Optimal Bearing Kits

[windysurfer]

Anyone ever fitted one of their bearing kits or even heard of them?

They claim to be OE spec bearings.

I need to replace the rear bearings on my Golf but don't want to fit a kit with crap bearings in it!

http://www.optimal-germany.com/en/wheel-bearing-kits

[California Dreamin]

I've personally never heard of them but then they are German and do comply with the appropriate standards.......
Really dificult to say, I think I would give them a miss unless you get any positive feedback from others.

Martin

[R0B]

This bit has me thinking.Are they made in some place like china.

are assembled in Langenbach

[Ian Hulley]

Ok, so I contacted our bearing suppliers and with a total of nearly 150 combined years in the trade none of us have heard of Optimal. The concensus is that they are component assemblers, gathering and reboxing other manufacturer's products.

Their advice was stick with FAG for wheel bearings.

Ian

[windysurfer]

Thanks for the replies
I think I'll give them a miss. Their rear wheel bearing kit is £37 with a 2 year warranty.

Local parts place is £59 +vat but uses quality bearings.
Not worth having to do the job again in 12 months

[somnambulist]

I bought a pair of Optimal rear bearings for a quattro, just to see what sort of quality they really were, and where they were manufactured

I was already suspicious because their website makes conveniently vague statements such as "kits assembled in Germany" but nowhere do they say the important words MADE in Germany

This is exactly what Meyle do, except perhaps Meyle are a little more up-front in admitting that they are a re-packager type of operation with a lot of their products

The eBay seller from whom I sourced them is claiming they are "German Bearings". He is a fraud, as is anyone selling Optimal product and making that claim - at least based on my experience

The packaging also says only "Germany" but not "made in Germany"

To cut a long story short, the bearings themselves (which were in sealed packaging) bear the imprint "Hudson JNC"

Here is the website for that manufacturer: http://www.hudsonjnc.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Guangzhou Hudson JNC International Trading Co.,Ltd is located in Guangzhou,an economically prosperous city in China.The company has the right of handling import and export and specializes in High quality Auto parts. Our main product including Wheel bearing,Belt,Special tools and so on,the company is strictly executing the international technical standard in order to guarantee and perfect every unit’s quality.

CHINESE BEARINGS OF UNKNOWN QUALITY ARE WHAT THIS COMPANY IS SELLING, BUT AT CLOSE TO THE PRICE OF A PREMIUM BEARING


from now on it's back to FAG, SKF or Ruville all the way, for me

[bigherb]

Most of these companies Febi, Meyle, Topran etc assemble parts kit from different manufactures it can be a lottery where the parts are made I've just fitted a First Line rear bearing kit with the bearings made in England.

[CovKid]

Lets face it, more and more is being made out there.

[Ian Hulley]

Lets face it, more and more is being made out there.

In industry we only accept FAG, SKF, Cooper and a very few other KNOWN brands .... mainly now (sadly) made in Eastern Europe. We are talking many, many thousands of pounds an hour downtime on the plant and I don't take chances on these cheap Chinese bearings where they are not correctly hardened and finished (which is what I'm lead to believe is the issue ... it's quick and cheap to plate compared to harden.