March 6th, 2006
This post has been redacted in response to a threatened lawsuit against
the original author.
For further information,
contact Richard Welty (rwelty at krusty-motorsports.com)
As pricing of BMW parts becomes more competitive, more warehouse distributors and the mail order houses that buy from them are sourcing fast moving parts from alternate vendors. Many of the parts in circulation have proven to be of substandard quality compared to OE BMW and other traditional German sources. I have flagged those vendors and part numbers with a higher than usual failure rate and have eliminated them from my inventory, returning them to my suppliers for credit. I refuse to risk my reputation by knowingly selling any of these suspect items. Below are some examples: Expansion Valves for the E30 (Eaton brand...."KKKK" markings on the valve...these are failing (leaking) at a high rate and will probably have to be replaced within a month and expensive R12 added to your A/C system. [negative recommendation redacted] Exhaust for 318i (Ansa brand)...I posted this a few months ago. I've had 70% failure rate with this part. Use Boysen, Eberspracher or OE BMW. I don't have any first hand experience with Bosal for this model but the appearance of their (Bosal) systems is on the cheap side. Water Pumps for 318i (GK brand)...I've been a proponent of German water pumps by Laso and GK but have had a string of problems with this particular GK part number leaking. I now sell the Laso and Graf for this model. Radiators by Wolverine (most models)...these are made in South Africa and have gone downhill in quality in the past few years. The main problem I've had with these is getting the plugs out of the hose neck to install the temp sensors. These plugs are installed too tightly at the factory and then painted in place. Often the plug cannot be removed without damaging the hose neck. There are numerous other parts (brake pads, hood shocks, engine components, gaskets, brake sensors, muffler hangers,electrical components, etc) that have problem brands in circulation. Occasionally BMW has a problem with some of their OE parts (eg, many of the 072 allen head retainer screws (Ribe brand) that hold most of the BMW rotors are threaded incorrectly as 8x1mm instead of 8x1.25mm...these can be forced to fit but will be impossible to remove the next time you try to change your brakes...BMW is not aware of this problem yet and I'll bet many mechanics are forcing them on). As I said in the beginning, many of the lesser quality brands are being sold because of "low price". If you have a question on a particular part, send me an e-mail and I'll tell you what brands are better than others. The only way to force the issue with the parts houses that knowingly sell these off brands is to force them to cover labor if the part fails under warranty. [redacted] The quality conscious Warehouse Distributors are pulling many of these items off the shelves...make sure they don't wind up in your garage or on your car. SD Steve D'Gerolamo c/o The Ultimate Garage, Emerson, NJ (201-262-0412)