[Jeff Alton]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

To confuse it more, the 1999 and early 2000 996 had a double row bearing that has more load carrying capacity and a much lower failure rate. The 1999 was exempt from the IMS bearing class action lawsuit. 986 Boxsters appear to have a much lower failure rate, it is frequently thought that having the same bottom end as the 996 but lower HP output does not stress the engine as much.

Worth noting, and hidden in that article - the LN Bearing is not a "lifetime" bearing. They warranty for between 50,000 and 60,000 miles. The failures of LN bearings I've usually seen attributed to foreign particles that were already present in the engine from a failing IMS, which is of course nearly impossible to refute.

As an engineer, what SHOULD happen is to test an original bearing in a similar environment to failure, test the LN product in an identical manner to failure, then compare the results. It wouldn't be difficult to set up, and I strongly question why they have not done so. Or maybe they have, but the results were not favorable?

This is one of the best posts about the IMSB issue I have read on the internet.

cheers