Poor quality aftermarket parts!
 

I had to replace a couple of faulty ABS sensors two weeks ago and I know I should know better but at first I got cheap ones from eBay needless to say they were faulty!
Having learned my lesson I replaced them with the eye wateringley expensive Euro car parts ones (how do you justify £114 for a bit of cable with 2 wires and a sensor at the end?) these also proved to be faulty although my tame mechanic was convinced the abs pump was faulty I wasn’t having that and checked with Marinabrian who confirmed my suspicion that Euro’s sensors were expensive poo!
So purchased a set of OE originals from Rimmers as I won’t touch DMGRS stuff having been burned a couple of times (Rimmers were cheaper than Euros for an actual OE front sensor!) which arrived today and work perfectly!
What makes my blood boil is the wasted time and money on fixing such a simple fault due to parts that are apparently made of cheese and don’t work. I’ve had the same with aftermarket bushes collapsing after less than a month in the car (Chinese Rover bushes claimed to be OE by the seller) and similar with rear shockers that pop after a couple of months.
I accept if you buy cheap then it’s pot luck but what if cheap is all you can afford? And I personally always buy the “best” I can afford and the parts fail with monotonous regularity and then supposed trusted suppliers start making excuses when you complain.
It won’t be rust or age that kills our cars of it will be the lack of quality spares to keep them running!
Rant off
Shadomobile

I think our problem is the better parts are becoming more and more rare, and in some cases they have disappeared altogether.

At least with a manufacturer that is still producing cars you have the option of original equipment parts of equal quality, but sadly with Rover's demise that is no longer the case. :getmecoat:

We should keep returning landfill parts and get our money back!

We must also stop shopping by price, we should ask when we purchase an item how long is the guarantee? Car Manufacturers will only fit stuff that lasts 3 years as that is how long they give when they sell you a new car. Buying stuff that will only last 12 months when the labour to replace it probably costs more than the part is madness in my view.

I will only fit Delco alternators, they come with a 3 year warranty and I have yet to have one fail, One I fitted over 10 years ago is still working.

Be prepared for that little red light to appear anytime now...

I have plumped for DRMGS drop links this time after having failures with Delphi, it was the 4 year no quibble warranty that swayed me so fingers crossed. I also brought a pair of rear shocks and it looks like they are SAIC originals, fingers crossed ...

So many fake parts out there though, even Rimmers have had problems reading the forums, I guess it is just pot luck.

Just to echo what others have said!

Poor quality parts will be the death of these cars.

Unfortunately, people will continue to buy on price alone, which is false economy. Another downside to this is the fact that the manufacturer's of junk stay in business, and the manufacturer's of quality parts go bust because people don't want to pay the high prices.

You have to remain realistic about prices when you are looking to buy something. Example, if you buy drop links for £10, how much did they cost to produce? 50p or maybe £1.

If I am looking to buy anything for my car, I always come on here first to see if anyone can recommend a part .

Right soap box out again :icon_lol::icon_lol:..


As far as I'm concerned all Supplers will buy everytning in as cheap as possible with no regard to the quality and sell at the biggest markup they can get away with along with a warranty that is practically worthless !.


Of course be nice to have proof this doesn't happen !

Any warranty that is less than 3 yrs is pathetic and on suspension parts well ought to to be 3+yrs absolute minimum.

For all the parts I've bought over the years from recognised suppliers and with my mileage about 6k annually and many parts now worn out after 2 years .. well .... theres your answer.. :icon_confused:

But then our old cars are a shrinking market so actually producing parts for obsolete cars is a risk in itself for manufacturers/suppliers ?.


Box away for now :icon_lol:


Chris