Disillusioned

[EastPete]

Took the 75 for the MOT today - it passed, but has advisories for front drop links and play in the lower arm outer ball joints. The drop links have done less than 5,000 miles and the lower arms were replaced abut 10,000 miles ago with expensive 'genuine' Rover items from Rimmers. The drop links were supposedly high quality MG7 items from China.

The car also has a noisy release bearing on the Tazu metal slave fitted 10,000 miles ago.

I am wondering if it is worth the hassle of trying keep these cars in good mechanical condition, when the quality of replacement parts is so poor. I have spent hundreds of pounds and spent many hours on the spanners to try to get the car in tip-top mechanical order, but I feel I am fighting a losing battle. I am having the same trouble with parts for my on-going MGB restoration - I bought reconditioned front dampers from a reputable supplier. I came to fit them the other day, and they were sitting in a pool of oil on the shelf- the seals have gone even before I put them on the car. One of the 'new' rear dampers I fitted a year ago is leaking badly already.

Time to take up a different hobby, I think !

Pete

[SCP440]

I feel your pain, I have been having this problem for a while on my Jensen, an engine mount will last if I am lucky a couple of years but when you see where they are made ( India) I suppose it is not surprising. This very subject came up when Mark Evans was restoring the MGB on television a few years ago. I think he had bought some headlamp rims and a heater box that did not fit.

The problem is we are our worse enemies. When we order a part for our cars we don't ask how well it is made or how long it will last or even what warranty it comes with.

When the seller of the part tells us how much we often ask is that the best price they can do because X does it for X minus £1 or more. This gets back to the manufacturer eventually and they make a cheaper part and I guarantee they are not making the part exactly the same for less money.

If the seller of parts for older cars has two identical looking parts for sale I guarantee he will sell a lot more of the cheaper part.

The parts fitted to new cars have to last 3 years or more in some cases and I guarantee the manufacturers of the new cars will give there suppliers a hard time if that part fails early.

When you order something ask for parts that come with a 2 or 3 year warranty, if we all do that the quality will improve dramatically I am sure. Even if the part costs twice as much it will be still be cheaper in the long run.

[planenut]

I think there is some bad luck there; I have been lucky and gone for cheap replacement drop links, springs and exhausts in the past and so far, I've not had any problems. There are however some items I would not buy as a refurbished item.

Press on, and check all those advisories for yourself.

[EastPete]

Originally Posted by SCP440

I feel your pain, I have been having this problem for a while on my Jensen, an engine mount will last if I am lucky a couple of years but when you see where they are made ( India) I suppose it is not surprising. This very subject came up when Mark Evans was restoring the MGB on television a few years ago. I think he had bought some headlamp rims and a heater box that did not fit.

The problem is we are our worse enemies. When we order a part for our cars we don't ask how well it is made or how long it will last or even what warranty it comes with.

When the seller of the part tells us how much we often ask is that the best price they can do because X does it for X minus £1 or more. This gets back to the manufacturer eventually and they make a cheaper part and I guarantee they are not making the part exactly the same for less money.

If the seller of parts for older cars has two identical looking parts for sale I guarantee he will sell a lot more of the cheaper part.

The parts fitted to new cars have to last 3 years or more in some cases and I guarantee the manufacturers of the new cars will give there suppliers a hard time if that part fails early.

When you order something ask for parts that come with a 2 or 3 year warranty, if we all do that the quality will improve dramatically I am sure. Even if the part costs twice as much it will be still be cheaper in the long run.

I think the problem is that are often no longer any options for obtaining good quality parts- all the suppliers of MGB bits are offering the same cheap and cheerful parts made in India/China. I spoke to the MG Owners club about getting good quality replacement dampers. They used to offer higher priced 'premium' reconditioned units, but they stopped doing them as they didn't sell- most owners bought the cheaper 'reconditioned' items that basically have just had a coat of paint and the oil topped up.

Pete

[Dallas]

Originally Posted by EastPete

Time to take up a different hobby, I think !

Pete

I totally agree... I've searched high and low for a different hobby, but I'm still paying VED, insurance and all the other things that crop-up on my two old bangers.

