Ceramic wheel bearings. Anyone tried these?

[orange4boy]

Interesting graph but wrong application. That graph is for a blower bearing which has very different load compared to a vehicle bearing. The load on a vehicle bearing is much greater and acts 90 degrees to the bearing putting most of the load on just a few rollers.

Good hunting though.

I agree that gains here will be slight but as you pointed out the more overall efficiency you have the greater percentage gain.

Splitting hairs for fun and profit.

Bar graph from timken:

[tasdrouille]

That Tinken graph is really interesting. That means ceramic bearings should give a rough 5% reduction in overall rolling resistance, depending on how much the seals account for in the original 12%.

[almightybmw]

So while the graph may not be a direct coloration to wheel bearings, it does show how steel bearings and ceramic bearings react to conditions. I'm already upside down on the costs I've put into my Protege as a rally car, so spending extra doesn't matter, its' a hobby. I think the throwout bearing would benefit the most, as it deals with the high speeds of the motor frequently. The input bearings of the tranny also would benefit lots. Knowing the design of my tranny, under high stress certain parts flex, putting extra stress on the bearings. Stronger bearing, less likely for it to grenade.

I'd be willing to spend several hundred on bearings just to know the rally car wouldn't fall apart when under stress. FE means nothing in those cases, so ROI isn't a consideration. Performance minded is the only way I see you could get your money's worth out of ceramic bearings. I've never changed the wheel bearings on the Protege, and at 140K miles, they still spin freely, without grinding. I doubt you'd see quantitative results in FE.

[wagonman76]

I wonder how well they hold up in pothole country. It just seems to me that while steel has good toughness, the ceramic would shatter. You dont have these kind of BS roads on the racetrack.

[kane66]

Have you looked into ceramic coating.

"PPM – A thin, high load solid film lubricant used for parts with little or no room for a coating. Bearings and other parts are often coated with PPM. Applied about .0002” thick."

a company called swain tech does it. There are actually a lot of engine parts that can be coated to improve drive train efficiency. I've been looking into it lately and seems like there are a lot of promising developments in ceramics that could help Eco-moders out there.

[deanhalter]

A lot of the gains from what I have read and been told is from the reduced mass of the bearings. This can be seen the in the Timken bar chart and the comparison graphs. The slip and inertia are directly related to the mass of the balls in the bearing...

This would seem to negate any benefit from a ceramic coating, as the hardness is not really relevant and the negligible thickness would not appreciably affect the mass.

Many racing two stroke engines benefited from ceramic bearings in their crankshaft assemblies owing to the reduced inertia. As for cars, as was stated, I tend to think transmissions and such would benefit the most, as they tend to have higher speeds and loads than wheel bearings, etc. It should be noted that ball bearing applications in auto engines are few and far between, with most running plain journal bearings.

[DIMS]

just installed ceramic wheel bearings - ModularFords.com

[tasdrouille]

Your 10 whp dyno claim from the bearings made me laugh, but that's cool you nonetheless.

[DIMS]

Originally Posted by tasdrouille

Your 10 whp dyno claim from the bearings made me laugh, but that's cool you nonetheless.

Yes it made me laugh too This was a link I found trying to find someone with ceramic wheel bearing experience.

Here is another. Located
ceramic bearings for street use - Page 2 - Kawasaki ZX-10R.net

I've been in the bearing business for 13 years now. So I will tell you yes ceramic or hybrid-ceramic bearings will work just fine on the street. Just be prepaired to pay a hefty price for them. I can also tell you that I put hybrid- ceramic bearings in the rear of my old zx9 haven't done it to my 10 yet and it accounted for one horsepower on the dyno. I also did a coast test from 60 to 0 miles an hour and it accounted for an extra 300 feet.That was both front and rear hybrid-ceramic bearings.Just my

[DIMS]

Originally Posted by tasdrouille

Your 10 whp dyno claim from the bearings made me laugh, but that's cool you nonetheless.

Maybe there is something close to 10Hp in ceramic wheel bearings. Nascar cars getting 6hp from this setup and I'm not sure that they are even Ceramic. Maybe I should not laugh so loud

http://machinedesign.com/article/coo...the-track-0508