I've got a '60 LeSabre Coupe that I bought of the Las Vegas CL back in March. I really like the look of the Supreme 5 spoke with a reverse offset. The Buick still runs ball bearings up front. Don't know if there is a roller bearing swap available. Are the reverse wheels gonna chew up my bearings? What about extra stress on the other front end components? I've heard it a million times, but never actually talked to someone who had bearing failure happen to them because of reverse wheels. Should I be concerned?
Those ball bearings don't hold grease too well and need to be adjusted/re-packed more then rollers. I'm not sure about Buick, but Chevy you just replaced the hub with one up to '68 (drum of course)....just used the whole thing from the nut in. Reason I did it on all my X frame cars was mainly price, the rollers were a fraction of the price.
The only thing I can say is if you do it service them often. In 1960 the typical American car did not have disc brakes. When they came along a different stringer grease came with them and that's what I would use. That stuff sticks to bearings not like old chassis grease. Today there maybe others better too. I drive a 1956 car with no self adjusting brakes and a lot of folks forget what real maintenance is. People today don't know what a zerk fitting or what to do with it....good luck.
I was running seriously offset rims on the stock front bearings, and had one failure after approximately 20 years and a lot of miles. I switched to synthetic grease and that solved the problem for the next 20 years. I would have preferred to switch to roller bearings, but ended up changing front ends. I am going back to the 55 axle, and am going to convert to disks and roller bearings, so when the moment comes, I will be doing some research.
Frequent maintenance, and they should be fine....but if not, you should be able to catch it with frequent maintenance. I ran 8" wheels on the front of my truck for years with ball bearings, didn't notice any problems. Lots more offset than stock.
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