[marinabrian]

Originally Posted by EastPete

Took the 75 for the MOT today - it passed, but has advisories for front drop links and play in the lower arm outer ball joints. The drop links have done less than 5,000 miles and the lower arms were replaced abut 10,000 miles ago with expensive 'genuine' Rover items from Rimmers. The drop links were supposedly high quality MG7 items from China.

The car also has a noisy release bearing on the Tazu metal slave fitted 10,000 miles ago.

I am wondering if it is worth the hassle of trying keep these cars in good mechanical condition, when the quality of replacement parts is so poor. I have spent hundreds of pounds and spent many hours on the spanners to try to get the car in tip-top mechanical order, but I feel I am fighting a losing battle. I am having the same trouble with parts for my on-going MGB restoration - I bought reconditioned front dampers from a reputable supplier. I came to fit them the other day, and they were sitting in a pool of oil on the shelf- the seals have gone even before I put them on the car. One of the 'new' rear dampers I fitted a year ago is leaking badly already.

Time to take up a different hobby, I think !

Pete

Shopping for lower arms for my wife's car last month for the MOT, I bought TRW items, eschewing the genuine MGR items, which are made in Taiwan.

When I was overhauling the rear suspension on the ZT last week, the brand new out of the bag upper arms, were shotblasted and painted, following remedial reworks carried out to make them suitable to fit.

Drop links, I bought the cheapest ones I could find four years ago, one of which I replaced after I damaged it removing the subframe in readiness to fit the new clutch.

I have a pair of Meyle HD droplinks, I'm not going to fit them, instead I've fitted another cheapie after greasing the balljoints.

So, there are things which you expect to fail and don't, stuff that you might expect to be of reasonable quality, and aren't.

So after a leisurely couple of weeks fettling the ZT, I suspect it will be a short reprieve, after all of the work it's still doesn't feel right, and with hindsight I wish I hadn't bothered.

Finding good quality parts is getting more difficult, and with the amount of rubbish from the far east being touted as "top quality" OEM/genuine MG/upgraded/uprated etc, it's not surprising reliability is compromised.

Brian

[Typhoon190]

Totally agree Pete. I had a Borg and Beck CSC fitted to my project 190 which after less than 5,000 miles has decided to start leaking out into the gearbox.

Not a cheap item and not a small job at all.

Our cars ( and the environment ) are being let down by completely useless pattern parts.

[AndyN01]

I know there's a "you pay your money & make your choice" aspect to this but perhaps there needs to be a different sort of liability on all parts.

What if the default position is that any faulty part is automatically considered to be the manufacturers/dealers responsibility?

How about all (non service) parts have a minimum of a 3 year unconditional warranty and it's the MANUFACTURER/DEALER who has to prove the component was NOT faulty if they want to challenge this.

If it was incorrectly fitted and that has caused the problem then the manufacturer/dealer can recover the costs from whoever fitted the item.

Oh, and the manufacturer/dealer is also responsible for any additional costs such as stripping out & rebuilding - clutch slave anyone?

I'd extend this so all new cars have no (non service) items fail in, say, 10 years thereby extending the overall life span which, surely, has to be good thing.

How about that for a radical thought?

I'm sure some businesses will howl in protest. Probably the ones that would go bust quite quickly as they sell tat!

Andy.

[EastPete]

I have some Unipart drop links in the shed, so they can go on the car. I have ordered a lower arm from Mat at DMGRS at 90 quid - cheaper than the 'genuine' Rover ones at Rimmers (about 140 I think), but they should be better than the 50 quid ones you see on ebay, and Mat does give you a 2 year warranty.

Pete

[marinabrian]

Originally Posted by EastPete

I have some Unipart drop links in the shed, so they can go on the car. I have ordered a lower arm from Mat at DMGRS at 90 quid - cheaper than the 'genuine' Rover ones at Rimmers (about 140 I think), but they should be better than the 50 quid ones you see on ebay, and Mat does give you a 2 year warranty.

Pete

Pete, £65 each for TRW lower arms, and as TRW made the originals, I suspect will be ok

Damn, just checked and they have them on sale......typical

LINK