[aschen]

Its tempting to go for the 114.5 pattern....but its hard to make the economy work unless you need several sets of really wide wheels. There are good wheels available in 100 by 5, they are just a bit harder to find. I wont be going any wider than 8.5 anyways as I have upgraded from coilovers to struts. Yes it was an upgrade for my sanity at least!!!!

[polyol]

My question is this for the new 5x100 6-gun front hub swap...do the rear bearings go out on the 04's very often? Since you are only upgrading the front hubs the rears are no different...so you are only solving half the problem? I know that the front hubs probably take the majority of cornering forces but you are still left with weak rear bearings. How many WRX'ers and 04'ers have rear bearing problems?

[jamesohoh7]

Originally Posted by aschen

isnt the switch pretty easy if you get the kit drilled for 5x100 and 04 type struts? Is there some trick required that i am missing? I was thinking of doing this but I want to keep my struts and wheels. I am a mediocre mechanic but I can bolt stuff up just fine> I should be alright to do this swap I think. How in the world did it take some of you guys 7 hrs? Is that for the front and rear conversion?

Good sir!, you know that for the mere rent of $beer, I will gladly pitch in and help do this wrenching! Unless you're just -really- wanting to go it alone.... dunno, maybe you're a freak like that!?

[STIBLITZ]

Originally Posted by polyol

My question is this for the new 5x100 6-gun front hub swap...do the rear bearings go out on the 04's very often? Since you are only upgrading the front hubs the rears are no different...so you are only solving half the problem? I know that the front hubs probably take the majority of cornering forces but you are still left with weak rear bearings. How many WRX'ers and 04'ers have rear bearing problems?

wheel bearing failure is based on how you drive your car. some have said they've changed theirs a few times before 30k miles, others have not. I have 52k miles with 5-7 track events per year running +35 offset wheels and my bearings are fine, no pad knockback. i recently changed out the axel nuts to cure a click clack noise. I track with a guy driving an automatic forestor who's notorious for power bracking who changed his bearings at 95k miles! he drives aggressive on the track and on the street on +35 offset wheels.

If you are doing the swap mainly for bearing issues, id recommend repacking them in high temp grease. suby specialties in socal repack bearings with high temp grease which all but cures the bearing failure in 5x100 for a resonable cost. i'm sure any reputable race shop in your area can do the same.

[na-STi]

Originally Posted by STIBLITZ

suby specialties in socal repack bearings with high temp grease which all but cures the bearing failure in 5x100 for a resonable cost.

How much would this cost? Now if only there was a cheap fix for the pad knockback.

[aschen]

Originally Posted by jamesohoh7

Good sir!, you know that for the mere rent of $beer, I will gladly pitch in and help do this wrenching! Unless you're just -really- wanting to go it alone.... dunno, maybe you're a freak like that!?

Your hired james! I am not sure when im going to do this. The bearings arnt making any noise but one of them has some noticable play when it was on the alignment rack........maybe I should check out other stuff to make sure its not the ball joints or something. I think it is the bearing though because knockback is worse than normal.

[aschen]

Originally Posted by STIBLITZ

wheel bearing failure is based on how you drive your car. some have said they've changed theirs a few times before 30k miles, others have not. I have 52k miles with 5-7 track events per year running +35 offset wheels and my bearings are fine, no pad knockback. i recently changed out the axel nuts to cure a click clack noise. I track with a guy driving an automatic forestor who's notorious for power bracking who changed his bearings at 95k miles! he drives aggressive on the track and on the street on +35 offset wheels.

If you are doing the swap mainly for bearing issues, id recommend repacking them in high temp grease. suby specialties in socal repack bearings with high temp grease which all but cures the bearing failure in 5x100 for a resonable cost. i'm sure any reputable race shop in your area can do the same.

How exactly do drive to protect your wheelbearing other than slow and non agressive???There is some noticable knockback on a brand new 04 sti. So you have done 20 to 28 track days on the first set of wheelbearings? Either you got the absolute best factory freak bearings or you arnt driving hard enough !!! All the guys who do serious racing (Not hpde) in stis or wrx with the smaller hubs change their bearings frequently.......I dont mean to sound so harsh but the 5x100 wheel berings are known to be a week link and this reputation has proven true in my experience and nearly every accout I have read amungst serious motorsports enthusiests. I dont think it is due to a lack of mechanical sympathy. Improved grease may be able to reduce wear but it certainly cant improve strength and stiffness compared to a brand new set of bearings...

[STIBLITZ]

Originally Posted by aschen

How exactly do drive to protect your wheelbearing other than slow and non agressive???There is some noticable knockback on a brand new 04 sti. So you have done 20 to 28 track days on the first set of wheelbearings? Either you got the absolute best factory freak bearings or you arnt driving hard enough !!! All the guys who do serious racing (Not hpde) in stis or wrx with the smaller hubs change their bearings frequently.......I dont mean to sound so harsh but the 5x100 wheel berings are known to be a week link and this reputation has proven true in my experience and nearly every accout I have read amungst serious motorsports enthusiests. I dont think it is due to a lack of mechanical sympathy. Improved grease may be able to reduce wear but it certainly cant improve strength and stiffness compared to a brand new set of bearings...

