MB Motorsport IMS Bearing
 

I'm hoping there are some people with experience with the MB Motorsport IMS bearing.

I purchased a 2001 Boxster S Tip with 48k miles on the clock. The previous owner had the RMS and IMS bearing done roughly 3 years and 5k miles ago by a reputable shop I live in Colorado and the car is a canyon carver. I drive it 90% of the time in the manual mode with the motor spinning for performance.

I'm wondering what to think of the MB Motorsport bearing? Any experience with durability or lack thereof with the MB Motorsport IMS bearing?

Not trying to be an ass, but have you tried a search for "mb motorsports"

There are tons of IMSB posts on this forum and probably just about any IMSB question has been discussed ad infinitum

Never heard of that brand, maybe that is the name of the shop that installed it?

There has been a bunch of discussion about them, some good, some not so good
IIRC, they got into it with Raby at one point

MB MOTORSPORTS - Porsche engine repair and maintenance service

The only bad said about them was by Raby and his cronies. They tried to bash the roller bearing, yet it had proven superior to the (at the time) Raby/LNE ceramic bb. Zero reports of an MB roller failing...

It’s also strange that every last LNE bb failure was due to improper installation, shaft runout or some other BS, never because of an inferior bearing “fix”. ;)

Your MB roller bearing is rock solid. :cool:

You are providing a Public Service announcement.

I appreciate all the responses. As a relatively new poster on the 986 forum it helps to filter noise. I have done many searches on this forum as well as google which includes an endless number of useful hits on the bearing issues. But very little specific to MB Motorsports IMS bearing.

My question was and remains specific to the MB Motorsport bearing and I appreciate all information from those with experience of the specific bearing.

I have watched the PCA videos with Raby. I have spent many hours reading threads and have heard many arguments mentioned across the various options. There is little mention of the MB Motorsport bearing in any of these and to this point steved0x has never heard of MB Motorsport IMS bearing suggesting that they are not commonly referenced.

I appreciate all the replies. I was not looking to incite the "Do your own search" flames with my specific question.

JayG I have been unable to find the volumes of discussion about the MB Motorsport IMS bearing. I have found a little which doesn't lead me to a strong sense other than at least there is not much bad said about them. Maybe that is because few are using them? I have heard Raby's mention of his shops decision not to use the roller bearings. Raby supports his decision with the argument that Porsche engineers decided against the roller bearing first. Jake Raby's opinion has weight as far as I'm concerned. That is the primary reason I asked the question.

Particlewave I appreciate your input. I was a hardcore cyclist for a couple of decades and have experience with hybrid ceramic bicycle bearing. I was witness to many premature hybrid bearing failures in bikes. I would never consider them for an IMS bearing that can have such an impactful outcome. I appreciate your comments. Thanks You!

I'm willing to bet many rolled their eyes and had thought I didn't consider the search function useful. Thank you for not responding! I appreciate the initiation as I learn the lay of the land.

Particlewave, I appreciate that you read and understood my specific question and for the thoughtful response.

In response to the admonishing remarks to my original post, I wonder if before remarking those individuals had tried searching my question themselves?

I have spent months researching IMS bearings to understand the different offerings what to expect from them. I have listened to Jake Raby's explanation of the systems available on the PCA videos. Jake Raby's opinions bear weight with me for sure. The MB Motorsport bearing is a roller bearing and I understand that Raby's shop has decided against roller bearing following the lead of Porsche engineers that also decided against roller bearings.

Not all roller bearings will be the same ie. grade of materials, QC. There is little information I find doing searches across any forum I can access. That was the reason for my OP and I appreciate all response from experience.

Thanks

Searching? Laughable. I would suggest based upon the number of "career" posts from those individuals that they have posted and read about that god damned IMS bearing topic so many time they're flustered. There was nothing wrong with their responses.

Google, man. Google. :cheers:

Sqelching inquiry is never a good path to enlightenment, particularly when advancing the knowledge base requires experiential data in addressing a new approach to a problem. It took years of accumulated individual experiences for the original ims problem to become clear. Innovative individuals came up with answers to this problem that at first seemed unsolvable. We are now reaching the point where enough different answers are in play that we can expect to start getting sufficient data as to make preliminaey judgements on their relative merits. As more data points accumulate, these judgements will become more informed.
The OP made a fair inquiry about one of the less common answers to the problem. I too would be curious to hear more about the viability of this particular answer from those that have tried it, but not had occasion to report publicly their experience.

There are those who are butt-hurt and ear-full from copious and contentious prior discussions on the topic, and I get that. But they don't have to read it, nor take offense at those who want more info on this still-evolving topic.

Now, has anyone been face to face with an MB motorsports or other roller ims bearing, and have something to say about it?

Starter986 I agree with your point mostly. My question was specific to a certain little discussed bearing. There are multiple suppliers of replacement roller type IMS bearings. I don't think that they are all created equal and I was looking for people with specific experience. If you don't have specific experience move past this post and don't respond your not adding anything to this conversation that is useful. I will eat my words if you can provide me with specific details from a simple forum esearch that answers my specific question.

A simple search for "MB Motorsports" would among other threads give you:

Http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/56810-ims-replaced-roller-bearing.html.

Some topics like IMS and Oil have had extensive discussions and sometimes elicit rabid responses. You may learn more from looking at those threads instead of rehashing the same-old same-old questions. Also, you get insight from some long gone members that are no longer here.

Can't find what you are looking for, sure ask. Might be a good idea to put in your post that you have searched. Its something that virtually everyone here has gone through

Happy New Year :cheers:

JayG, I appreciate you pointing me to this thread.

I had already been through this thread a few times before and I just went through it a couple of more times. The single mention of MB Motorsport in this thread is post #59 from Particlewave. I think I understand now that member "Porsche-land" who argues against Jake must represent MB Motorsports even though no place does he state that. I have no idea how I could have known that from from where I'm starting? Thank you for pointing me there.

Should I assume that the service life of an MB Motorsport IMS bearing should be 40k miles? opinions?

Porsche-land is MB Motorsports

You might want to call them and ask

I e-mailed MB and the recommend replacing their bearing every 40k miles.