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Quality Of Mini Spares Rubber Parts


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#1 PaulColeman

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Posted 06 July 2014 - 09:26 PM

I restored a 1976 Mini 1000 for my daughter and I bought virtually every spare part from Mini Spares. I got the car MOTd in April and most of the stuff that I bought is probably no older than a year. Doing some work on it today I noticed that one of the rubber bushes on the end of the top front suspension arm had perished and was cracked. As I moved around the car I found that virtually every bit of rubber I have replaced is perishing. These are all new parts and they all need replacing again. I'm probably going to have to drop the front and rear subframes to do these jobs more easily.

 

Has anybody had similar problems with rubber parts from Mini Spares? I'm mightily p**sed off as this is a lot of work that I shouldn't have to do. I'm going to contact them and I've got one of the bits to send them back to see what they say. Of course they could just send me a new bit of rubber but it's the time and effort to fit it!!

 

Cheers, Paul.



#2 gazza82

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Posted 06 July 2014 - 09:48 PM

It's not just MiniSpares ... I've lost count of the number if balljoints that perish insude 12 months ... I had a Pug 206 droplink that lasted less than 3 weeks!!!

#3 Tomm

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Posted 06 July 2014 - 09:53 PM

As above it's not only mini spares, I've had it on drop links on multiple vehicles that have only been a mater of months old.

They're an MOT requirement now and it seems as though they are made exceptionally poorly just to give us another thing to replace come MOT time.

There was someone with a build thread on here who had fitted some joint which had a rubber gaiter, and by the time they had got the car complete and on the road the rubber gaiters had split and needed replacing once again.

Edit

Simon of minispares is a trading member on here, I have dealt with him in the past and he is an exceptional chap to deal with, it may be worth contacting him and seeing what he can do. He certainly takes care of TMF members.

Edited by tomm, 06 July 2014 - 09:54 PM.


#4 bloke

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Posted 06 July 2014 - 09:54 PM

Yep, same here. Replaced steering joints less than a month ago, and knuckle joints approximately 2 weeks before that, and looked at them a few days ago to find that they had rotted away completely. 

 

It's very annoying, I'm now having to source parts as best I can from original manufacturers, and new old stock, to do the job properly. 

 

It is becoming a ritual just before the MOT, replacing all the rubber parts that have perished. 

 

I thought it was just me, or maybe something I was doing, such as getting grease on the rubber, but the last lot I did I was extremely careful. 

 

Let me know how you get on. Yours, Bloke.



#5 grck1

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Posted 06 July 2014 - 09:57 PM

agree with that. after market rubber parts do seem lower quality. changed a cv 4 months ago and its failed to the point of grease escaping. it started going within a month to be honest. was part of a cv kit. have mentioned it to the shop i got it from and they were happy to replace it free with on from a different supplier and said will check the next batch kits

 

yet the rubber covers on the ball joints are genuine rover and are in brill condition considering there age

 

it is a mite annoying



#6 robminibcy

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Posted 06 July 2014 - 10:10 PM

yep! Same story here, paid top money to get so called genuine parts and they need doing again. Even pedal rubbers are down to metal after 5k miles.



#7 sonikk4

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Posted 06 July 2014 - 10:25 PM

Without this turning into a witch hunt etc its always best to contact the place you bought the items from first rather than going straight to keyboard.

 

This applies to any product for any vehicle we may work on. Its only if you don't get a suitable answer then its fair to air your grievance.

 

I do know that Simon has been looking into issues with various rubber parts to see what can be done if anything.



#8 6joshh6

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Posted 06 July 2014 - 10:37 PM

I was very disappointed with the quality of Minispares track rod ends, I fitted them to replace some cheap no name parts a previous owner had fitted and 10 months later the car failed its MOT due to the rubber being degraded and the ball joint itself having around 1mm of lateral play. Up until this point I was looking at replacing the steering rack since I couldn't find the source of the play in the steering, and throughout I'd assumed it couldn't be the track rod ends as at the time it was unthinkable that they would have worn out in such a short amount of time. I also had a pedal rubber from Minispares fail within a week of putting it on (although to be fair, I have had similarly disappointing results from moss pedal rubbers). Minisport knuckle joint rubbers failed after 18 months but nothing has come close to the Minispares track rod ends. I have since checked all the rubber parts I have fitted but fortunately they seem to be all right for now, touch wood. 



