DeTomaso Mailing List: January 98, Message #65
     



From: 	dave.williams@chaos.lrk.ar.us (Dave Williams)

Subject: Re:  NSX bashing

Date: 	Mon, 12 Jan 1998 13:58:37 +0000





-> Dave, does your Corvette buddy drive "vigorously?" I think it was



 Jay is a BMWCCA and PCA instructor and runs six or seven track events

per year.  I'd say he drives "vigorously"; his Late Model tail-out

cornering habits make the U-boat commanders nervous.





-> about '90 that GM integrated the front hub & wheel bearings into a

-> sealed pkg that is totally un-serviceable. And Solo 2 activities on

-> stock tires are enough to fail the bearings! Instead of a pair of



 GM went to the cartridge bearings in '84, but they're nothing new.  The

rear hubs are identical to the FWD hubs since '79.  The fronts are

different, but apparently only in having four attaching bolts instead of

three.



 It's a *bad* design, with two bearings so close they're practically

touching and 2000+ pounds of cornering load across them in bending, not

counting bump loads.  GM gets away with it due to insane material and

machining specifications.  But it's the way things are done on modern

cars - Ford, Chrysler, and most of the imports use very similar layouts.



 We got 40,000 miles, five years of track events, and a couple dozen

Solos before the bearings wore enough to need replacement.  That's with

BFG R1s or Goodyear slicks the whole time, even on the street.

Replacements run $100 to $200 each, depending on vendor, which end of

the car, and whether it needs the ABS sensor.





-> discount store bearings, the poor guy's got to buy the whole damn hub

-> at $$$$. After a few years, they upgraded the bearings to 'heavy

-> duty' but sticky tires still fail 'em. One guy I know carries a spare

-> hub with him! J DeRyke



 Ford actually pioneered this trend with the Fiesta, which had sealed,

non-adjustable, non-greasable wheel bearings.  I didn't like it then, I

don't like it now, but it does work.  Doesn't make me any happier

though.