crank walking

i hear that 2g DSMs have a problem with "walking" crankshaft. i'm fairly sure i know what it is and what it's symptoms are and that it happens around the 40k-70k mile range on the engine.

what i want to know is that if you replace the crank and bearings, are they good for the rest of the life of the car, or will it eventually go bad again?

also, is it only the bearings going bad that cause this problem? is there an easy way to check cars (that i might potentially buy) for this problem by looking directly at the part or something?

To check if a car is starting to crankwalk, check the shaft play on the end of the crank to see if it is with factory specs.