New Upper Arms
 

Just received some alarming news from DMGRS concerning the set of new upper arms I, and many others, ordered with the understanding that these were being made on the original tooling and to original specs.

Apparently only the RH arm has been sourced from the SAIC supplier, the LH arm has been sourced from Xpart. Instant memories of the Indian ones and MarinaBrian’s findings.

Not sure now whether to proceed, or cancel the order despite assurances that the Xpart ones are identical with only differences in the paint finish and certain spot welds.

Will these pass the Mr. Kipling test ?

I have been waiting for the newer arms to come on the market ? personally I would not want to fit two differing arms, I suppose it would be a good test to see which one wears better, but whom would want to do such a test.

Surely this must have been known from the start where they were made and sourced from, I know some decent warranties are given out on these arms by some sellers, yet again it is the cost of having to have them replaced that is not worth the chance unless of cause you do the work your self then no labour charges are involved.

Update. Just received an apologetic note from Mat and it now seems I'll get a MG original type LH arm rather than from Xpart, so all is well in my world.

Sorry but since MarinaBrian's review of those Indian arms I am very sceptical of Xpart and their upper arms. If these are a new batch from Xpart, I think owners need to hear where they are made and ideally MarinaBrian's stamp of approval to erase all the negative Xpart thoughts.

How about it Mat, I'm sure Brian's can find some new strips of Mr. Kipling's.

Regards

I can offer assistance to Brian in emptying a Mr Kiplings box...

I preordered a pair too on the understanding that they would be as the OP expected and I'm disappointed that DMGRS think it acceptable to mix and match as they see fit. I am not at all happy about this more so given that a welding difference was mentioned in the email and that the Indian arms are known to be poor and possibly not safe with respect to this. Hmm? :(


Edit: I too have asked for both arms to be SAIC.

OK I haven't got the full story but it has to be made clear to suppliers that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable. If you advertise it as one thing, then that is what you sell, end of.

As for a safety critical part being sold with suspect welding or other such defects, any supplier who does such a thing needs to take a long hard look in the mirror. It is no good saying people want cheap parts, when a member of the public buys from a supplier, they assume what they are buying is safe and fit for purpose.

This isn't aimed at anyone supplier, it is a massive problem for the whole car parts industry. Frankly, after being burnt several time, if have the slightest suspicion about the quality of a part, it goes straight back, with a demand for a refund.

Like a number on the forum I too was shocked to learn we could be getting suspension arms from both China and India, contrary to what was advertised. The latter we understand to be inferior in quality.
I have been in contact with Matt at DMGRS and he has assured me he has a few LH units ,which are SAIC, in stock and I will be allocated one of these to my order.
Watch this space.

What an odd situation, wonder that came about :o

I'm in the odd position of only 'needing' a n/s one as a spare, the r/h was done before I bought it :shrug: