Better auto parts?
 

In my quest to get at least the mileage out of replacement parts equal to OEM, I come to many dead ends.
It's all from cheena and they are all inferior.
Advanced, NAPA, whoever.
It's all far east junk.
I find myself standing at the Honda parts counter for wheel bearings @ 200 bucks each.
I know they can be had for about 60.00 in line, but I also knew that for exp, they would go for about 20K, and I would get to do them again and again!
Brakes
I bought this last set from Power Stop, thinking they might be better, they may be,IDK yet, but again, they came from the cheena place.
That was disappointing!
I thought for some reason they were domestic.....
If you folks know where to get parts equal to OEM, let's let each other know .
That, is my rant for now.
Thanx!!

years ago on my 2001 Ford F150, I replaced the front rotors at about 120K. I went through that several sets made in China, trying to find a pair of that would not warp. I finally bought Ford rotors and those were made in China.

I suppose there are some good things that come from China, but a lot of it is made from Chineseium.

Herro Afterburn 549,

I am interested in what gets posted here.

The Chinesium parts are by and large junk. Cheap junk. I try to get AC Delco or GM parts when I can. I just replaced the plugs (NGK) and plug wires on my El Camino. The wires were just 42 bucks from NAPPA. The old wires had been in place for 87,000 miles, so it was time.

I don't mind paying more for quality parts, but finding them is the challenge. I can go to the Porsche dealer and order a new coil for my 85 911. It will be the garbage silver coil that is 50-50 odd of bad from the box. I had to find an old German made black coil used from the 1980s to get a quality coil. To get a coil with all the proper voltages the DME computer wants, is a real challenge. I will stick to my 40+ year old German made coil.

I was gambling that maybe I am the odd man out with these bad parts. In my conversations with many people over the past 5 years, I think the cheneeese brand has even got worse, if that's possible?
Sorry you folks have experienced this also.
In my many mistakes, I bought a bunch of parts for an older Honda, all front-end stuff from a place called Detroit Axle. (about 5 years ago)
Talk about JUNK!
The tie rod broke while my wife was driving!
It happened in a parking lot . That was a blessing!
I checked the other stuff, struts and ball joints and all, it was all crap!
Must have junk out of the box!
Nice sounding name "Detrloit Axle" , but is cheeeneeese crap.
We need a tariff to get some better parts!

For front end parts, try for Moog parts. Many of them have lifetime warranty.

Do yourself a favor for a Japanese car buy Akebono pads. OE supplier and absolutely killer street pads. They are somewhere between OE and Autozone pricing.

For the rest of the stuff, just bite the bullet and get OEM, it's worth it. Not worth dicking with aftermarket consumable on a driver that has to be reliable

rjp

Im pretty sure moog went the way of the do do a few years back also . Still same great warranty and same pretty blue and yellow box, but I do not see any quality difference between them and anybody else . I have warrantied as many moog wheel bearings as I have cheap brand. I frequently see the same blue bootied ball joints in Moog boxes, that come in Carquest boxes, and Napa boxes .
Quality parts are a real conundrum in this industry now . Nothing sucks quite worse than getting burned on a bad sensor , or any part really, and having to, at a minumum do the job over, but I have had cases, where I replaced a part, and the car still didnt work. Spent hours going back in and root cause diagnosing the problem , only to find I got a bunk sensor from Advance .
Carry on

yeah, i have never found an aftermarket that is as good as original equipment. even OEM parts from the dealer are aftermarket parts re-branded in many cases.

I think sometimes, you can still source quality parts from "
OE " suppliers . Id like to think that you are getting dealer quality parts, at a reduced cost, but if you are buying them online, still a good chance you will get fakes.
I wish I had a quick local source for quality parts, but for my day to day grind, I have to use the box stores , and dealers
For bigger jobs, I can wait a day or two to get quality stuff from vendors like Pelican ( see what I did there )..

I thought Akebono was a Sumo wrestler.


Back to the subject: when I had my IMS done on my 996, I told the mechanic to replace any wear items while the engine was out. Did they listen? Uh NO. I get the call, "while we were test driving after the job, your AOS failed". Me: isn't that a wear item? Why didn't you replace a $75 item that is located at the back of the engine???

They took the engine out and did the AOS. The second one only lasted a couple of years before it let go. During my research of how to DIY, I came across several comments that allege the AOS has a very high failure rate, some right out of the box.

