Hi guys,
I'm new here. We are the proud new owners of an 8th gen 2006 Civic LX. The wheel bearing(s) was making alot of noise on the front drivers side when I bought it. I ordered the only front wheel bearing that was listed at Advance Auto and today when I took it apart I realized that there are actually two different types of bearings in the hub...one inner sealed bearing (which has alot of play) and the other is a two race/caged bearing design (almost like a trailer hub). It's impossible to make any assessment on the condition of the outer caged bearing because you have to take it apart just to see it. The bearing they sell at the auto parts stores are the inner sealed bearing and there's no mention anywhere about the outer hub bearing....even on the Honda OEM sites that I visited.

So, my question is, are people changing both bearings (and races) while they are in there or does the outer bearing rarely have wear issues? If so, where are you finding the outer bearing and races? Even the seal seems hard to come across.

At this point, the inner bearing (bad) and race (looks decent) are still in the hub (because I don't want to damage them but everything else was removed pretty easily with a slide hammer puller. I think the inner race has to come out to remove the inner bearing because it looks like a fixed lip on the inner side of the hub that the sealed bearing rests against. Please let me know if I'm wrong here.

Thanks in advance for the info.