Wheel bearing brand, does it matter?

After 275K miles its finally time for front wheel bearings.

Searching Google for a set, (both sides with new bolts), I find a wide range of brands and prices.

Mostly I am looking at ESC Tuning. They have sets ranging from almost $500, (OEM VW/Audi), to other brands. One being as low as about $150.

I know the old saying, "you get what you pay for", but is there really that much difference in quality in front wheel bearings?

Looking for some advice from those who have changed them out.

Thanks

We have several front hub and wheel bearings for the MKV, all are less than $150. https://www.idparts.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=front+wheel+bearing

I like FAG bearings, as they probably use the same bearing materials as OE.

And I've got Optimals on the front of my MKIV, they've lasted well enough that I don't recall when I installed them.

You can't go wrong with IDParts.

https://www.idparts.com/front-wheel-bearing-kit-fag-a5mkvinmsaudi-a3-p-3396.html

These come with the mounting hardware. You'll reuse your lug bolts. I personally have installed one about 120k ago and zero issues.

Your first wheel bearing change? Must be nice. I use FAG from ID Parts on all my cars.

Yep, first time since I owned the car and I bought it with 80K miles and I'm assuming they hadn't been changed before I got the car.

I have been waiting a long for a wheel bearing to go bad.

Thanks for the replies. It was a big help.

Out of curiousity, what are the symptoms of your "bad" bearings?

To answerthe original question:
No, bearing brand does not matter at all. But correct installation procedure matters a lot.
OEM bearings are NTN for VW and FAG for Audi. This is what's inside the boxes from the dealership.

Good brands: SKF, FAG, NTN, NSK, SNR. Also, Ruville is a packager who repackage quality brands. BTA is another budget brand but proven to be quality one.
However, I would avoid GSP, ABS, AIC, EGT, Rolltec, Febi Bilstein, Vaico, Topran and some other brands, including China and no names of course. Unless I'd be preparing a car for sale.

NTN has manufacturing facilities in China, as do most Euro auto parts companies.

I think that brands do matter. My tire shop replaced a R/H LCA and ball joint because they were severely bent and used parts from O'Reilly's and the ball joint was making a popping sound within 30K miles were the factory ball joint on the other side is now at about 185K miles and is still perfectly fine.

Especially on something like bearings I agree. Proper installation is extremely important.
Installation wasn't the issue with my ball joint. It was the fact that the tire shop used garbage Chinese parts.

The last time I bought tires, we were talking about FWD cars and the owner remarked that he didn't know why, but he has had customers cars that they have changed front wheel bearing on 5 times. I thought no, Dave. you have had to replace wheel bearings 5 times on someones car because you use garbage Chinese parts. Installation issues, IDK, but I'm thinking not.

The question is not clear. I think the question was like "does it matter which well-known brand bearing to choose" rather than "can I use no-name bearing and get good results with it".

Last year there was a transmission oil leak on my personal car - right side flange seal went bad. In order to replace it, it was necessary to remove the drive shaft (so remove the ball joint and undo the center bolt holding the CV joint).

After work has been completed, drive shaft with CV joint installed back, the center bolt has been tightened with impact gun (bolt reused too).

Within next ~1k mile I am hearing a steady bad bearing noise at highway speeds. Surprisingly, front right side bearing went bad.... No bearings were replaced on this car ever, all are factory ones, mileage is 55k miles.
So I replaced the bad bearing with VW OEM, this time new bolt, tightened to 200 Nm, then put the wheel on, car on ground, added further 180 degrees.
Almost a year later, no noise. The remaining bearings (which were never touched) are OK too.

Does correct installation procedure matter that much? In my opinion, yes, a lot.

invader said:

After 275K miles its finally time for front wheel bearings.

Searching Google for a set, (both sides with new bolts), I find a wide range of brands and prices.

Mostly I am looking at ESC Tuning. They have sets ranging from almost $500, (OEM VW/Audi), to other brands. One being as low as about $150.

I know the old saying, "you get what you pay for", but is there really that much difference in quality in front wheel bearings?

Looking for some advice from those who have changed them out.

Thanks

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My 08 Tundra front left wheel bearing is feeling pretty rough when I free wheel the hub. I am going to replace it with a pre-assembled hub and bearing. I can get SKF, Doorman, Beck/Arnley, SKP or Durago. I am thinking that SKF is probably the best of the bunch. Any opinions on what is the best option of the above? I plan on keeping the truck for a while yet.

Also, I was thinking of doing both front bearings since the truck is old and has high mileage. Any thoughts on that?