Ok guys, help me understand the differences between these two beams, and what to look for on my now replaced beam.

I've never really read up on beams, but here goes the situation. The yellow beam is the original from my 306 HDi Dturbo. After 192,000 miles the drivers side wheel had reached a point whereby it was rubbing the arch liner pretty bad on left hand bends. Imagine the wheels, stationary, looked like this from behind the car: |\

Firstly, what is wrong with my old beam, what am i looking for on stripdown? I would hazard a guess it's a wheel bearing, since it had a low pitched, justabout audible drone. Is it fit for the scrap heap or potentially refurbishable? How can I tell?

Here are the two beams side by side:



The black beam is removed from a T plate HDi Meridian that I scrapped. The stripes on the red bars are purple on the black beam, and white on the yellow beam. Does this signify anything in particular?

I'm guessing different sized torsion bars for a start, but i'm all ears. Is the yellow beam worth saving if it can be saved, worth putting back on?

At the moment, beam mounts and a pair of dampers with over 100K less on the clock make things a bit more settled.

Thanks

Simon

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I'm Si btw

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