31 replies to this topic

[Shooter63]

Coming back from a RR session yesterday the temp gauge hit the roof, I pulled over straight away, lifting the bonnet nothing seemed to smell of extreme heat hoses all seemed normal temp etc, I made my way to a local parts shop and picked up a temp sensor and fitted it once the engine had cooled down. Now the temp gauge reads correct, the bug is that the sensor was brand new when I built the engine 600 miles ago, more and more I'm finding the quality of all parts available to be pretty sh#t I won't even mention the life span on rubber parts

Shooter

[Spider]

Don't start me.

 

 

Too late.

 

 

One glaring aspect of the poor quality parts I don't get is that these days, our Minis and Mokes are our babies and we are all enthusiasts, only wanting the best for our cars, none of us want to settle for second best or junk, yet there is just so much of it out there with little or no options.

 

Just a couple of weeks back while doing a gearbox, I get the new bearings out of the packets, the bigger bearings were fine, all RHP, however, the Layshaft Bearings were quite another matter,,,,,

 

On the smaller Bearing, it had two less needles than the original and they were quite a bit shorter, the bigger bearing was similar, though it had 3 less needles. Really???  Surely Profit Margins are not that tight ???  I'd gladly pay proper money (which incidentally, I did) for proper bearings thanks.

 

It's just gouging.

[sledgehammer]

Problem is you can still pay top money & still get carp

 

& bearings & rubber components are dire at the moment

 

with a lot of copies flooding the market - even the packaging are good fakes sometimes

 

I have noticed some QH parts on ebay are fakes - even the box looked good & looked NOS - 

 

got some track rod ends , that looked NOS with a QH box - they had a 8mm (13mm socket size) nut on them !!!

now every time I look underneath the mini - I'm looking at parts - esp rubber bits

 

apart from some types of brake fluid , is there anything that will prolong the life of rubber bits ?

 

just bought Mintex brake pads - because the ones that came with the discs were almost made of wood - instant glazing

 

wonder what the mintex ones will be like ?

Edited by sledgehammer, 19 May 2018 - 09:29 AM.

[Aaron3]

I know this story to well, steering rack gaiters especially that have lasted a few months before disintegrating.
A wheel bearing this seized up resulting in a new radius arm, hub, brake shoes and a tyre. Even the top companies seem to be buying in Chinese sh!te.

[Homersimpson]

I'm afraid its not just Mini's, I have had rubber parts on my MK2 Jag fail before I even got it on the road and others that have come and been no good at all.

 

The worst was the rear suspension panhard rod bushes which distorted while it was just sitting there and had to be replaced!  I also had a front screen rubber where the outer edge rippled up when it went around corners.

 

Its not just the quality of the parts but also the suppliers, one sold me a kit of door rubbers (which on the jag come in around 14 pieces) with numbers written on each part but no explanation of what when where and the numbers weren't the original part numbers so you couldn't just match them using that.  In the end the original supplier had to provide a written list of what went where as it wasn't immediately obvious for most pieces.  

[Screwdriver]

I source ALL of my rubber components from Japan, down to the drive belts, even at twice the cost. The Japanese and Germans manufacturers are the only one's who still give a damn about the quality of their workmanship. 

[cian]

If there was no demand for rock bottom prices of parts the cheap and quite frankly dangerous parts would not be available

Look at it from an inexperienced or from a mini owner on a tight budget, an aftermarket front wheel bearing is around £15 but the top quality timken is £50 thats where the problem starts the price difference is vast as is the difference in quality

[ukcooper]

so cheep and nasty is kill the classic cars off- ill go with that take me ages find parts id use and I will pay over the odds for quality .... cheep skates parts by 5 for spares............. there ya go a shop opportunity for quality parts , id do it but I need 1/2 million or a few million to start it...

Edited by ukcooper, 24 May 2018 - 04:37 PM.

[MikeJE]

So where is the best place to buy quality parts? There are quite a few suppliers out there and I, too, would be happy to pay more for better quality. The only problem is that I have paid more in the past and the quality has been just as bad...

 

Regards

 

Mike

[Aaron3]

Problem is you can still pay top dollar for fakes and copys. I paid around £15 for a genuine rover fuel filler neck rubber, as soon as it came I could tell with the feel of the rubber something was off, anyway I fitted it and guess what? Theres more cracks in it than the burlin wall.

[absx2]

Problem is you can still pay top dollar for fakes and copys. I paid around £15 for a genuine rover fuel filler neck rubber, as soon as it came I could tell with the feel of the rubber something was off, anyway I fitted it and guess what? Theres more cracks in it than the burlin wall.

 I feel your pain as I did the same thing and ended up using one from a 1972 mini found in a field completely rotten but the neck seal and swivel pin rubbers were mint.

[mab01uk]

These Valtain Japanese Mini parts now imported to the UK by Somerfords in links below are supposed to be of good quality:-

http://www.theminifo...from-somerford/

 

https://www.somerfor...keyword=Valtain

Edited by mab01uk, 19 May 2018 - 07:36 PM.

[Spider]

So where is the best place to buy quality parts?

 

I've found that one needs to buy from a variety of suppliers, there doesn't seem to be a single supplier out there presently who covers all the best of what's currently available.

[Bat]

Hi,

While it can be argued that people want things cheaper is what drives the change in the market place, in this case as many have said they're happy to pay if the quality is there.

Problem is as said above you need to source from multiple sources and this will likely involve having stuff delivered and it's only when it arrives you find out it's junk!

Cheers,

Gavin :)

[mikal]

Ditto re fuel tank neck rubbers. I bought 2 when I was in the London. 3 years later and they are falling to bits, complete rubbish They have also become water soluble (black water streams off them when you hit them with a hose). The original one lasted 48 years and only replaced it because I wanted everything to look "new"...