Hub Swap
 

We've got a 2004 SS that's due for new hubs and tires. The chrome wheels have seen better days too. One has corroded to the point where it loses enough air that it has to be topped off every other day or two. Therefore, we've been keeping an eye out for some wheels for it. It's really my wife's car and she likes the look of many of the stock wheels that have come out on other Chevy products, such as some of the ones on Camaro's. Of course, the bolt patterns are different. BUT, the 2004-18 Impala's have 5x120 hubs. Has anyone checked into swapping 2000-5 Monte hubs with 2018 Impala hubs...?

Dont think it will work.. Ours are 5x115 I believe.

Ohhhhh. I didnt quite catch that part. Yea, im not much help then.

Update...

I stopped by AutoZone and talked an employee into pulling a 6th gen Monte Carlo SS CV axle shaft and a 9th gen Impala hub assembly. The splines DO NOT fit.

Also, the wheel speed sensor has been removed from the 9th gen Impala hub assembly. From what I understand, the hub still has a tone ring included in its design, but the pickup sensor is now mounted in the knuckle assembly instead. Which, makes a ton of sense considering how notoriously bad those sensors are on the older model vehicles.

I find this a funny statement.... My experience with early ABS was on 93/94 Grand Ams and a Buick Century. At least for the front wheels, they used a small external sensor that bolts to the knuckle to read a spline on the CV half shaft. If the hub or ABS sensor failed, you replace them independent of each other. It is modern ABS vehicles that integrated the two and now sound like they went back to the old school design.

Yeah. I think they realized combining them into the wheel-bearing was a mistake. I don't know exactly where the flaw is, but the sensors in the aftermarket units don't even last two years. That's probably why you can't find them with lifetime warranties in the auto parts stores. I'll probably just bite the bullet and go to the dealership, or order AC Delco from RockAuto, for the next set I put on.

I beg to differ on that. I used to bargain shop the hub assemblies and learned, you do that and just past warranty, you're doing it again.

I have had a LOT of luck with Timken hub assemblies. I have put them on Grand Ams, Impalas, Grand Prixs and Montes (including my Monte) and I've never had to do them a second time. Put LOTS of miles on those cars. Timken is not the cheapest, but not the most expensive. I think with a coupon code, I can get them from RockAuto for ball park $100 shipped to my door. If you haven't used Timken, I highly recommend them.

Thanks for the info. Our car only has a little over 90,000 miles on it. I only replaced the originals because the traction control kept going off every time we backed up and started forward. There was nothing wrong with the bearings or hubs. It was just the sensor. The set I put on were Duralast from AutoZone with a 1-year warranty. They lasted about 2 1/2 years before they started doing the same thing.

I've got a couple of friends who work for AutoZone. One of them has a 2004 Grand Prix GXP. He told me he had to replace his front hubs about every year to year and a half after he replaced the factory ones, for the same reason as me. Then, he broke down and went to the dealer for a factory set and they've lasted something like 5 years.

There isn't a real Duralast company that actually manufactures anything. It's is just store-branding by the large companies. From what I understand ALL their bearings are Timkin, ALL their belts are Dayco, ALL their batteries are Johnson-Control, etc... They just buy the house-branded ones from those factories in mass quantities and under contract and that allows them to knock off a few bucks. Of course, I COULD always be wrong. :rolleyes:

So, I have used Timken bearing assembly hubs on lots of cars (actual Timken assemblies in an actual Timken box). Never had an issue with the bearings and never an issue with the ABS sensors. I have yet to replace any Timken bearing hub assembly I installed on a car.

Now... You are correct, there is no true "Duralast" company. That is the AutoZone "store brand". Most likely it is a re-branded something else. The problem you have is it "might" be Timken one day and it "might" be some other brand another day. It's a mystery box, you will never know 100% what is really in the box.
Let's say it is manufactured by Timken and put in a Duralast box. Another issue you don't know, is it built the same quality, same specs and same standards as a Timken branded hub assembly? Not in all cases, but in some cases, because of a demand to reduce price on a product put in a "generic" box, the manufacture may cut corners resulting in a lesser quality product (and what do they need to worry about, it's not their name on the box anyways).

Sadly, most AC Delco parts are the same story. Good example, spark plugs. I have pulled factory original spark plugs that say "AC Delco" on the ceramic, but engraved/stamped on the metal is "NGK". They are nothing more then re-branded NGK plugs.

Bottom line, if you want Timken, then buy Timken. Otherwise, if it's Duralast, it's just a mystery box.

Also, what your friend is saying about having to change his bearing assemblies ever 1-1.5 years, that is why I switched to Timken and I have never looked back since.