#9 mab01uk

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Posted 06 July 2014 - 10:38 PM

Been discussed at length on the Mk1 forum recently:

http://mk1-forum.net....php?f=5&t=9865

 

Quality rubber parts like CV boots are available for Mini's in Japan but in the UK most owners buy on price......the Japanese had made them because the quality of rubber gaiters etc from the UK had got steadily worse since the Rover mass production orders for OEM parts ended and old stock ran out. A few people will be happy to pay a premium for a genuine quality part, but when another firm see that someone is selling a rubber boot for £30 they up the price of their crap imported Chinese rubber boot and sell loads at a premium, the real premium ones then get a bad name & most people go back to buying the cheap bargain Chinese ones that perish in a year.....


The people supplying Minispares will say their stuff is perfect but as it never shows up as a problem until several months later it is obviously harder to sort out problems for disappointed customers with no alternative supply.
Minispares try to source rubber parts that will last, but as with anything with Minis its difficult to justify a product that's going to cost three or fours times more than an identical looking product sold elsewhere and ordered in very low volumes (for the car industry).

Edited by mab01uk, 06 July 2014 - 10:55 PM.


#10 PaulColeman

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Posted 07 July 2014 - 08:06 AM

Without this turning into a witch hunt etc its always best to contact the place you bought the items from first rather than going straight to keyboard.

 

This applies to any product for any vehicle we may work on. Its only if you don't get a suitable answer then its fair to air your grievance.

 

I do know that Simon has been looking into issues with various rubber parts to see what can be done if anything.

Yes that's a fair point Neil and I will contact them but I wanted to know beforehand if it was just me or whether this problem is endemic with Mini spares in general from all suppliers. I'm not really bothered about a supplier offering to replace a rubber part which probably cost them 10p for another sub standard part as the amount of labour involved in changing these things is huge. Having had a quick look at other rubber parts on the car I've also noticed the tie rod end rubber has split and perished, the bump stop rubber is coming away from the metal backing plate and the rear suspension mountings are perishing.

 

I'm happy to pay extra for better quality but it's finding that better quality which is the difficult bit.

 

Cheers, Paul (angry of Bedford).



#11 The Matt

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Posted 07 July 2014 - 08:13 AM

It's an interesting point you've raised though, as I've replaced the track rod ends on my girlfriend's 307 last year.  Now the gaiters on that are split too.  I wonder whether there's a major problem with rubber parts now generally?

 

I've not noticed anything on the Mini as being an issue (yet) but it's hardly on the road really.



#12 Carlos W

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Posted 07 July 2014 - 10:07 AM

I wonder if synthetic rubber isn't as good as that made from rubber plants?

 

Or maybe I'm talking rubbish



#13 Chance

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Posted 07 July 2014 - 10:39 AM

Changed drop links on our family zafira a year ago

Really cheap parts used...the rubber was more like thin plastic than actual rubber

But they have lasted and gone through the MOT with no obvious signs of ripping or whatever

My track rod ends...knuckles etc on the mini...all from minispares haven't ripped either...they have been on for a good 2years

It has been standing for a while so I will check and see if they have perished in that time

#14 PaulColeman

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Posted 07 July 2014 - 05:19 PM

I spoke to Mini Sport today about my rubber suspension doughnuts. The nut came off of one of them and the front cone came out and is now at an angle and I can't free it. Anyway that's another story... http://www.theminifo...t-is-knackered/

 

Whilst I was on the phone I asked him if he'd ever had trouble with rubber parts. He said they went through a phase with suspension parts and track rod ends where it didn't matter who they sourced them from they perished within a short time. He put it down to a bad batch of rubber and I suspect he could well be right. I'm guessing that whoever you buy the majority of parts from unless it's OEM stuff then if you trace the source back far enough it all comes from the same place, somewhere in the Far East.

 

As far as he's aware they don't have any issues with the dust seals for the suspension arms - my biggest problem. I can live with replacing the track rod end gaiters but the suspension arms are a lot more work.

 

Paul.



#15 Stevie W

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Posted 07 July 2014 - 08:24 PM

Hi Paul,

As others have said, it appears to be a widespread problem with these components.

I'm half-way through replacing top/bottom swivel joint dust caps on both sides of the car and the dust seals on both top arms and rear radius arms.

All a bit of a pig to do, but because the cars not been together long, at least everything comes to bits easily!!!

But yes, I know how you feel, it can be frustrating!

Cheers, Steve.

Edited by Stevie W, 07 July 2014 - 08:25 PM.





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