WELCOME TO Hongkong NKF Machinery Co.,Limited. English | Spanish

Hi, is 9 indeed the highest class on the ABEC scale? I can't find such an information on the Websites listed as References and I know that there are shops which sells so called ABEC 11 bearings. Also the german wikipedia mentions the ABEC class 11.

I bought a set of "ABEC 11" bearings, lately. And had to note, that they were just ABEC 9 bearings. I heard from similar issues on the usenet. But in any case "ABEC 11" isn't a brand name. It pretends to be a standard, but it seems to be a standard which doesn't exists or which exists only in theory. -- Wall unit 06:13, 4 September 2006 (UTC).Hi I've been selling ball and roller bearings for almost 10 years now and I can tell you that there is indeed no such thing as a ball bearing with ABEC 11 tolerances. ABEC 9 is the highest the scale goes. In order to conform to certain ABEC tolerances a bearing mus meet certain requirements for inner and outer ring tolerances compared to the standard (measured in hundredths or thousandths of an inch) and radial runout. If someone tries to sell you an ABEC 11 bearing ask them what it means.

I believe the confusion lies in the fact that there is a skateboard wheel co. called ABEC 11. This is a high end wheel company that many professionals refer to as the best. They may have exceeded the rating as a way for a clever name but that is speculation.Before the next person goes and changes the table to include the fictitious Abec 11, please read the articles from the cited sources.

ABEC from a precision standpoint refers to the Annular Bearing Engineering Committee (ABEC) of the American Bearing Manufacturers Association (ABMA). ABEC precision levels do indeed stop at level 9 (there is no ABEC 11 precision level). Any reference to ABEC 11 does not refer to an official precision or performance standard.I have noticed two contradictions in the paragraphs of this article. 

In the first paragraph, it says that higher ABEC rating "contribute to higher speed capability. However, the ABEC rating does not specify many other critical factors, such as smoothness of the rolling" Then in the third paragraph, there is a statement: "High ABEC rated bearings allow optimal performance of critical applications requiring very high RPM and smooth operation. High ABEC rated bearings do not make equipment go faster however" The contradictions being that in paragraph 1 it is stated that higher ABEC rating results in higher speed capability, then in paragraph 3, it is stated that high ABEC ratings do not make equipment go faster. Also in paragraph 1, it is stated that ABEC rating does not specify smoothness, then in paragraph 3, it is stated that high ABEC bearings are used in applications requiring smooth rolling.