[nuvolari]

Originally Posted by JFP in PA

I for one have never understood why someone would go to the expense or effort to replace the existing questionable bearing with another one that looks just like it, unless your only motive was to be able to say the IMS was "updated" and then quickly trade or sell the car.

Well, my car has 160k miles on what appears to be the original bearing and I'm also going on what you said in this thread about how some cars go many miles on the OEM bearing while others fail quickly and repeatedly. While I would love to install the Solution, the price is just too ridiculous. If it were closer to $1000, I would probably go for it as it's the only bearing that seems reliable, both in design and statistics.
With that said, I have a car with an OEM bearing that's gone 160k miles and with a new dual row bearing installed, I should be at around an overall failure rate of 3%. Can you show me an alternative other than the Solution that can make that claim?

Even less credible is replacing a dual row factory bearing, one of the most durable, with a single row, the most problematic, and a spacer. Jeez.........

I agree. I would never downgrade to a single row ball bearing whether ceramic or steel.

In my shop, we only used either the LN ceramic hybrid bearing, a design that is much stronger than the factory steel bearing, or the LN IMS Solution which is the "once and done forever" answer to the entire question. No NSK, no roller bearings, and absolutely no DOF installations. If a potential customer wanted something else, they were told they needed to go somewhere else. Once LN and Jake released the dual row design IMS Solution, we pretty much did not install anything but IMS Solutions. Yes, they cost more, but they never fail, never have to be changed out, and definitely add to resale/trade values.

Yes, the Solution is a great choice but the price...! These cars are still falling in price and although they will probably eventually appreciate, they will always be the black sheep of the Porsche family and will remain slightly lower than earlier and later models without all the problems of these cars. Therefor, it's going to be difficult to sell Solutions as the years progress. I wish they had designed a bearing that utilized replaceable bearings similar to rod bearings and then used a less exotic material for the metals that make up the Solution as I'm guessing that may be driving the price up. True, it wouldn't last forever but longer than the crank or rod bearings and it would be easy to replace at an engine rebuild or when changing a clutch. Maybe they could come out with something like this or other ways to bring the price down.

As for the ceramic bearing, I've read about too many failures of this bearing to feel comfortable using it. Not saying there's anything wrong with it but there are serious questions about this bearing which only time will answer. And that's the whole problem with the IMSB; no one actually knows what causes it and so all we have to base a very expensive decision on are statistics, expert experience and our own personal beliefs.
Same thing for the roller bearings...while they may be fine in regard to the thrust issue, they're too new to be sure about.

I guess the post ends with the question of whether 97% is enough to feel secure. Statistically, it probably is....
Oh, but how I would love that 100% Solution!