Honda Civic crash at Thunderbolt - post mortem

[fasthonda]

good morning, gene!

the hub appears to be cast in one part, and then machined, and then the bearing is pressed in (i have a brand new hub/bearing assy here -- you can see a slight purple discoloration where the hub was probably heated when the bearing was pressed in, in order to make that job easier);  the area where the hub casting failed is definitely radiused;  i'd say about 1/4" radius...    i buy the bearing and hub as a complete assembly, ready to install;  i did not purchase it at a honda dealership, but i believe it is a good quality part;  it is packaged 'National Hub and Bearing', and is marked 'Federal Mogul', made in USA (michigan).

here are two pictures of the brand new hub/bearing assembly (i put it on the car so that i could limp it out of the trailer and down to the garage;  now i have the entire trailing arm pretty much stripped of everything!):





i have replaced the drivers side rear hub/bearing twice, and the passenger side once.  the typical symptoms i have seen have been a 'growly' noise when cornering hard, and then when i check it by lifting and rocking the wheel, there is typically some visible play (1/16" or so).  that is when i disassemble and remove the entire hub/bearing, clean the spindle, and reinstall a fresh assembly.  Not so, this time!  everything was fine and perfect right up til BANG!  CRASH!

hope that helps answer some of your questions!

todd