Cheap Ebay Lower Arms

[V6BOY]

Hey guys, just wondering if anyone on here has had any dealings with cheap ebay lower control arms or are they best avoided?

 

[PhillipM]

Cheap + Ebay + Safety Critical Component...

 

[CompoSimmonite]

What are they for ? If a popular car then there will be loads of reputable aftermarket suppliers of parts. Some of these might not be well known to us in UK but could be well established companies abroad. After all if you went to, say, France, Germany etc most people would never have heard of Quinton Hazel, Unipart and such.
Quite often however I find if somebody can sell cheap on eBay then there will be somebody else with a local retail outlet that is similar price that you can pick up yourself rather than mail order. Get an indication of price from eBay and ring around to see if anyone locally is competitive.

 

[visor_down]

Got some for fiesta, they have lasted ok for the money, easy job to swap out if needs be and I doubt car will last long so went for cheap ones. The ARB links from same source were naff however, boots split in matter of months.
the fiesta lca's are notorious for the bushes separating. Febi came recommended to me as alternative to genuine Ford but they still lot more than eBay special.
lot depends on car , how long you plan to keep it etc. there comes a point where the eBay ones a false economy but for the use fiesta gets and its banger status they fit the bill for me

 

[AndyStobbs]

Don't waste your money, and don't buy Truepart for heavans sake.

 

[V6BOY]

They are for a mk5 astra so a mass produced car think I will give eBay ones a miss then, I'll just stick euro car parts own brand ones.

 

[Fazerruss]

I've found that a lot of eBay suppliers are the usual motor factors selling on eBay as well. I've bought loads of stuff, brakes,sensors ect and never had a problem with quality. If it can be crap from eBay it can also be crap from the motor factors.
I shopped around recently for L200 springs and got them £140 cheaper than euro car parts. I told the man the price I had found them at and he said they were £10 each cheaper than euro buy them in from their supplier!

 

[the snooper]

I've found that a lot of eBay suppliers are the usual motor factors selling on eBay as well.

I've also found that, just using a different name, I've also found that loads of anti roll bar linkages are terrible from Local suppliers usually the boot perishing before the joint fails

 

[Kayos]

Drop links fail if they are cheap, regardless of source, I'm currently running ebay special bottom arms on the pug, no complaints but it hardly moves from week to week

 

[premmington]

Lifecycles for drop links is an issue even if they come from the dealer.

We are changing them wholesale at our workshop.

 

[brightspark]

I've also found that, just using a different name, I've also found that loads of anti roll bar linkages are terrible from Local suppliers usually the boot perishing before the joint fails

tell me about it even my vans originals have perished at 50 thousand miles and i just changed them

 

[V6BOY]

I've found that a lot of eBay suppliers are the usual motor factors selling on eBay as well. I've bought loads of stuff, brakes,sensors ect and never had a problem with quality. If it can be crap from eBay it can also be crap from the motor factors.
I shopped around recently for L200 springs and got them £140 cheaper than euro car parts. I told the man the price I had found them at and he said they were £10 each cheaper than euro buy them in from their supplier!

Got me thinking Euros own brand stuff is probably the same as eBay unbranded stuff.

 

[brightspark]

i hear this crap all the time from the wholesalers that say it costs more to buy them in than what other dealers are selling them for what they realy mean is they make 50 percent proffit and wont take less. all i say is to them u can make 25 percent out of a hundred or 100 percent of nothing which is it

 

[langy]

I've also found that, just using a different name, I've also found that loads of anti roll bar linkages are terrible from Local suppliers usually the boot perishing before the joint fails

Theres a reason for that, they took something out of the rubber a few years ago that stopped them going brittle, (I did get told but forgot now) I use silicone rubbers now but they can be tricky to get hold of sometimes.

 

[hotrodder]

Got me thinking Euros own brand stuff is probably the same as eBay unbranded stuff.

Eurocraparts appear to offer Lemforder, Q-drive [/shudder] and Ocap lower control arms. The only one of those i'd consider is Lemforder who are part of the ZF group which also includes Sachs and Boge

Eurocrap are expensive but very good at playing mind games with constant "sales" and forum "discounts" to try and appear cheaper than they really are... they also operate under other aliases like carparts4less which (along with their shop on the bay) don't have constant "sales" but sell stuff for similar, often cheaper, ££ than the "sale" price at eurocrap. They can still be beaten on price and service quite easily, especially if collecting as the "sale" price only works online via click and collect etc

Dunno if the link will go straight to Mk5 Astra or default to their homepage but https://webcat-services.zf.com/index.asp?LKZ=D&PKW=1&SPR=4&EINSPNR=32,14,1632,1614 is their web catalogue which'll give you the part numbers for a Lemforder this or Sachs that etc. Necessary if you want to look stuff up on line as not everyone will let you shop by reg number etc

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/V...spension/suspension-arm-and-suspension-joints Lemforder lower control arms are £51.10 in their "sale"

Same part at http://autopartstechnik.co.uk/21057-01-arm.html is £32.40 + VAT & delivery or £46.88 delivered, £47.88 with next day delivery
FWIW i bought some Lemforder top mounts from them last year... they had a Mercedes part number cast into them but cost around £28 ea delivered versus over £50 from MB while eurocrap only offered Q-drive tat on their site at ~ £20 - £30 ea depending if there was a "sale" on or not

 

[premmington]

Lemforder is OE spec stuff.

Europooh peddle *****! Last resort for my customers cars!

 

[PhillipM]

I usually fit lemforder when it comes to joints, bushes and arms, good quality stuff. I wouldn't use OCAP parts to level a table leg up.

 

[Turbo]

I find that I can buy stuff from my local motor factors a lot cheaper than either ecp or gsf. As for suspension components I like the Febi/bilstein and blueprint stuff.

I've a 406 and I was fitting new front arb drop links every year for mot - after 9 months they would start to rattle. On one set the rubber boots were perished in 3 months! I used to buy the cheap ones around £10 each. Then I fitted a pair of the Febi/bilstein ones, a bit dearer at £18 each but 3 years later and there's still no sign of wear!