Dave - my VA bearing looks broadly similar to the above one but the disc at the base of the thrust pad is black. Underneath this disc is a pair of further discs made of 2 different, soft materials. The lower one butts up against the base of the turntable chassis making the whole assembly very rigid - to fit it means pushing down firmly (but carefully!) on the main body of the bearing whilst tightening the 3 locating bolts.

The first thing that struck me about the sound of the 1210 with the new bearing fitted was how quiet background noise is - it was quiet to start with but now even more so. A small change in the sound of the system has taken place since leaving the TT running overnight, for the better I should add. The jury's out as to whether I prefer the sound of it now but I've got pretty much all day tomorrow with the house to myself so can do some extended listening at decent volume.