Which Brand Center Support Bearing To Buy?

[GOT8SPD]

Ditto as the title says....

I'm replacing a ton of stuff on my e30, tranny mounts, motor mounts, guibo, etc...after inspecting under the car after taking a bunch of stuff off, I noticed that I'm going to have to replace the CSB as well.

Since I'm taking the drive shaft out to replace the guibo, I want to go have the drive shaft also rebuilt and balanced as other threads have said that a bad joint in the driveshaft will tear up a CSB just like tranny mounts and motor mounts.

This job originally was just to replace the guibo, but while I'm there, I want to do the other crap.

OE BMW Center Support Bearing is $185ish...all the aftermarket ones are MUCH lower in price range...

$40 for Febi

$15-$18 for Rein, URO, VAICO...

I don't want to buy OE BMW if i don't have to, but if that's the best one, then I'll buy it.

I had issues before buying a cheap chinese wheel bearing for the rear, and it only lasted 6 months. I put in a OE FAG bearing and my problems were solved.

[SkiFree]

Febi's are great, have been using them after finding the Rein/Uro's fail many many times (their bearing is fine, the rubber is the issue).

[efficient]

Febi +1

[GOT8SPD]

Febi's are great, have been using them after finding the Rein/Uro's fail many many times (their bearing is fine, the rubber is the issue).

ugh...no one likes cheap rubber...

[JGood]

Another vote for Febi.

OE cost is ridiculous, URO quality is ridiculous.

[GOT8SPD]

THANKS GUYS! I'm gonna order a Febi and hopefully drop off my drive shaft to have it rebuilt.

[JGood]

There's only a few shops that will rebuild e30 drive shafts, your local random driveshaft shop probably won't be able to (at least not correctly). They don't use clips to hold in the u-joints, they are staked/crimped. So although you can disassemble them and install new u-joints, there are no grooves to install the clips that hold them in place, which is what typical driveshaft shops do. Some people have cut grooves so that they can then use clips, but I'm pretty sure that's not recommended.

You could check out www.driveshaftspecialist.com

In all honesty, if you don't feel excessive notchiness in the joints, I'd probably just throw the driveshaft back in as-is.

[GOT8SPD]

The joints on my drive shaft SEEMS to not have too much play actually. If the driveshaft joint moves "up and down" and "side to side", it does up and down well, but the side to side movement seems limited? This is the best way I can describe it...

The center joint seems OK.

[JGood]

You're not so much looking for play as you are 'notchiness". As you move the joint through it's range of motion, does it get stiffer in a certain area? If there is actual play where you can move the joint in a direction other then what it's supposed to, then no, that's not good either.

The driveshaft barely moves at all, so the range of motion isn't important.