Motaquip: Poor Quality Wheel Bearings ‘Threaten UK Aftermarket’

Low cost and counterfeit wheel bearings are pouring into the UK market, posing a direct threat to motorists, Motaquip has warned. Motaquip, one of the UK’s leading aftermarket suppliers, singled out Far Eastern suppliers of low cost wheel bearing kits for criticism saying: they fail to meet Original Equipment (OE) or matching quality specification.

The non-OE wheel bearings issue surrounds Far Eastern wheel bearing kit imports which feature ball bearings rather than the newer taper roller technology. Increasingly complex modern vehicles require that safety critical parts such as wheel bearing kits meet Original Equipment (OE) or matching quality specification. In order to reduce costs, parts sourced from the Far East often use fewer balls than the OE part, which leaves them vulnerable to breakage, disintegration, collapse or locking when in use – with potentially devastating consequences.

Concern over Far Eastern imports has also heightened resulting from the problems faced by SNR Bearings, the OE manufacturer of the latest generation ASB bearings. According to Motaquip, the company has recently suffered from the production of counterfeit products, fitted with a magnetic encoder of very poor quality, which can induce a malfunction in the ABS and ESP systems. Tests on these counterfeit bearings show that total failure (which can result in the loss of a wheel) occurred after 1,200 cycles instead of the 97,000 cycles required by the manufacturer. It has already been proven that some of these counterfeit products, made in the Far East for Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda applications have found there way into the UK aftermarket.

Peter Allen, Motaquip’s product manager, commented: “The UK aftermarket faces a twin threat from low cost wheel bearing kits and poor quality counterfeit products, both originating from the Far East. Modern wheel bearings and their kits are specifically designed to be stronger and more technologically advanced than traditional bearings to cope with the performance demands of the modern vehicle. Unfortunately, these imports are not up to the job. My advice to factors and independent garages is to check the source of your supply to ensure that your wheel bearings are matching OE quality.”