another potential IMS question...
 

Has anyone on the forums ever looked into MicroBlue race bearings?? metallurgist in NC- looks like some interesting ideas...curious if anyone else has looked at these...

Wikan,
The Micro Blue website is just marketing.About MicroBlue Polished And Coated Bearings
There is no comparison with the current best(?) standard:
"Ceramic Bearing Si3N4 ABEC-9 Stainless Steel "
If there was an independent comparison test ,that would answer your interesting question. Without this valid test data,it is just hype.
For comparison, you can find an Abec-7 ceramic bearing for $70.
S6204-2RS Bearing 20x47x14 Si3N4 Ceramic Stainless Steel Sealed Nylon ABEC-7 Ball Bearings VXB Brand: Deep Groove Ball Bearings: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
Just remove 1 of the seals?

Don't go with the nylon cage, it won't last in the operating environment. There are steel cage silicon nitride bearings available.

agree!
 

you betcha no plastics or nylon allowed!!my tiptronic trans went out on a 03 986 boxster.175k miles. decided to do maintenance while waiting for replacement transmission, even though have never heard a peep out of the IMS.
Was amazed to find a 6204du bearing in it. 2 for 10 bucks on ebay. basically the bearing in my riding mower cutting deck!
read all I could stand on the ims replacements, and saw many wars from different people selling different things- roller, double in a single ceramic, OEM , spray oil thru it, all sorts of stuff. etc.
VXB has a 6204 double sealed ceramic with steel cage for 42 bucks, and someone's review there said excellent replacement for Porsche ims.
just kept searching and stumbled across the microblue site. ceramic deep groove, cryogenic frozen and heat treated. At 85 bucks figured is worth a look at one.
I think almost anything would be better than a Poland 6204du!
It looks like a neat idea, just wondered if anyone out there has ever seen one...

I have known about micro blue for several years and plan to use their coating. I hear Jake Raby at Flat 6 has some data on micro blue. My question is, where can we find an exact specification for this 6204 bearing. Obviously Porsche is not in the bearing manufacturing business.


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If you don't want a nylon cage (Why-nylon meets the temp specs for the IMSB ?) just specify s/s cage or full complement(no cage).If temperature is a concern probably need Viton instead of Buna seal.

So there really is no exact specification. If you take out the stock bearing and look up the codes on the seals you can determine what Porsche used. Those tend to fail so with a little research you can decide what a more appropriate bearing might be. These cars were built to a price point. The original IMS bearing cost a few bucks. The original purchasers had no idea the bearings even existed. 6204 simply means deep groove ball bearing of a certain size. The rest of the details, such as the quality of the materials, and hoe the bearings are sealed, or not, are left to the user.

The full generic part number for the bearing also specifies the seal type.See my previous post.It is a suffix to the 6204 number -like "2RS".
If you are concerned about heat on the seals -per my previous post, specify Viton .
If you use DOF you may consider the whole heat anxiety moot(according to the vendor). Just the one inner Buna seal should be adequate because the oil feed will keep the IMSB cool & lubricated. If the IMSB gets so hot that viton seals are necessary, there are probably other unaddressed issues in the bearing choice?
If you are relying on a grease-filled fully sealed bearing , you certainly need to think about a spec that is 'very high temperature,ventilated seal '.
Otherwise just use the bearing supplied by LN in their kit and skip the bearing-geek discussion?