imported post
Ceramic ball bearings still have the steel races. Only the balls are made of the lighter ceramic material. If you want to switch to them, I would do some research first, since by nature, wheel bearings must endure a lot of impact-type loads at a relatively slow RPM (compared to high speed electrical motors for example).
I know that the ceramics can handle higher heat than steels, but the "ceramic" materials with which I am familiar, are somewhat more fragile to shock than steel.
The minimal research that I have done indicates that one major advantage to the ceramic balls is, in being lighter, they tend to "skip/slide" from 20% to 40% less than their steel bretheren during rapid acceleration/deceleration applications, thereby improving the failure ratio in those applications. :waving: