I figured I would make a post about my experience with Infiniti Maintenance Advantage front wheel bearings. I ordered a set from Z1 when trying to alleviate a vibration issue I was having. Anyways had them install with new OEM hardware, torqued to spec. Drive it on the highway and hear loud humming coming from the front. Long story short, had defective wheel bearings out of the box...... I got units: D0202-EJ70KNW which are for AWD Infiniti models. These wheel bearings cost around half the price of the original OEM units, first red flag. Second red flag, they are made in China, whereas the OEM units for me: 40202-EJ70B are made in Japan. Not saying everything made in China is junk, but these clearly are. Third these don't have any identifying marks who makes the bearing itself, probably some no name company. After replacing the front units with another "Value Advantage" wheel bearing assembly and having humming coming from both, I just ordered the OEM units as I know those won't be like this garbage. There is a reason the OEM units cost double or triple the price, they are of superior fit, function and quality. I would expect this level of garbage from aftermarket parts, not a product which comes in a box with Nissan's name plastered all over it. My original OEM wheel bearings never made any humming noises even with all the mileage on them and crappy roads here. I figured I would warn others of these junk bearings to save them the trouble. I submitted a review of these on Z1, and who knows if they will even publish my honest review of these. I believe a consumer has every right to share their opinion on a product, especially if its bad. My wheel bearings came from Z1 and then from another source, each from different vendors yet produced a similar defect of annoying humming. I personally wouldn't bother with anything from "Value Advantage" after this, true OEM for me, too many headaches.

*Z1 never published my review, guess they don't like bad reviews of products on their site...

 

Here are some photo comparisons. The original OEM ones use this seal that is almost like a flat disk around the exterior, the surface finish on the mating surfaces is also a lot smoother. The splines look to be very well made as well. The NVA one uses an internal seal, not sure what benefit the OEM "wiper" style seal has over this, I am sure there is a reason. Just some food for thought.

OEM seal: https://imgur.com/JOXWInW

OEM box: https://imgur.com/1hFjQtI

OEM Splines: https://imgur.com/pFknaAx

OEM Top: https://imgur.com/cKKapOd


NVA box: https://imgur.com/2Sh2NuE

NVA Top: https://imgur.com/h2xjUSx

NVA Splines: https://imgur.com/vi6PiWj

 

Same goes for the Infiniti Maintenance Advantage brake rotors.

 

Bad experience with them I take it? This was my second value advantage product and last. Not sure how they can claim these components are equivalent to OEM.

 

Yup, the hats and the vented portion rusted in no time, and they thinned-out long before the pads were worn out.

 

Wow. Hopefully this will help others to avoid these bootleg products.

 

Update to this post, unsurprisingly using the new OEM front units (40202-EJ70B) fixed the issue. The annoying and obnoxious humming is gone!

Those Value Advantage bearings were atrocious as even from a different vendor they had the same bearing defect.