Experience of Delphi lower arms /TCA's any good?

[visor_down]

Hi need set of lower arms for astra van H, anyone have any first hand experience of Delphi components?
Do the bushes / ball joints last in them?
Was going to get lemforder as know they last but in this instance are nearly double the price (don't do a high mileage to get the value for money out of them so looking for something half decent as an alternative)
Cheers

 

[Bigjoe]

Delphi stuff in my experience is generally fine,they normally produce fuel systems etc

 

[Johnseat]

Bottom arms ect I always go with a cheaper option as they tend to be changed on vehicles with either super high miles or a few years old and long out of warranty.

Only thing I would avoid is the dirty cheap Chinese copies found on eBay for a 3rd of the price of a decent one, they are false economy.

 

[Rannsachair]

Same here, never had a problem fitting Delphi components or lemforder, febi, TRW.

 

[normspanners]

One thing you have to be aware of, is NONE electrical items in LUCAS boxes, it is europarts they have bought the name and use some cheaper stuff in there, many people think they are buying from lucas. with the back up of lucas.

 

[Mee]

Delphi are General Motors, the same GM who own Vauxhall/Opel in Europe.

 

[colnerov]

Delphi are General Motors, the same GM who own Vauxhall/Opel in Europe.

And Saab, you should hear Saab enthusiasts on the subject.

 

[V6BOY]

Alot of Delphi parts are Vauxhall OEM anyway so absolutely fine, lemforder the best as you know.

 

[123hotchef]

i have used both delphie and lemforder and continue to do so got to say though my last delphie ball joints didnt last too long on my L200

 

[hotrodder]

AIUI Febi love a bit of reboxing... some of their stuff is good quality other stuff comes in a box that was made in Germany?
Quite a few Lemforder bits i've bought for the daily had a mercedes part number cast and/or molded into them although some poor sod on the production line had to sand off the little MB star logo on every part. Midland car spares aka autopartstechnik are usually pretty competitive for any ZF group brands and often cheaper than cheapnese tat from eurocrap

Not relevant to an Astra but

is a comparison between a 'genuine' LCA made by TRW and an aftermarket TRW version

 

[zx9]

One thing you have to be aware of, is NONE electrical items in LUCAS boxes, it is europarts they have bought the name and use some cheaper stuff in there, many people think they are buying from lucas. with the back up of lucas.

IIRC Lucas were bought by TRW in the late 90's early 2000's I gather mostly for Lucas' R&D in EPS and ABS. Always make me laugh when you hear 'Lucas prince of darkness' type comments from people that don't know that TRW (Lucas) patents are in use by almost all of the worlds car manufacturers. TRW was recently bought by ZF for the same technologies, part of the sale included the Lucas brand name so @normspanners are we to conclude that Lucas is now ZF's low cost brand for sale into the likes of ECP to get market share without tarnishing the ZF / TRW brands.

(Every time I type TRW it comes out as TWR or TVR. ! Doh! )

 

[normspanners]

When I had issues with a lucas cam chain timing kit that I bought from ECP, (I was not the only one BTW several garages had the same issue) I rang LUCAS main office ie TRW (or whoever) and they told me it was NOTHING to do with them and they seemed a little annoyed that the lucas brand name for none electrical goods was sold to ECP who now use it to sell all manner of gear under the well known LUCAS logo and packaging, now to try and resolve the issue I got several kits from 5 different manufacturers and all of the chains and sprockets where identical and the issue turned out to be the sprockets were mis-manufactured 2mm too small in fact and they ranged in price from very cheap to twice the price. I fitted the original sprockets from ford, that I had to retrieve from the scrap and it cured the issue.
That then led me to believe they were buying in from china and putting stuff out under lucas name for people to think it was of british manufacture.
AFAIK all electrical items are still under the same packaging but are in fact 'REAL' LUCAS

 

[zx9]

When I had issues with a lucas cam chain timing kit that I bought from ECP, (I was not the only one BTW several garages had the same issue) I rang LUCAS main office ie TRW (or whoever) and they told me it was NOTHING to do with them and they seemed a little annoyed that the lucas brand name for none electrical goods was sold to ECP who now use it to sell all manner of gear under the well known LUCAS logo and packaging, now to try and resolve the issue I got several kits from 5 different manufacturers and all of the chains and sprockets where identical and the issue turned out to be the sprockets were mis-manufactured 2mm too small in fact and they ranged in price from very cheap to twice the price. I fitted the original sprockets from ford, that I had to retrieve from the scrap and it cured the issue.
That then led me to believe they were buying in from china and putting stuff out under lucas name for people to think it was of british manufacture.
AFAIK all electrical items are still under the same packaging but are in fact 'REAL' LUCAS

I don't know mate, I used to visit TRW three or four times a year but that stopped just after they were bought by ZF. ZF handed all our work to the contracted facilaties provider which was a shame because I liked looking at their product and talking to the guys there, I would do a bit of digging but I am unlikely to visit the Shirley offices again.

 

[armalites]

I know Eurocarpart bought the Crosssland Filters name but I didn't know they had bought the Lucas name as well.

 

[normspanners]

when I worked at the metal yard we used to get quinton hazell scrap and a lot of the stuff came to us not only in QH packaging but in ford /jaguar/ rover boxes,
it is crazy I priced up a timing chain tensioner from ford £70 but ended up ordered a jag one from the same ford parts place, -------£35 same part number in the box -------same part.
suzuki wagon r rear arms £170------- vauxhall agila £100 -----same part.
price up renault parts then vauxhall for the same van----- all different prices, some one way--- some opposite
same with citreon / peugeot
It is obvious they just guess the price required , BUT the trouble is it is a guess if it fits your vehicle unless you KNOW!
I once ordered a long time ago a transit adapter housing for an overdrive box (only used on specialist vehicles ambulances etc) expecting it to be hundreds--------- it was £15 !!!
I once had two cars for mot------- peugeot and citroen-------- same floor pan but different body but because I had them on two lifts I could see the parts were identical and ordered the cit parts from peugeot and the opposite for the other because neither had THEIR parts in stock, but did the otherway round !! both parts came in peugeot / citroen bags like these

and saved total of £40 !!!

 

[anto]

I just went to the Citroen garage for some parts because the Peugeot garage only employed idiots.