 608ZZ is rated with a limiting speed of 32,000 RPM with grease lubrication and 38,000 RPM with oil lubrication. The actual speed that the bearing will attain without failure also depends on the loads applied and other running conditions but there is really no need to go into that too heavily here.

How long willa wheel bearinglast after it starts making noise

We feel that we must stress here that the purpose of higher precision bearings IS NOT TO GO FASTER, but (amongst other things) to ALLOW HIGH SPEED MACHINERY TO OPERATE AT FASTER SPEEDS THAN STANDARD BEARINGS WILL ALLOW.

There is no GRADE lower than ABEC 1, but that doesn't mean that a manufacturer has to meet ABEC standards. Loads of cheap bearings out there don't even meet ABEC 1, and manufacturers are under no obligation to meet this standard. Most skate bearings are just bought from a catalogue with a brand name (or whatever name the purchaser requests) stamped or molded into the bearing shield. Some well known skate manufacturers could be buying their bearings from the cheapest, least quality conscious bearing manufacturer, and you would never know. Stick to reputable skate bearing brands that don't make ridiculous marketing claims, and you won't go wrong.

In this post, we'll help you understand the importance of wheel bearings, how to identify wheel bearing problems, and how any of our local GreatWater-affiliated shops can help maintain and replace these key components so you can hit the road with confidence again.

Normally, the shield itself will be branded as "608 Z" even though there is a shield on both sides of the bearing. This is for practicality in manufacturing. It is much more economical to produce all of the shields stamped as "608 Z" than it would be to manufacture the exact same component with two different stampings on them.

Frontwheel bearingnoise symptoms

When you visit any of our locally run service centers for wheel bearing replacement, you can rest assured that the job will be done right - that’s why each GreatWater-affiliated shop offers an industry-leading 3 Year/36,000 Mile Nationwide Warranty. But you can count on more than just premium service when you bring your vehicle to any of our partner locations, expect a first-rate customer experience as well. Â

You are much better off with some decent skate bearings from a well-recognised skate brand that don't have an ABEC rating.

"Z" is a designation which means a steel shield covering the side of the bearing (for most brands). "ZZ" simply means that the bearing has a shield on both sides.

The ABEC rating system covers a few things, but to give you an idea we will just examine one of them - the eccentricity (out of roundness) of the track in the inner ring. For an ABEC 1 (lowest grade) bearing, the maximum eccentricity allowable is 0.0075 mm (0.000295"). This is quite precise - more than precise enough for longboards, cruiser boards and skateboards. The figures for the other ABEC grades are:

For more information on the importance of a wheel bearing and how to know when it might be time to replace one or more of your vehicle's bearings, contact or visit your nearest GreatWater service center today.Â

"RU" is a "Full-Contact" rubber shield, or "Labyrinth" shield (as opposed to an "RS" or "Non-Contact" shield). Here, the shield contacts the inner and the outer bearing races. Similar to "2RS", "2RU" means that a bearing has two shields, one on each side.

It's important to realise that by doing this you will be increasing the frequency with which you need to clean and regrease your bearings. When choosing skate bearing lubricant, you need to choose between:

Keeping your bearings clean is very important to keep them fast. It's much easier to remove a rubber shield than a metal shield - so most good skate bearings will have rubber shields.

Nylon cages may have some slight advantages over steel cages in that it could possibly help to dampen the shock loads associated with skating, and it may assist in holding the lubricant in. Honestly though, we'd be suprised if you can tell the difference!

Skate companies lie about technical stuff in their marketing all the time. Adhearance to the ABEC bearing standard is not easy to prove or disprove, and it's so deeply ingrained in skate culture that most skaters refuse to believe that it's really not applicable to them. So the legend lives on!