30203 wheel bearings locally?

“30203” only specifies the type and size of the bearing; there should be additional markings on the bearing to indicate tolerance or class, as well as special features like seals, etc. Sometimes those markings are hard to find or see, but if you have the old bearings removed a bearing supply house should be able to decode and match. I seem to remember the OEM bearings having an “X” designator, which would indicate corrosion-resistant steel used for the bearing—but I don’t have an old bearing here to verify that. A very brief explanation of class and other designators can be found here.

Last time I checked on these at my local bearing house they could not supply a bearing with matching designations, so I ended up ordering through my dealer. Ordered on a Tuesday, shipped from BMW’s USA warehouse and arrived for me to pick up on Friday of that same week.

Best,
DeVern

Trusted vendor

I agree with DeVern and others: it can sometimes be difficult to ensure that you are purchasing bearings with ALL of the specified requirements, though they may look the same. I for one, am certainly not interested in spending an inordinate amount of time cross referencing bearing and parts numbers. In the end, that 'costs' more than a small shipping fee and short wait for the parts.

It seems a small price to pay to order from a trusted BMW supplier (and pay a small shipping fee on top) to know with certainty that you are getting the correct bearing for an application that your life may depend on.

I have recently ordered numerous parts from Bob's BMW, and the parts arrived in one day on both occasions. I also try and batch a few things to help justify the shipping charge.

Certainly, if the bearings had been ordered at the start of this thread, they would already be in hand....just sayin

ECJ

ecjjce said:

I have recently ordered numerous parts from Bob's BMW, and the parts arrived in one day on both occasions. I also try and batch a few things to help justify the shipping charge.

Certainly, if the bearings had been ordered at the start of this thread, they would already be in hand....just sayin

ECJ

Click to expand...

Yes. I ordered from Bob's and Max's a few different orders and they arrived within several days. I have everything I need now, but I like to ask the question for future needs.

Max

I recall, my last orders from Max had free shipping as long as I didn't mind waiting a bit. St.

Further to your question and just as an example. I checked Bob's Microfiche and found that front wheel bearings for a 77-78 R100, where sized 40x17x14. If you take that number to a bearing place they will be able to match it. Please note that these are metric bearings so they might have to order them. Some don't carry many metric bearings or seals. I don't know what year, model etc your bike is. but look it up and you should be able to find what sized wheel bearing fit your bike.

My own example. Last week I needed a new transmission input seal for my K bike. I had put a new one in already, but got it a bit too deep and it was not flush mount, so I had to remove it. On this transmission there is no step inside the hole to limit the travel of the seal, so you can get it too deep and it should be flush mount with the outer lip. You can seat it in a slightly different spot than where the old seal ran, but that is about it. You can't remove a seal and reuse it even if it is brand new. Murphy's law says it will leak. I checked the microfiche and found that I needed a seal size 22x35x7. Called one of my local bearing supply houses and they had five in stock, so I drove down and got one. Put it in being careful to just flush mount and it was a SKF seal. It saved me having to order one from my BMW sources and wait for awhile.

A lot of these types of parts, bearings, seals for example are not made by BMW and are not unique to them. Somebody else makes them to their specs and in a lot of cases they are a common size used in multiple applications. Some you can still only get from BMW, but that is usually the case with anything that is a one off type, as other places just don't stock unique type bearings. Hope this helps you out.

Years ago I would get these bearings at Dixie Bearing Supply on Crump Blvd.. Just go inside; give the counter person the #. They look at their list of bearings. Just a minute, Sir. They go back into the storage area. Their gone for a few minutes; come back and set the bearings down in front of me and start writing the ticket. I picked them up and lnspected them. Usually I had the old ones in hand for comparison. Every thing OK; paid the bill and left. Go home install bearings.