My local motor factor supplies Quinton Hazell arms as alternatives to Ford items (at a third of the price as yorkiebar says) and they're fine. Fitted a pair to SWMBO's old Fiesta and they lasted the 18 months we kept and still looked good as new.
Go to a reputable outlet and buy what they recommend.
Oh, and get your tracking checked once the job is complete, particularly if it's been done recently (with worn bushes).
Cheers
DP
Edited by DP on 13/08/2008 at 19:21
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For me it would be main dealer parts every time - unless they really are being extortionate.
YB's situation is quite different. Working on cars for his living, any time spent obtaining parts is time he can't charge his customer for, and ultimately money he loses. Therefore, he will use a trusted motor factor who will deliver parts to his workshop at short notice - probably up to 4 times a day depending upon how close he is to the factors. The dealers don't tend to offer a good delivery service, and so, YB would lose a lot of time, and hence money in using their service. He would also have to hold onto cars for longer, while waiting for genuine parts - all the while storing the cars, and not being able to submit his bill for working on them, as they aren't completed.
Both my father's garage, and my cousin's garage relied/rely heavily on parts from factors, and I can see why.
For me, I need to pick the parts up from where-ever, be it factor or dealer, so that doesn't make any difference to me. What would seriously inconvenience me is getting the car apart, typically at the weekend, and finding that I've got the wrong part, or because it's a spurious part, it doesn't fit properly, as has happened to me on a few occasions**. I therefore prefer to obtain parts from the dealer which have been matched to the chassis number - while it's not infallible, it's much better than the "hit rate" you get from factors. The extra I pay for the part is more than made up for by the reduction in hassle.
As far as quality goes, unless it's an original part, you can't be sure. It might be OK, but you don't, and can't *know* a spurious part is OK. Yes, there are faulty genuine parts, but, in my experience that's extremely rare, where spurious parts are more frequently found to be faulty.
I've also lost count about how often spurious engine parts, like HT components and mass air flow sensors cause more problems than they solve. In fact, the first thing I do with poor running engine faults is to bin all identifiably spurious parts.
So, for me, it's original parts every time, but, I can seeand understand why others don't.
** The last time was with the lower arms on a Ka, which I was fitting spurious parts to in order to help out some impecunious friends - the stubs of the ball joint were both badly machined, and wouldn't fit into the hole in the hub without being filed to fit.
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Thanks yorkiebar. Your point about the status of the car is well taken but I'm now retired and average 5000 miles per year and hope to keep the old motor going for a while yet. You're not going to believe this, both the prices for the arms were from the same Main Dealer. From the most helpful advice received from all, do I take it that just the bushes wear out but cannot be replaced as separate items ? Incidentally the work will be done by an independent engineer.
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>>an independent engineer.
I really doubt it. A mechanic, yes, a technician, possibly, but, an engineer is much more likely to be found designing a lower arm rather than fitting one.
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Yes, Thank you Number_Cruncher, a mechanic. Are the bushes the only parts that wear and can they be replaced cost effectively ? ...and could the clunks be steering joints or other parts ?
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On the lower arm, there are typically 2 bushes and a ball joint.
By the time you've paid for someone's time to press a bush out, and press a new one in, you've spent enough money to simply fit a new lower arm, and you're still left with an old lower arm with one partly worn bush and one partly worn ball joint.
In short, for most applications, it barely makes economic sense to consider repairing lower arms.
Of course, there will be odd cases where the suspension arms are more expensive, and it does begin to make sense to repair them, but, for most Fords, replacing the entire arm is definitely the way to go.
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Thanks Number_Cruncher, much appreciated.
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"A mechanic, yes, a technician, possibly, but, an engineer is much more likely to be found designing a lower arm rather than fitting one."
Here here NC - although I (CEng MIChemE) am often to be found fitting bits to rusty old cars - and you may well find CEng MIChemE and CEng FIMechE peering under a 15 year old Xantia at the weekend trying to figure out why it does a Bond-esque oil slick impression at high speeds..... !!
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>>(CEng MIChemE)
The upsetting thing is that our respective institions (I'm CEng MIMechE) obviously haven't done their job in making the distinction clearer. (What exactly is it that they do that warrants our subscriptions?) It is left to unreasonable types like me making a fuss when someone misuses the term engineer.
What really gets my goat is when a company deliberatly mis-uses the word to enable a higher hourly charge out rate for their service staff. When photo-copiers/central heating/telephones are repaired, they are repaired by fitters, by mechanics, sometimes, perhaps, by technicians, but, they are designed and developed by engineers.
No-one confuses a nurse, a GP, and a consultant, so the BMA has worked for the medical professions.
If I called myself a doctor (medical), a lawyer, or an architect, I could be arrested and charged with an offence. Anyone can call themselves an engineer in the UK without breaking any laws.
We have the slightly silly situation where if you want windows installed in your house, this must be done by a certified FENSA installer, gas fitting, by registered Corgi. But, *anyone* can design the windows and the boiler!
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