Hi all.

Recently my drivers side front wheel bearing started to make a faint noise (at 70000 miles) and upon inspection it was clear it was needing replaced. I did extensive research and found the part A2223340206 costs anywhere between $600 and $900 dollars each! I continued research and found a highly rated seller on Ebay selling the bearing for $133 dollars. I ended up buying that bearing. When I got it it was clear it was NOT OEM, for it was made in China. I said to myself well crap lets try it out and see. Before I installed the bearing I weighted the old one at 3920 grams and the new one was 3823 grams.

I did find out that I could not use the rotor safety screw because the flange hole was not lined up but that is not a big deal since the brake caliper holds the rotor when the wheel is off. I thought about drilling and taping a hole for the screw but again its not really a big deal.

So the reason I wrote this was to point out that there are sometimes alternatives to the cost of a OEM part if your a do it yourself sort of person. Would I put this part on someone elses car? No but since it is my car and knowing how easy it is to replace I figured why not give it a try. I took the car for a ride and all works great. Below are some pictures of the job. Note a picture of the caliper with the AMG stamp on the side hidden from view since the car is a Maybach.........and Mercedes does not want to confuse people.

So for $133 dollars I have a good bearing. Will it last as long as an OEM? I doubt it but then I would wonder why my original OEM bearing failed at 70,000 miles..........



Old hub bearing.

New hub bearing.

Sadly the Torx safety screw did not line up with new hub so it is absent.

 

Great write up!

 

I’ve never seen a hub so shiny!!! Bling! . I hope it lasts a long time!

 

Thank you. I ended up drilling and tapping for the safety screw so that is now installed as well.

 

What were the symptoms of this failure?

 

Very faint hum that was amplified by quick steering to left and disappeared when quick turn to right.

once wheel off I could turn hub and feel the bearing.

 

Hey, thank you for the informations and your pictures!

My wheel bearing is making clicking noises so I need to replace it. At 300.000km (186.000miles) it's finally the time to do so. From your pictures it seems like you didn't take off the brake caliper. I assume you pulled the wheel bearing with the brake rotor still attached? Is that correct? That would make the job much easier and faster. Mercedes dealership quotes 580€ only for the wheel bearing. I will buy SKF wheel bearing for 120€ since the original is also from SKF

 

Took of brake caliper and rotor to replace bearing. Very easy job to do.

 

Nice that you can get the hub and bearing as a single unit. I remember some tiring work driving out bearing races when I did this on a Porsche years ago.