The car sat for a couple of years while I did the job. During the project, nearly everything in the engine bay made of plastic broke. Heck, if you just looked at some piece of plastic, it broke.

Touch wood, all seems fine now a few years on. IIRC, I got a Porsche boxed part this time.

I run Akebono's in my 5000 lb Mercedes, and have been very happy with them for years. Almost zero dust, great braking.

I need a starter and I'm in conundrum. Oem mercedes is $400 bucks, reman Bosch half that but who knows....

For the last 5 years I have failed to see why Moog is even in business peddling their junk.
Others are allowed to like them.
I remember when they used to advertise that their parts wear "IN not out"
Now they wear out, and I get to do the jobs over and over for free.
SO.....I qujit them.

I LOVE those pads. Used them on my E55 and couldn't believe how well they worked all around. Silent, clean and effective even when driven hard on street. 100% Confidence.

I seek them out for my other cars but alas, they don't have many Brembo or Baer fitments.

I bought a Bosch alternator, I bought the official Bosch refurb I had in my E55 as well. No problems in 24K miles. Would do again FYI. I think they even throw in tow coverage if it leaves you stranded. I'd do a starter, no problem myself.

rjp

I almost never buy from Amazon or EBay, that’s guaranteed crap. I have pretty good luck with either buying improved aftermarket parts, like brake pads, or OEM suppliers like Mann, Mable, Lemforder, etc. For domestics I have pretty good luck with the FLAPS brands that have a reasonable warranty, normally they are at least decent quality. Buying the cheapest rarely ends well.

China can make good parts, but they cost more so they don't bother because everyone wants cheap.
I go to the dealer because I only want to do the labour once.

I agree with above -- The amazon / ebay stuff is no where near the savings once you do it several times over !
Next
I am sure you guys know about the proliferation of counterfeit parts on amazon and prolly ebay.
It is not like it is EZ to tell either!
There are several youtube videos from even a spark plug company showing how to tell the minute differences.
The only difference most of us will know is - the parts don't work very well, or very long!

I haven't so much as looked at the brakes on our CR-V since buying it new in '13. From reading this thread I guess I'll have to cave and go to the dealer to get parts when I get around to it.
To make it easy I thought I'd just get new rotors, pads and flex lines, stainless just because. It's got less than 60k miles on it now so I'm not pushing the limits on them yet.

Ebay and amazon are peddlers of counterfeits in oem boxes. Look at how the faa controls parts, defaults are simply just buy from trusted suppliers…


I buy everything on rock auto. Gives me the list of brands and pictures of the parts. Often times the parts will have country of origin stamped on them. Little due diligence goes a long way.

Moog is still relevant as people are simply replacing parts on a rusted out tub that might only last another 20k miles.

Or reselling and it’s the next owner’s problem. lol

Ariznoza _98
Even the counterfeit boxes look almost exactly alike from cheena.
It takes a real expert to tell the differences.
YouTube it sometimes, if you are bored .


Scott Douglas
Yes, for right now that's the answer.
Honda pads last way, way longer than the NAPA or any store-bought stuff locally.

If I still owned a shop, I don't know what I would do .

My 94 RAV4 had 170k on it when I replaced the (failed) factory struts. Loaded KYB's in front. They made it 80k miles and I went with Monroe Quick Struts as they "defected" the KYB's out.

Moog is nothing special anymore.

BMW electric water pumps - I tried Advance once. Never again. ECS Tuning (PP owners) had OEM. For the mid-teens 3 series E-whatever 4cylinder twin turbo oil cooler I went with BMW. WTF they need plastic parts to save six pounds is beyond me. Plastic parts and insulation blankets. Not that it's horrible but there is a learning curve for every job you do on one of these.

LKQ is a used parts house with a big facility near me. I have been using them a lot to get used factory parts. They record the mileage for most parts they sell.

I gots me Moog Ball Joints on my truck and Moog metal swaybar endlinks on the Vette- the stock endlinks failed at 16K Miles.

rjp

I can tell by the smell, that the parts wont be working well .
I posted about this a few years back . I bought an OE Honda timing kit for my personal Acura TL on ebay .'
When I opened the package, the boxes looked like that chineese/ amazon cardboard, and had a funny smell . I didnt think much of it . I drove that car probably 10k miles, then sold it to a friends kid . The "Honda " water pump locked up atless than 15000 miles, derailed the timing belt, and das ist kaput. . Bent a bunch of valves .
The only right thing to do was buy the car back from them as they were friends and this was easier than stirring the pot . I ate the motor repair . Never again .

