Quality of replacement parts

[AndyP]

This week I've had to replace the following items on my car:-

4x dampers
2x rear wheel bearings
2x rear top mounts
2x front anti roll bar drop links
2x front track rod ends

Not unusual you may think, but all these Items have been replaced by be before and none of them has done over 15k miles, some have not even done 10k. I only stripped the car to replace the rear wheel bearings and fit some H&R springs, most of the other parts almost literally fell apart as I took them off I don't always buy parts from Audi ( the rear top mounts were Audi blues ) but all the other parts came from German suppliers, Sachs, Lemforder etc etc.

Be interesting to see how long this lot lasts

[audinut]

lemforder are usually quality

[A80Avant]

theoretically, when parts go from the factories to Audi, and get Audi stamp on them, apparently they go through some quality control, and hence the warranty is different than going from the source. However i believe its all theoretical myself.

[rj scotty]

Ive had Audi front ball joints fail in approx 6000 miles. luck plays a part sometimes I suppose.

[djh]

british roads are quality

[Tonks4x4]

Says it all!!!

[AndyP]

Says it all!!!

You've been to Sheffield then?

[Sleeper_Avant]

lemforder bits are **** IMO

aftermarket stuff, as suggested above, is very hit and miss sadly

suspension parts are crap, have you fitted front wishbone, rear bushes (torque reduction bushes) on BMW minis yet?
the lemforder ones, sometimes i have to use a ratchet strap them in, other times i can just give one big bang of a push and they are in!
im not a big lad, but my upper chest is quite an explosion of power i am quite proud of..... i shouldnt be able to push the wishbones into the ****ing bush though lol!

[Error404]

I think half the problem is that the market is flooded with Chinese fakes for literally eveerything, half the time the suppliers don't even realise they are selling them. My girlfriends brother builds plant machinery for the railways which is hugely regulated. He recons 4/5 SKF bearings on the market is a fake and you can only tell them apart by weighing them. The Chinese just copy things exactly using cheap materials and pass it off as real. Brand protection law doesn't seem to apply in China, their government is too corrupt, you can just buy immunity.
Of course multinationals like SKF only deals with major wholesalers so you can go direct, but that is the only way to guarantee what you're getting - going direct to the source. That's where VAG wins.

[AndyP]

One of the reasons I stopped buying car parts off Ebay, the number of fake Bosch parts out there is unreal. Now I just pay a bit more and get them from an authorised Bosch dealer.