Photo: Front Wheel Bearings
 

Both hubs rotated silky smooth without play. The left and right outers are shown. The left had inscriptions indicating made in Germany, the right had no inscriptions. I assume the right had been replaced. There is no visible damage to the surfaces, both appear smooth. Why the color difference? Repack or replace?

might as well replace, they are cheap anyway. new > repacked

I don't know why you have a funny color on the one bearing. Pelican sells the inner and outer bearings for $16.50 for both. For that price, I would replace them so I know what is in there and how many miles are on them. If you don't want to have the car apart for a couple of weeks, I would repack the bearings, and reinstall them, but plan on replacing them during my next brake job. Despite the discoloration, If they are not pitted or grooved, and the races are not pitted or grooved, they should hold up for another 10-20K miles.

der Mond: This post is probably to late to help you, but when a front bearing reaches replacement stage you will see tiny flecks of shiny metal stuck in the grease between rollers. No flecks? Re-pack them and put in new seals...
Pete

Getitng my bearings...
 

Pete,
Thanks - after thorough cleaning I see some signs of wear on races that make me lean towards replacement. I've been advised that with careful heating of the hubs and careful tapping with a drift, the old races should come out OK. Also, that with careful heating of the hubs and freezing the new races, they should drop in. Would you add anything?
Dennis

Dennis,
We have a bit of a saying in the vacuum equipment industry. If you have to ask....replace it!

Ron

Thanks, Ron - have you ever done it yourself?

Dennis: You have the procedure exactly right. You don't need much heat to remove the old races, just keep going about 180 degrees with the punch (alternate position) during removal. To install you should have a race driver set - it makes it much easier. Also, having the new races in the freezer (or where you live - on the back porch :) ) for a while helps!
Pete

Dennis,
Yes, I've done it a couple of times. No big deal. Did the rears once. I won't be doing that again.

Ron

Pete,
What size drivers will I need to do front inners and outers? I'd like to see if I can rent or borrow some...

They come as a generic set, I think that I've seen them at Pep Boys.
Pete

...maybe Sears...
Pete

Dennis,
Something about the size of a pencil, let's say 5 - 6 mm.
Ron

Ron - I think you may be describing drift punches. I'll use one to tap the races out starting with the recesses in the hub. A driver is the same OD as the bearing race and presses it in straight down all around at once.
Pete - You've convinced me. My local CarQuest parts store that is handling my Cardone caliper reman order has several sets. I guess I may as well get the set that goes up to one-ton truck bearings since I'm spending the money anyway. Should I grease the back side of the race before dropping it in? By the time I finish getting outfitted for the Porsche I'll be able to handle a lot of stuff on my other vehicles as well. At least that's what I'm telling my wife. How do you guys that live where it never reaches -60F. ever get your races shrunk enough to install? ;)

When I did mine I waited till the wife wasn't home and popped my rotors in our brand new oven at 180 for about 20 minutes. I had the races in the freezer over night. The one thing I did do was dress the area where I pounded out the old races. Although i barely grabbed the shoulder I did some small damage to the shoulder of the rotor with the punch. A small steel drift cleaned them up nice. Then I put my baked rotor on my basement floor in a towel and worked fast. It was not a fun job but I did get it done.