[tonythetarga]

Check over in the Boxster / Cayman forum. There have been discussions about the bearing and that, after all the bearings that have been removed and inspected, no grease has ever been found inside the bearing...just motor oil. The bearing wear varies but with no grease it is just a matter of time. The bearing is supposed to be sealed. If you remove the seal to inspect, aren't you damaging the seal? I just replaced my IMS bearing after almost 68k. The seal looked great...but after I removed it oil started to slowly leak out. I removed the seal, damaging it in the process by the way, and all that was inside was oil. The bearing rolled without noise and the balls were nice and shiny with no pitting or damage but it was just a matter of time before it wore down enough to cause a problem. I agree with JFP, you are 90% there. For the definitive answer, just replace the bearing and inspect the old one. You will confirm you did the right thing when you find no grease in the bearing.