thank you . So why would the green bearings be a downgrade? ive been told they are good and the are bad just like the original bearings
same information.
Here's the reason Green bearings started being used... Back when drag racers started running spools instead of sure-grips, there was no easy way to have that spacer that sits between the axles. It also made gear swaps a little easier because you didn't have to adjust the bearing side play. "Green" was the name of the now defunct bearing company.
The downside is a ball bearing won't handle a side load like the OEM tapered roller bearing does. Of course, a lot of guys have had no problem with it, and site that "new cars have ball bearings" which is true... But back in the day, it was very unusual to have to change the OEM bearings, even after many miles. From my observations, there seems to be a lot of newer cars out there that have to change those ball bearings at 50K. But, again, guys do use Green bearings with success, but these cars also have limited use.
I changed slightly noisy axle bearings that were original to a 50 year old car. I rode in my son's car the other day... 5 years old, 100K miles and the rear was growling like crazy... Needing its bearing replaced for the second time.
So, as far as I can see, there's no advantage to using Green bearings at all. In your application, all you've done is lose the need (or is it ability?) to adjust the sideload of the axle. If you were running a spool (dumb idea for a street car LOL) it would make things easier, but you aren't running a spool. While opinions vary, IMHO, you've done absolutely nothing to "upgrade" or make it better. The car isn't going to go any faster... Isn't going to handle better etc. So, no matter what, at best it's a time saver, but the 5 minutes it takes to adjust it correctly isn't that much.
Now, there are a lot of guys that defend the Green bearings, but I have yet to see one actually say more than "It's not caused a problem in xxx miles".
There are things that you can do to "upgrade" your car. Some stuff that is suggested by the guys at the Saturday morning Dairy Queen Cars & Coffee aren't upgrades. I see a lot of it here. My suggestion is to do your own research before doing anything...
So, that's my opinion... Some share it and some don't. I'm not telling you to get rid of your new bearings... If they were properly pressed on, they will probably be fine...
But there is nothing "bad" about the original type bearing. I don't think anyone will disagree on that point.
