Wheel Bearing Question

[Lane_S]

Has anyone tried Microblue Bearings or treatment to their bearings with success? I know OTR truckers who use them and say it makes a huge difference in their MPG's.

I inquired about some for my 03 Jetta TDI and ballpark figure is $50.00 per bearing to get the treatment to the bearings I supply. That has total cost at about $90.00 per wheel. Wanted to see what others have done in this area.

[Cobb]

Back when I was a wheelchair user I found out precision bearings were the best. I know some cars you can get ball where others use rollers and the sludge like lube.

[Goldenstate]

Good question in regards to what Microblue can do for mileage increase in an domestic car wheel bearing application. Seems silverado30mpg who has a listing for a 1990 chevy silverado in the Garage, shows Microblue wheel bearings in his truck with a 70-90 weight gear oil for lubrication. Would be interesting to find out more on what the improvements were and how the gear lube is working for his custom bearings.

[oil pan 4]

I dont think at $90 per wheel it will offer any payback.

[Flakbadger]

I'm sure it would help and I'm not shooting it down, but like oil pan 4 said, the bang-for-your-buck is pretty low. If you were to spend that money on an scangauge or a tune-up, you'd probably be spending your money more wisely.

[oil pan 4]

I think servicing the bearings with the right amount of grease, not tightening them down too much and reducing brake drag will give the most MPG for your buck when trying to reduce non-tire related rolling resistance.

[serialk11r]

Some people claim significant improvements when applied to the gearbox and engine internals. I think if surface treatments are to do any good that's where they would be useful, because that's where almost all the friction is.

[Lane_S]

I do have an Ultragauge but have yet to hook it up. I'm looking into tuning, I run engine on but coast in neutral as much as possible, and try to use brakes a little as possible. My tires are LRR Continentals at 40 PSI (51 max sidewall) I'm also looking at aero mods for the front. I need to replace a wheel bearing soon so that why I threw out the microblue question.

I agree that treatment of internal wear surfaces would be the ideal thing to do. As far as payback? Good question and would be hard to calculate in real world driving unless you had a good baseline from an origin to say 250K miles, change bearings, and start all over again, given that everything else on the vehicle never changes.

I do know since joining the forum that there is WAY more info to learn about ecomodding that I ever thought of and I thought I was ahead of the curve compared to Joe driver.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by Lane_S

Has anyone tried Microblue Bearings or treatment to their bearings with success? I know OTR truckers who use them and say it makes a huge difference in their MPG's.

I inquired about some for my 03 Jetta TDI and ballpark figure is $50.00 per bearing to get the treatment to the bearings I supply. That has total cost at about $90.00 per wheel. Wanted to see what others have done in this area.

Some research papers were published decades ago with SAE regarding wheel bearing drag,and the consensus was that it was so low as to be insignificant.If it was totally eliminated,it would not reflect at the gas pump.

[Cobb]

If your goal is to reduce friction at the wheels and it uses disc brakes, I suggest the napa drag reduction springs. Ten bucks a pair. 40 for 4 wheels, then if you are an aaa member you get a discount.