There’s a few people here who fix their own cars, what parts suppliers do you use?

Replaced a ball joint yesterday with a febi-bilstein track rod end. Trying to torque the bolt and it just wouldn’t tighten up. Suspected that the taper was just spinning but turned out to be the nut. Couldn’t get it to tighten or release, ended up having to grind it off. Ignoring the grinding the thread on both the nut and bolt were stripped.

Had always thought febi was decent quality but…
What suppliers and brands do people use?

Pretty rare you get a manufacturer fault on nuts and bolts. Usually made to an international standard. Are you sure it was lined up exactly?

It depends on the car and the parts. I have a couple of old-ish water-cooled VWs and try to use VW OE parts where I can or, where they’re overpriced or no longer available, aftermarket from reputable brands. If there’s a known weakness – eg: the VR6 motor has a plastic ‘crack pipe’ as part of the cooling system, which is notorious for getting brittle and cracking, I’ll upgrade it if possible, in that case to an upgraded alloy version.

I’ve generally found Febi okay. VW Heritage get my vote for veedub stuff. Owner forums are good for getting an idea of what particular branded parts work well or not in particular applications ime.

For standard cars I just get stuff from the local motor factors or carparts4less and never go for the cheapest option. It’s also a good idea to look at the forums/facebook groups for your car (almost every brand and model has one these days)and see what other people recommend.

For my Mini I use the specialists that are around, some on eBay etc. For hard to get or parts that are delicate I go to Mini Spares and Mini Sport as they both source their own uprated parts.

Sounds like you just got unlucky though, very easy to round a bolt if it’s slightly off-straight or have a slight mistake in the thread.

I have fitted loads of febi track rod ends and never had that problem. Sounds like you cross threaded it? Given the choice I would always use genuine parts though usually works out cheaper in the long run

We tend to stick to well known aftermarket manufacturers – so middle of the road prices, not the cheapest.

I have an old Volvo and tend to use Volvo parts whenever they make sense. For a lot of service parts I try to find the nearest to OEM but mine is so old it’s hard to find out what’s decent enough and often there isn’t much choice.
I tend to ask on the manufacturer forum to find out any makes that should be avoided. Most brands are ok but some exceptions are terrible.
If there isn’t a gigantic price difference I’ll stick with Volvo parts, I figure that I’m saving enough money doing the work myself that it’s still economical to buy the best parts.

Not certain it was cross threaded was a fairly chunky coarse thread, tightened up with even pressure as it seated the taper. only let go when it snugged against the hub. Have contacted the supplier so will see. Was a nylock with a bit of anti seize on the threads, no sign of galling above the nut either.

Could still be me though.

I usually go to the local motor factors or eBay. It depends on how disposable the item is for what brand I choose but would rarely go OEM due to the price (Honda).

I run an older Volvo, Transit and a Golf.

I try and stick with the manufacturer as much as possible but failing that Lemforder are OEM for bushes/mounts/track rods etc, Elring for gaskets, and Corteco for seals and usually the more expensive options on Eurocarparts/carparts4less/Autodoc etc.

Febi IIRC are a bit crap.

Depends on which car.

The Ford I always just went to the parts counter, even they even sold oil cheapy (not the Motorcraft stuff at a £bazillion, the Millers in 5 gallon drums).

The Citroen dealer isn’t quite as local as ECP, so i get most stuff from there now.

The old MG is a minefield. If I can possibly help it I avoid any of the classic parts suppliers, they all seem to get the same rubbish. I get most of my parts from a local specialist who (I hope) has a better idea of where to get each part from.

Anything where there’s some performance to be gained from spending a bit more, it’s usually worth going directly to the manufacturer or distributor. e.g EBC Greenstuff/yellowstuff pads and disks are about the same price from EBC as a lot of parts places will charge for generic/oem quality stuff (and they really are night and day).

Meh
It’s car.

Sometimes OEM will e best sometimes pattern will be fine.

