There's a couple of kiwi dairy company owners who won't be getting any golden handshakes...

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

I think the main point here is that these brgs are illegally made under a "brand " name. There are 3 chinese companies that openly state that they are manufacturing bearings for companies like SKF and others to those companies standards. This is obviously a BIG fat lie.
My main concern is that if you are un-aware of what the product quality really is and you buy because of the" brand" name then you are being ripped off.
The wheel brgs that I replaced in my daughter's commadore were fitted by a local mobile mechanic while I was away at sea. I now realise that they were obvioulsy illegally made cheap chinese crap with SKF stamped on them. They collapsed and she luckily avoided having a serious accident.
Over the past year I have had numerious incidents invloving items from china that state a particular thing, but it is all lies. Things like ships with asbestos free certificates that are full of white and blue asbestos.
The problem is that some one can get caught out thinking that they have purchased a reputable brand name and this part fails causing a serious accident.
There is nothing we can do to stop the chinese from producing these products but be-aware that it could fail when you are driving or have asbestos in it and you or some -one else may end up dead. The chinese would not give a rats arse but your family might.
End of my rant and back to the workshop

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Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

I work for an opposition company of SKF and we stock FAG and Timken.
It is amazing the number of bearings i have pulled out of BMC cars that have been stamped FAG or SKF, which i have sent of for analysis and then get a report back saying they are made from materials don't meat ISO standards. I have bought wheel bearing kits that have had UBC bearings in them that had NSK on the box.
In the end, the simple answer is to buy your bearings froma reputable sauce. Be it SKF/FAG/Timken make sure they are a legal agent for said brands.

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- 1962 Beige Delight club car, Rebuilding.
- Motorkana Special
- Minor Mishap, 1958 Morris Minor

-- Last ever Tea Lady at Longbridge--

Thread revival:

For those interested a bit of follow up information on counterfeit bearings:

http://www.powertransmission.com/issues/0410/bogusbearings.pdf

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-James.

Toyota 4EFTE Powered Minivan.
102 Kw @ The Front Wheels....Oh What a Feeling!

I would agree that good, in fact very good stuff can be manufactured in China, so no argument here at all.....

Problem is though, that most of the importers / distributors go for the cheap stuff. It floods the market and even if you wanted the 'good stuff' (no matter where it's made) you cannot find it or buy it for love nor money.

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Thanks 77 clubby van.

This situation is very alarming - almost to the extreme.

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I've seen these! Branded as Minispares

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

I've seen them as MiniSport(UK) actually

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Scary!

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Too many cars, and too little time.

It's like the stories on drug busts, but aimed at engineers lol.

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Simplify and add lightness

I knew about this problem over 18 months ago and it has taken SKF this long to finally expose it. I can assure you that SKF are not the only company to get screwed like this and the biggest blame lays with the spare parts companies that import this crap. They know well what quality they are getting yet they are happy to sell it to their customers.
If some one is killed due to a inferior product they just shift the blame to china.
All I can suggest is to ask where the product is made , deal with a reputable bearing company and check the bearings before you leave.

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Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

Do counterfeit SKF bearings have Made in China stamped on them?
And is the packaging identical?

1. No, not usually

2. No, not usually. The packaging is just like the bearing - an inferior copy.
Sometimes there are spelling mistakes, but usually it's just poor quality printing.
Hard to spot unless you have the real deal to compare against.

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Too many cars, and too little time.

True, true...

SKF and other major bearing companies have known about this problem for quite a while and there have been many "stings" by police worldwide, especially in the past 5 years or so.

Apparently, the problem is it is difficult to catch the offenders as they often get shipments in as its ordered rather than keeping large stock quantity. The stock that is kept is usually the lower value stuff that is lower priority for the authorities.

The best advice is to buy from authorised distributors. These guys know bearings and will only have genuine stock. look on the SKF / FAG / Timken / NTN websites for a list if you are unsure.
A bonus of buying from a proper bearing shop instead of auto parts / general trader is that the bearings will usually be cheaper.

A downside is that they may have to order it in for you.

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-James.

Toyota 4EFTE Powered Minivan.
102 Kw @ The Front Wheels....Oh What a Feeling!

what pisses me off about this whole situation is that when you think about what a good quality bearing does (and i don't mean any chinese one) and for how long it does it, they are already dirt cheap. There is not justification for getting a cheaper one in the first place. The only motivation for the people doing this is sheer greed.

cheers
michael

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the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates