Product review (5 stars): Bearing kit --fixed our leak and the machine is quiet again!  We did it ourselves - did not buy the bearing tool
This bearing kit was exactly what we needed.  Thank you to all of you who posted detailed reviews and installation information.  Based on reviews on other sites, I'd concluded that it was our drain pump that was leaking so I ordered that first.  Once I found and read through these reviews of the bearing kit, though, I realized that this was our issue (so we've returned the pump).  We too had a clay colored ring on the floor below the washer and a leak which had gotten progressively worse (to the point where we could see water running on the floor during the wash cycle).  We also had the terrible jet engine noise during the spin cycle but I guess we'd just gotten used to it because it had been going on for a while (the noise started long before the leak became obvious).  We have decent tools and are fairly adventurous on repairs in spite of our lack of experience so we decided to install the kit without purchasing the tool.  Watching the many videos on how to take apart the Whirlpool Cabrio was particularly helpful since the videos helped us get a sense of how much effort was needed to separate and lift the inner tub out and to pound out the old bearings and drive shaft.  We'd have been very reluctant to exert the amount of effort needed to get the bearings out had we not watched the videos.  If your inner (wash) tub sticks the first time you try to take it out, look for the video which shows how to use a car jack and a 21.5 inch 2x4 to put enough pressure on inside of the top of the tub to help it "lift" itself out.  We put towels over the 2x4 (no damage to the tub) and our Honda Pilot jack worked beautifully.

It really was not too hard to get the bearings to go in evenly using a rubber mallet.  It was, however, helpful to have two people installing the bearings.  My husband could exert more pressure to get the drive shaft and bearings into place and it was just helpful to have two sets of hands to move pieces around and install them.

You will need to take apart your washer to make this repair so expect to do some serious cleaning while you've got it apart.  I found six quarters in the sump area of the outer tub but no foreign objects other than lint in the filter area.  The hoses all needed cleaning and the exterior of the wash tub and the interior of the external tub needed serious scrubbing.

As with many of the others, we are doubtful that this repair will last forever.  The design of the washer, and specifically the drive shaft, bearings, and seal just lends itself to having water seep in this area and rust it out.  We really long for a washer, large capacity, without an agitator but with water level controls which would allow our clothes to actually be washed in water rather than mostly sitting on top of the water.  Surely the fact that we have to wash things more than once and use pre-soak and extra rinse on every load wipes out whatever water savings the manufacturer might have imagined with the current design.  I did look at washers briefly during this repair cycle (in case the washer was DNR) but it seems to be just more of the same.  Buy the kit... you can do this repair yourself!