I will put it like this: There is in fact several ways of determing wether the bearing is damaged. With the use of acoustics detection methods this "Judder" can be traced and planned to be maintined. Still acoustics is considered a late stage detection method. In fact the damage has appeared long ago in the oil. By using microscope photographing of oilsamples x500 on 0,8 micron milliporefilters it is possible to predict a damage long before it has happened. It is in this way possible to detect early stages of varnish presens in the lub wich indicates it's time for action. This is how ever only a way of detecting and not a solution to the wearproblem. When you look for the right solution, just keep in mind, the clearings within the bearings is endeed quite small on the side of wich the payload is working. The luboil can be as thin as 52 atoms, and the density of the oil can be very high,(density near light metal) so keep it clean. A new oil in standard NAS1638 Class 8 will contain sufficient particlenumbers wich will after a while change the chemical substance of the lub and then the stucture of the metal surface in the bearing. So even if you deside to change the oil when it's time, be sure the new oil is clean. All structural damages in metalsurfaces of bearings has a pre- stadium wich happens in the luboil. I'll mention a practical example:The company Kemostaal had problems with some roller bearings, breakdown every 850 h. The bearings was changed to ceramic bearings, the breakdown was moved to every 1150 h. Then we did a research/study with the first rollerbearings. Supercleaning of the oil was performed while the compressors was running. The result was an increase of the operatingtime to three years and still running.