Yep. Tons of stuff (but not everything) is made in China these days. It's possible to get "decent" quality stuff out of China. I think it depends upon how rigorously the company manages QC.

Agreed, I am highly unlikely to buy any auto part from eBay. I'm mostly unlikely to buy any autopart from Amazon. (I've purchased Mann filters for the Boxster and gotten stuff made in Austria). I did purchase a pack of the clips that hold the door panel to the door. It was something like $8 for 20 of them because they fit Porsche, Audi, VW, and they seem to look and work fine. And if one fails, I'm not going to die in a fiery crash.

For Porsche parts, depending upon the part, I usually look at PP first, then go to the discount Porsche dealer in Sarasota, FL that sells parts online.

If you're buying anything from a FLAPs, if they have multiple levels of warranty, get the item with the best warranty. It's likely to be the best that they've got.

When I do brake jobs, I always buy Zimmerman rotors, made in Germany, for the Volvo’s, Audi TT and Porsche. Lemforder for drop links, ball joints. I usually buy from FCP euro for price and lifetime warranty. E euro parts is also a good source.

I just replaced the spark plugs on my jeep wrangler. Went to the auto parts store and asked for for AC Delco spark plugs thinking they would be made in the US. I got home looked at the box and saw “made in China.” Oh well.

It probably won't be that long before I need to do the brakes on my boxster. Looking on Pelican, I see there's at least half a dozen different brands with prices ranging from ~$60-70 up to at least $350. Most are drilled, many are "coated", and there are even a few that are slotted instead of drilled. What's really weird is that there are some that are a different price for right and left side.

If I had the choice between made in China or made in Japan, I'd take Japanese stuff every time.

The parts are identical until you closely inspect them.

Inferior ccp quality becomes obvious when electronics are xray and others are examined under microscope.

right, metalurgy, manufacturing, QC, etc....

And they aren't all identical.

The AC blower went out in the wife's Subaru Outback. I could order a Subaru part for $200 or a "it'll fit 10 different cars" from the FLAPs. The one that we got bolted right in, but was built differently than the original, and is noisier than the original because it's not made as well from the same quality of metal, quality manufacture, etc.... It works, but I'd be happy to trash it and buy a Subaru part if it was up to me.

I stick to stock ac/delco
I did buy Powerstop brake pads for my Z06 2 years ago. They’ve been fine.
The dealer wanted $750 just for rear pads.

For my VW, I find a large difference in OEM part prices from one dealer to the next when shopping at a dealer and online. I have bought OEM parts from a dealer in VW boxes on line for quite a bit less than the local dealer quotes.

A lot of the parts we've been buying for our German cars for years from the traditional companies (Lemforder, Bosch, Febi, etc) may be headquartered in Europe so when you look at the website (even here) it appears to be a European made part.

When the part arrives the box has printed on it: "Made in China". On a couple of occasions I've had crap Chinese Lemforder and Febi parts and had to return them. Simply examining the item in your hands you could see/feel the low quality or flaws in the part.

I watch South Main Auto on YouTube and Eric swears by oem for sensors or anything electronic. His rants on bad aftermarket parts are pretty funny

I just sold my Bmw E46, but anything critical I always bought Bmw parts…

I think brake pads are one area where most OEM parts aren’t the best. I have used Powerstop carbon ceramic on multiple cars, they stop better than stock and create a LOT less dust.

ABS sensors on a W204 are one of the few areas where a quality German made aftermarket part bit me. Replacing with OEM fixed the issue. Lesson learned.

A930Rocket
We Cummins owners have also learned to buy OEM sensors too!.
Amazon and flaps just don't work.
Or, not for very long.
Over on the truck forums, people have spent a lot of time and money trying to fix the rather simple VP44 system with flaps sensors.
Up to the point of even selling the truck!
There was just no fixing it for them because they had just replaced that, that, and that. Then, start installing new VP44, injectors and on and on.
So I agree, as for me? Yes, OEM !
It is not with the risk or hassles.

There are few things worse than doing a job twice because your brand new part failed.

Agreed!
When OEM wheel bearings fail @200k plus miles, and the new crap fails at 20K, this gets rather boring and time consuming.
But, thankfully, most of us have figured it out!
In days gone past, we would grimace at going to the stealer.
Nowadays we just wince....LOL
It hurts, but not as bad as the repetitive discipline!