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Classic car owners could unwittingly be buying sub-standard safety-critical parts for their vehicles, as issues over quality and a lack of clarity regarding part numbers increasingly blights the industry.
And, with an MoT for most classic cars over 40 years old no longer a legal requirement, the potential for failing parts to go unnoticed has taken on a new and worrying turn.
Things aren’t always that straightforward from a supplier point of view, however. We spoke to Simon Jackson, General Manager of Mini Spares, about the ever changing goalposts concerning items like rubber parts. “One of the biggest problems is that manufacturers are not allowed to put in the things they used to,” he points out. “As the formulas are changed, are they putting in something that’s going to cause it to degrade that they haven’t though of?
“We have to take some faith in the manufacturers doing testing as they should. However, if there is an issue, we’ll go back to them and we’ll solve it. We can’t brush it under the carpet and say it’s never a problem, but it’s getting to the heart of that problem.”
Simon was also keen to stress the transparency in Mini Spares part numbers, with anything aftermarket carrying an ‘MS’ suffix to distinguish it from genuine. “Put in the original part number for a wheel bearing on our website and it gives you a genuine Timken bearing,” Simon explained. “If you go other sites and put in that part number, you’ll find something at a quarter of the price. Without the knowledge, you’d buy the far cheaper one – why spend £50 when you could spend £14? But then you get an aftermarket part that may or may not fail.
“I think people will spend the money on a good product, but there is an underbelly of people trying to make stuff in bulk on the cheap. With some safety critical parts, we could not in good conscience put a cheaper aftermarket version in stock.
“If it’s under the genuine part number, all the steps have been taken to ensure best available. The quality of the genuine engine mounts became spurious, so we got hold of the original drawings and had the best possible mounts made to the magic formula. They are now better than genuine, so the use of an original part number is justified.”
But even with all due diligence, people still need to be vigilant. “I can’t, hand on heart say there will never be an issue, so people need to keep on top of things. We need feedback, but not just that; if something’s wrong, take it off, return it and let us get it tested,” says Simon.
https://classicsworl...risk-than-ever/
Edited by mab01uk, 30 September 2018 - 04:37 PM.
