20 replies to this topic

[firstforward]

Last year I replaced the knuckle joints all round just as piece of mind as I use the car a lot. The original ones were OK really. Here I am 1 year later and approx. 16K miles and the front knuckle joints are worn out rubbing on the top arm as in metal to metal, the plastic sleeve is worn away and basically all broken up, so its new knuckle joints and I am afraid new top arms as they are too damaged. It would appear this has happened some time ago as the top arms are really gouged out.

 

The point I want to make is, don't buy what is obviously cheap product, buy the best as I notice some suppliers are offering cheap or expensive product as in the long run it works out more expensive buying the cheaper items.

 

Items of such inferior quality should not be sold IMO, and if this happens much more on parts with me I shall go the legal route as clearly this is unsafe.

 

Rant over....................

[Stu.]

Ive just today ordered new rubber cone springs, hilo's and Minispares own knuckle joints. Dont know whether I should get genuines now. Anyone else had this issue with none genuine knuckle joints ?

[racingbob]

do a search you will see the genuine plastic cup is different to the non genuine

[Stu.]

Yes I see. So ordering genuine cups and using none genuine joints should do the trick ?

[Captain Mainwaring]

Someone is going to have an accident soon as a result of the crap being sold by some suppliers.

Unless the suppliers regulate themselves soon then I guess it will be done for them.

The forum has a few apologists who think that a supply is doing something great by exchanging the item, I don't agree with them - the stuff shouldn't be on the shelves in the first place. 

 

It's only a matter of time.

[racingbob]

some of these main engine mounts not so good either

 

took my engine out last week saw one was starting to split a bit

 

and it had only done about 10,000 miles. so bought the good ones from minispares

[racingbob]

oh, alternater too is it b and b classics on ebay done 8,000 miles packed up

 

changed regulater thing but still no good, lucas one too

[Captain Mainwaring]

oh, alternater too is it b and b classics on ebay done 8,000 miles packed up

 

changed regulater thing but still no good, lucas one too

 

 

Lucas alternators will see out you and your car - maybe it was just a green box....?

 

Tak selalu yang berkilau itu indah

[666junky]

Just had my passenger side suspension collapse after hitting a very slight pothole.. not found the cause yet but i would expect genuine items would have stood up to this sort of "every day" road driving! One day before the IMM too! bugger!

[mini-geek]

Sadly it's driven by a market where people are only interested in buying the cheapest..

We are all guilty of it..

[Captain Mainwaring]

Sadly it's driven by a market where people are only interested in buying the cheapest..

We are all guilty of it..

 

 

With respect, speak for yourself.

[Captain Mainwaring]

Just had my passenger side suspension collapse after hitting a very slight pothole.. not found the cause yet but i would expect genuine items would have stood up to this sort of "every day" road driving! One day before the IMM too! bugger!

 

 

Can only suggest you put it all in a box and throw it back at the supplier - many of them know the stuff they are selling is junk, yet still sell it.

 

 

Hopefully some suppliers will join this thread...

[firstforward]

There is a problem with some users that buy these cheap parts and only cover a max of 1,500-2,000 miles a year, if that, I have heard it time and time again, "I use X Supplier and never had a problem". When you really delve into the subject, some even have still to put the car on the road and when they do its only as a weekend toy for a few days of the year in the summer months only. The parts are not subject to much water or any salt penetration, therefore how can a fair assessment of the parts be made to claim X Supplier is good.

 

I always buy the more expensive item (if the choice is available). I am rather curious to know why the suppliers do not have brand names to their parts supplied, so some sort of profiling by us can be made, that way I can make an informed decision as to whether to buy an ing-tong part or a Delphi part or whatever. Theoretically the manufacturers of a part could change several times in a year with a supplier, presumably depending on which supplier offers the best deal on profits at our expense.

 

Another job I need to do is replace the gearbox rod oil seal and gaiter that has lasted 6 months, the seal is fine the rubber gaiter is shredded, as is the case for ALL rubber items I renewed last year, Absolutely appalling as I have to bear the labour costs.

[666junky]

Found out it was the knuckle cup, which in turn is going to damage the arm if i dont get it fixed soon. Made a temp fix for now but i shouldnt be in this situation in the first place. The problem i find is as above, items manufacturers are not listed.. quite often i have bought what is listed genuine or 'better than gen' and its cheap plastic crap!

[Stu.]

With the above posts noted, this morning I ordered 4 genuine knuckle joints and cups. I guess the old sayings still hold water. You do get what you pay for.

I'd ordered some non genuine rack gaiters a while back. They perished and leaked gear oil within 6 months, and the cars not used regularly. I fitted genuine ones after that and they are still like new after 6 months.

The comparison between the quality of the gaiters explained a lot, as did the price of the non gen gaiters.

Im old enough to know better, but still fall for the 'savings' of non genuine items sometimes, which as the above shows, are not always economical, or as CM rightly says 'safe' in the long run.