There is no rules saying what is going to be best.

Generally I find it best to go for the mid range parts, rather than the cheapest. I do go genuine if the price isn’t ridiculous ie if genuine is £40 vs £20 am I will often go genuine. Usually best to avoid the very cheapest. This is especially the case with Land Rovers and Britpart!!

I go for good parts. If the car warranted good parts when it was made then it warrants them now. But I owned my car when it was fairly new and nice, so I want to keep it that way.

I bought Sachs shocks and they are lovely and supple, makes a big difference. I’ve also read a lot of bad things about the cheap options – especially sensors which can be very inaccurate and hence throw out the engine response.

Febi was bought by euro from memory n now is just branded. Same as moog etc.

Usually eBay & until brexit eBay.it . A tiny bit of Italian can open up they vast array of oem suppliers in Italy. Used to source all my brakes, shocks, bearings and even consumables that way.

Likewise a bit of German allowed me to search for bits and pieces for the van and my KTM. Got a luggage net for the t6 shipped to a mate in Frankfurt for £150 & is brand new. VW wanted £700 for it in the UK. Even bought winter tyres that way from a guy in Friedrichshafen. Saved me hundreds of pounds, including the shipping.

I don’t search by part description – I look the part up in the manufacturer part catalogue and use that number.

Sadly though that train has sailed. But hey, blue passports & flags on every building.

I tend to go for the decent stuff, ZF (Sachs, Lemforder etc.), Gates and associated OE level. I avoid the cheap crap if I can help it, right now I’m stuck between a £40 ECP drive shaft that won’t last and an SKF unit that was £300 from Germany when I last checked in November and I’m not even 100% sure that’s the issue, I’ll gamble on the cheap part and sort it later if need be.

You likely stripped the thread because you greased it. Torque values need to be for lubricated or dry, and if you mix them up then you can apply +50 torque for the same number on the wrench.

Most of the people I ride with are in the Automotive repair trade (or farmers lol). My mate who works in the local factors sold me a Febi Bilstein ABS sensor for my T5 when it started playing up. 2nd time out after replacement the light was on. He changed it. Next one last a few more days, 3rd one a couple of weeks. I begin to suspect other issues though checking the loom and bearings reveals nothing. 2 other mates who specialise in VAG vehicles convince me to try genuine as their experience says all other aftermarket sensors are crap. £70 and 3 years problem free ABS would suggest that they were right.

On my Landrover I won’t fit any mechanical parts from Britpart and rarely from Bearmach unless it is rebranded OE stuff. There are certain brands that you learn to trust, like Timken for bearings and seals, AP Lockheed brakes, GKN UJs and shafts, Bosch or Valeo for electrical bits. etc

@hot_fiat

I assume the IT bit is bits for your Alfas?

Have you tried the guys at Alfaworkshop for genuine parts at reasonable prices?

https://www.alfaworkshop.co.uk

There are exceptions though. £180 for a handbrake motor from VW with a serious design flaw that will fail in a few years; or £30 for a Chinese knock-off without the very obvious flaw and it’s lasted years so far!

I was under the Passat yesterday admiring how generally well built it is, it’s let down by a few small but really annoying flaws in mostly non-essential bits. Like the vanes in the air vents that always break eventually. The interior generally, in fact. It’s nice when new but it’s not possible to disassemble it without breaking the clips that hold it together. Toyota have this well sorted out.

if you mix them up then you can apply +50 torque for the same number on the wrench

I think you mean +50% axial load for the same torque?

@welshfarmer – after a lot of pain I have also found Allmakes to also be pretty good actually. I find it amazing just how bad Britpart stuff is. They must actually reverse engineer it to make it so bad!

