Bearings move the world. Consequently, these products are among the most important elements in all kinds of technical systems. The evaluation of the lifetime of bearing elements is usually carried out based on rolling contact fatigue tests or rotating fatigue tests. For both of these tests, sample preparation requires hot rolled bars. Deutsche Edelstahlwerke GmbH has the equipment to evaluate the steel quality in a billet condition by using ultrasonic immersion technology. While producing the material for customers, the steel is controlled in a bar condition. Using the ultrasonic immersion technology, the billets can be evaluated according to the customer requirements at a very early stage in production, namely before rolling. This enhances the availability of tailor-made steel products for our customers. Continuously cast steel with a casting cross section that is 265 mm² is rolled out to so-called “surfboards” and to steel bars. The surfboards are evaluated by ultrasonic immersion technology (as was presented by Wilke in 2014 at the 10th ASTM International Symposium on Advances in Steel Technologies for Rolling Bearings). An overview of the investigation status will be given in this presentation/study. The steel bars are checked by ultrasonic immersion technology as well as by conventional microscopic measurement methods. Many studies have used conventional measurement methods to analyze the cleanliness properties of bearings that failed in fatigue life tests. They have tried to find a possible correlation between fatigue life test results and the results from conventional cleanliness evaluation methods. However, previous analyses have not led to 100 % satisfactory results. This study represents an attempt to determine a possible correlation between the lifetime of a bearing by means of fatigue life test results and the results of cleanliness tests carried out on the steel bars.