My two cents:
I do ALL my own work so I looked at sourcing a water pump last December as mine had a bearing failure at 58K. Upon disassembly, I found no broken impeller parts, just a bearing failure.
I steered away from metal impellers all together. Here's why. WHEN the bearing fails, the impeller will contact your engine case and damage it like a grinder contacting the surface. This may distort the case enough to reduce fluid flow.
After looking around, I got my my local auto parts store to sell me a rebuilt one, with a plastic impeller for....$110 exchange! :dance:
They priced matched an ePray quote, believe it or not. The pump I received was rebuilt locally and looked every bit Porsche OEM. Perhaps even the new bearing was improved? We will see.
It came with a paper gasket, I applied a quality water pump gasket sealant and it actually worked fine. I had to change the pump when it was about 15 degrees outside. Way too cold to work on any vehicle. By far the easiest water pump replacement I have ever done. Oh, and I used Prestone Extended Life coolant
and will do a full change out every year.
So far, I have driven about 2500 miles and no issues. I will keep an ear open for bearing failure and be glad I went the route I did. Hope this helps.
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