Cheap Wheel Bearings on E-Bay
 

OK I've posted this before but the experience has just got worse... so I thought I would update to hopefully avoid anyone else making the mistakes I have made... I know I'm always the first one to say for certain parts its best to use only genuine parts - on this occasion I didn't and I wish I had...

About a year ago I changed a rear wheel bearing on my XC90, I was contemplating upgrading the car so I bought the cheapest bearing on e-bay. This one to be precise:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VOLVO-XC9...AAAOSwbkVaFrcz

Fitting it was a nightmare, the old one came off okay but when I built it back up - the wheel was locked. Turns out that the hub casting is a slightly different shape and it was fouling the parking brake back plate on one side and hence not seating correctly - net result was the brake disc/hub face was skewed. Had to strip down again, remove and cut the brake back plate..... took 3x longer than it should have.

Anyhow.... 9,000 miles and 10 months later the bearing has failed. Noisey, rough running, etc. No problem I thought has two year warranty. Seller led me on a wild goose chase for 4 weeks asking for a letter saying how it was fitted, then how it was diagnosed, then stopped answering all e-mails with no explanation. Got e-bay involved, they wont enforce warranties. After e-bay's intervention I got an e-mail from seller saying warranty claim declined as insufficient description of fault given which is nonsense and they're not replying again now. A full description was given including driving, ground up wheel tests etc.

So based on my experience of the poor quality, fit and fractional lifespan of the goods, and then the shyster behavior of the seller towards their claimed warranty period in the contract of sale - I will be avoiding all parts from e-bay seller Buhuha. For me it has been a costly and expensive mistake and they are clearly not a company of principles.

Doh!

I agree with you, genuine parts are always the best option. That's not to say that I won't save a bob or two by buying parts from the OEM but not actually branded Volvo, but nevertheless the same part.

One of the risks of buying aftermarket (pattern) parts, other than premature failure, is that they don't fit. In that respect, used parts may be a better option in some cases (not this one though).

Quite simply this part did not fit, I worked it out at the time and made the necessary modifications but if it was being fitted at somewhere like Kwik Fit - I dread to think what the delay and cost would have been to the customer.

The alarm bells for me would have been the lack of any branding and the price.
Genuine would of course be ideal but a SKF, SNR or FAG unit would give me equal confidence.
Sub £50 for a bearing hub assembly is simply too cheap and probably only good to get a short term cheap fix before selling the car or passing an MOT.

I changed one on the ex's Mitsubishi Colt and even that was £90 for a car that's about half the weight of an XC90 and has no added stress of AWD.

How come this seller still has a 100% feedback rating - did you not mullah him ?

Why would you go to all that effort and time to save a hand full of pounds in bearings....

So what if it has a warrenty?

It was over a year ago now, the feedback % is calculated on the last 12 months. Not sure how they are 100% as they've clocked up four negatives in the last month, seemingly all stories like mine.

Would agree with all that - I replaced it with an SKF one. More than twice the price which I really wish I'd paid a year ago.

I discovered many years ago that 'pattern parts' were an expensive and time consuming way to go, they seldom fit without modification and they never last as long as a genuine part

I've suffered the same problem with an eBay bought Bearing.

Failed after around 15,000 miles. Contacted the seller, who also said they wouldn't supply a bearing until I can produce a letter from a garage confirming it's the bearing, etc etc. Doesn't matter that my Father-in-Law is a retired Mechanic of 42 years who helped me fit it.

It wasn't expensive, around £45, and they'll walk off the car now we've replaced them before.

Normal thing, buy cheap, buy twice.

Will get two Good Quality units from eurocarparts, at least their face to face dealings.
Maybe AutoDoc, they stock SNF, FAG and SKF Parts at good prices.
I can't justify Volvo's £203 per bearing tho, sub £150 would be good lol