Upper rear suspension arm - quality of the original parts

[Ernest]

Hello,


I would like to replace the rear arms have ordered new original parts from Rimmer. The two arms both have an original part sticker, but differ greatly in quality. The right (very good) arm is from China. The left one is from India and very badly painted. you can already see rust, especially on the inside. The pressed-in socket also appears to be of poorer quality.
Here are some comparison photos:





I am very surprised about such a difference in quality, both of which are original parts and also equally expensive.

My biggest problem is: where can I get a good RGG104972 from? Rimmer says they only have the Indian ones.

Can anyone tell me where the arm is of decent quality?

Thank you!

Ernest

[suzublu]

https://www.dmgrs.co.uk/collections/...c-mg-pre-order

[vitesse]

You are not alone. Much has been written about these Indian upper arms, just use the search, eg. MarinaBrian's Mr. Kipling test which it failed dismally (the welds). I'd send it back, when offered one I refused to accept it and insisted on the Chinese one. Ask Mat at DMGRS if he has any Chinese ones.

Regards

[macafee2]

welcome to the forum, lots of help and advice here.

Original parts, ha ha! Alas I have an issue with Rimmers and original. From a conversation I have had with them, if they get bits from X-part, Rimmers class them as original, so, if the parts were made yesterday in India and are supplied to Rimmers from x-part, they are, according to Rimmers, original?????? Rover went out of business years ago, how can something made "yesterday" by a company that had nothing to do with Rover be classed as original?

You are welcome to check the above with Rimmers and post their reply but the above is from a conversation between myself and them may be last year.

X-Part were the parts supplier for Rover.

At best the parts are OEM but probably pattern.

Sorry if I come across grumpy but I am quite rattled by the description of "original" parts

macafee2

[bl52krz]

Hi Ian. I agree 100% with your description of OE. And in your analogy of items made yesterday can not be considered as OE. How the &#@% can it be? If they were made by the same manufacturer to the same specifications, then yes. Otherwise they are not OE. It is a punishable offence to describe something as original spec, when it obviously is not. As far as I am concerned, trading standards should be brought into the equation in circumstances like that.
By the way, I have received from DMGRS a set of upper arms that were made in China, and they appear to be as good as the original arms, so I will go as far as to recommend them to anyone who wants them. Excellent quality, and can not fault them.

[Ernest]

Thank you for the answers!

Then I will ask DMGRS if they have the Chinese part.

The example shows how difficult it is to distinguish good spare parts from bad replicas. It doesn't seem to help if you rely on the designation "original part" .

In this case the problem was clearly visible on the outside. With other parts (e.g. bushings or rubber parts) you have no other option but to trust the information provided by the dealer...


Best wishes

Ernest

[Saga Lout]

Originally Posted by Ernest

Hello,


I would like to replace the rear arms have ordered new original parts from Rimmer. The two arms both have an original part sticker, but differ greatly in quality. The right (very good) arm is from China. The left one is from India and very badly painted. you can already see rust, especially on the inside. The pressed-in socket also appears to be of poorer quality.
Here are some comparison photos:





I am very surprised about such a difference in quality, both of which are original parts and also equally expensive.

My biggest problem is: where can I get a good RGG104972 from? Rimmer says they only have the Indian ones.

Can anyone tell me where the arm is of decent quality?

Thank you!

Ernest

The Indian ones look like they've been powder coated by someone that ingests large amounts of another kind of powder...

[victorgte]

Shocking but not too surprising.
Unfortunately this type of thing is creeping into the 75’s and may well get worse. No wonder my refurbished originals sold so quickly.

[mbonwick]

Originally Posted by Saga Lout

The Indian ones look like they've been powder coated by someone that ingests large amounts of another kind of powder...

They're not even powder coated, just blown over with spray paint. And judging from the state of the metal underneath, they're painted while the arms are still warm from forming!
It's bad when the paint can't even withstand them being stacked in a container from India and they arrive (nicely bubble wrapped) with rusting chips in them!



No cleaning, no primer, none of the basic things you do when painting. I gave mine the full marinabrian recommended treatment of welding, bare-metalling and repainting inside and out.

[DMGRS]

Hello there,
This is a very big issue at the moment - as expected, the Chinese arms flew off the shelf and we're back to the XPart Indian arms now.
I'll see if we have any I've forgotten about, however

We do have a solution in the pipeline as I've mentioned elsewhere - however this is at least 6 months away. The end result will be an arm that takes all of the design flaws of the subsequent arms into account, and aims to fix them all - Mr Kipling test and all.
There's even a couple of modifications over and above the original part that will help them stand the test of time.

I can't say too much yet, but I will elaborate once we have certainty in production and supply of this revised part. For now, it's very much in the design stage.
If any members have feedback on aspects of the Indian arm they're not happy with, feel free to PM me - I think I've got all of the issues sorted, but I'm always happy to check.

One added bonus is we're going to have the arms finished with a multi-layer 'fancy pants' coating that'll help them last a lot longer - both inside and out coated and finished to the same degree.