The Giulia is under warranty. But yes, when it needs brakes I’ll give them a shout, thanks. The parts usually go on the Cinq. Currently chasing down a rear subframe and a rare as hen’s teeth trofeo rear ARB that Abarth developed to fit inside the subframe. I keep finding full rally cars instead, which would be fine, but the track car has had so much put into it over the years & it would be difficult to squirrel away another one from the wife:
“where are you off to?”
“Bologna, I’ll be back in three days”
“With my van, and a trailer?”
“Urm, yes.”
<sounds of violence>

it’s not possible to disassemble it without breaking the clips that hold it together

T5/6 or indeed any VWG mirror cap. Explode on disassembly. I only wanted to hide my Tyne Tunnel permit under it. £100 later…

@welshfarmer
I had that with an aircon pressure sensor on the T5. We have a suspicion that the aftermarket replacement sensor triggered the second electrical fire. It was the loom feeding that sensor that lost its battle with heat and oxygen.

@greybeard

I do indeed. That was the best I could do before coffee

An update! Contacted the supplier and they said no problem and sent a replacement foc and a pre paid return for the damaged one. Prior to fitting I gingerly tightened the nylock with a ring spanner just to make sure there were no issues. Fitted it today and torqued up dry with no problems. A think smear of coppaslip on the nut and threads to fend off corrosion and job done.

We had a few issues with my son’s Fabia Monte Carlo. Failed MOT on nearside front suspension top mount – play. Ordered new rubber mounts from Germany made by FAG. Took a couple of weeks to arrive.

On fitting, we noticed someone had fitted an extra washer on the top mount – can only think this was a bodge to get through MOT (which has lead to other issues).

Car then passed MOT, but after a couple of weeks, we’d noticed the FAG busgings had ‘compressed’. We also had the tracking checked and the lower bush, same side of the ‘bodge’ was worn. Fortunately my son was planning on upgrading his suspension so he bought a full set of polly bushes and adjustable coil overs (front and rear). On pulling it all appart the bearing for the top mount had a split in it too. One hell of a bodge !

It’s all fine now but rides about 60mm lower than standard.

It’s all fine now but rides about 60mm lower than standard.

Good to see the right of passage of making your car worse is still alive.

Those born today won’t know that pleasure with electric cars.

He’s got a late model Fabia – my Mrs is like, ‘why has he made it worse, it was hard before’. Also got induction kit and big back box – flipping noisy. It was lovely and quiet when he got it. The induction makes a right racket, then there is the blow off valve, which actually sounds good.

I’ve not been in it since the changed suspension – don’t think my back will cope.

His mate has done the full kit as well, on my drive !! They hadn’t realised Citroen drive shafts just pop in, so one side came out dropping a litre of oil over my drive. There is no way of telling what’s left, so had to drain it and fill with 2l.

Upgrade and polyurethane bush in the same sentence. Hahaha.

Pretty much ALL vehicle manufacturers fit bonded rubber bushes as standard for very good reasons. They are massively durable. They are quiet. They have no moving parts. They spend millions on designing, tuning and durability testing them. The best upgrade is a new set of standard bushes.

I don’t know specifically about Skoda, but lots of VAG cars have single use yield torqued bolts in the suspension system. Did he check if any of those should be replaced during the upgrade?….

Meyle HD is my preference.
They study OEM parts and why they fail then uprate as required creating a superior part.

Obviously not everything is available

I posted about this when buying lower control arms for my Civic. Mind boggling array of aftermarket suppliers…I suspect the earlier comment saying just don’t buy the cheapest just means you are buying the same pattern part in a posher box. Most suppliers has terrible photos/copies from a catalogue, but those with better ones looked identical.

Bilstein, Oyodo, Swag, Yamato, JPL, Birth, Febi, First Line, Blueprint, Monroe, ranging from £104 a side to £200

Can’t say I’ve heard of them.

We recently added a 10 year old Aygo to the fleet, as a run about, bail son out when he breaks his modded car, and for daughter to learn in.

Parts are generally silly cheap. Front discs and pads, £38, battery £39. Two Avon tyres £105. We got it cheap, and it’s needed a bit spending on it to get it ‘to standard’ but on-going they are easy to work on.