WOW this went from a decent discussion to an e-dick flinging contest. I don't understand your need to get personal and call me a "non serious motorsport enthusiast". Have we met? Have you done track days with me? So you just went ahead and jumped to conclusions and decide to attack me?

Like anything, there are different conditions to every situation. Some people with Sti's blow their clutch within 10k miles of ownership. So does it make me a 'non serious motorsport enthusiast' because my stock clutch still works at 52k miles?

My point is, there's different solutions to every problem. My suggestion may not agree with "serious motorsport enthusiasts", but like everything in life its your choice to listen to it or not.

[polyol]

Ill post up my experences...they are what they are.

I have 65,000mi on my 04 STi. I have autox'ed my STi at least 100 times, maybe more. I run on 275/40 V710's. I am still on the stock bearings, and have very little knockback at the track. I can feel it but its certanly not stoping me from getting 1st place in SM on a regular basis.

I am interested in upgrading my hubs since it really is only a matter of time untill the stockers give out, I am totally torn between the 5x114 and 5x100 6-gun setup. My issue with the 5x100 is it doesnt not upgrade the rears. So the rears are still on the weak bearings. Ive heard that the 5x114 and 5x100 rear bearings are not completly the same but neither is stonger than the other...for now I dont know if that is completly true.

I dont care about rim selection so that issue is not a biggie, and I have two sets of rims already.

[polyol]

Originally Posted by aschen

How exactly do drive to protect your wheelbearing other than slow and non agressive???There is some noticable knockback on a brand new 04 sti. So you have done 20 to 28 track days on the first set of wheelbearings? Either you got the absolute best factory freak bearings or you arnt driving hard enough !!! All the guys who do serious racing (Not hpde) in stis or wrx with the smaller hubs change their bearings frequently.......I dont mean to sound so harsh but the 5x100 wheel berings are known to be a week link and this reputation has proven true in my experience and nearly every accout I have read amungst serious motorsports enthusiests. I dont think it is due to a lack of mechanical sympathy. Improved grease may be able to reduce wear but it certainly cant improve strength and stiffness compared to a brand new set of bearings...

Yeah I guess im just not a hard driver at my autox events.

I think some people around here can vouch for how much I HAMMER on my STi at the track.

[aschen]

Originally Posted by STIBLITZ

WOW this went from a decent discussion to an e-dick flinging contest. I don't understand your need to get personal and call me a "non serious motorsport enthusiast". Have we met? Have you done track days with me? So you just went ahead and jumped to conclusions and decide to attack me?

Like anything, there are different conditions to every situation. Some people with Sti's blow their clutch within 10k miles of ownership. So does it make me a 'non serious motorsport enthusiast' because my stock clutch still works at 52k miles?

My point is, there's different solutions to every problem. My suggestion may not agree with "serious motorsport enthusiasts", but like everything in life its your choice to listen to it or not.

Seriously dude you took that differently than I meant it. All I am saying is that the wheel bearings are known to be weak. Its almost an indisputable fact that they are prone to failure. I didnt mean to say you were "non serious", what I meant to say is every other enthusiest has had different experience than you. Your clutch example is different as you can be easy on the clutch while still driving aggresively, the same is not true for wheel bearings. Also I would be skeptical if you said you had 1 million miles on your clutch and it functions as new, this is a closer analog to your wheel bearing statemnt. Anyways internet tone is hard to read and I truley didnt mean to sound overly abrasive, but all the facts i listed about the bearing weakness are true.......

[aschen]

Well at least you admit you get some knockback. Everybody thinks they hammer their cars in autox and they are right nearly everybody does. I didnt mean to turn this into a pissing match. Its clear my tone was more harsh than I meant it to be......

[polyol]

Its no doubt that the 5x100 is weaker; however, it takes quite a bit of track time (at least in my experence) to wreck the bearings. When I do smoke mine I will certanly upgrade...but I dont know which route I will take (5x100 or 5x114).

[sciolist]

Just as a matter of clarification, there is no "track" involved with an autoX event. For anything other than a Street Touring car (no James, I am not busting your chops) these are low-speed, high-grip events. Any car on race tires is going to be transmitting vastly greater lateral forces into the hub than what OE bearings were intended to...bear. A fully-built BSP or SM car with 315's on 11" wheels is going to put a ishtload of lateral force on the front bearings.

Another thing about autoX is that it creates a tendency in some people to drive around on the street with three or three and a half degrees of camber in front. That's also going to accelerate bearing wear.

This is a little different than what you get with track events, where heat is a factor.

So, a fully-built, trailered STU car with 5/114 fronts might come from the factory with a lifetime supply of bearings. A 50% DD'ed SM car with 5/100 fronts might go through three sets a year.

[aschen]

agreed with the above.I am not sure what is worse the high bearing loading during autocross or heat from the track but I suspect the latter. One thing I am curious about is how adversly the weaker hubs effect your handeling. If you get enough deflection to cause seious knockback surely you have adversly effected your "dynamic" alignment...