OEM for land rover bushes?

[RustyNissanPrairie]

to be honest I cant remember - its 4 or 5 years ago i did them. I think maybe the smaller ones are a little too small for moulded writing? sorry cant be of much more help than that.

[CwazyWabbit]

Does the rubber look/feel/smell the same as that of the bushes that have the name on them?

[muttleyd]

Well Retroanaconda has said exactly what I was going to, I agree on his points wholeheartedly.

Any given manufacturer can make a part to many different specifications. One bush could be identical in dimensions to another, but moulded from a different grade of rubber.

However if a manufacturer is not willing to mark their name on the part I would be wary. It is such a mine field.

Another potential pitfall I have discovered of late is brand names that mimic another trusted name.

For example, I recently bought a PAS box seal kit that was sold as being Gaco brand. This is a name that goes back a long time and I would trust. However the parts that arrived were marked 'Gacu'. See the difference? Suddenly I was feeling a lot less confident in what I had in front of me!

Gaco seals were manufactured by George Angus co who I believe ceased trading some years ago. Would imagine anything sporting their logo now would not be the original company or very old stock

[reb78]

Does the rubber look/feel/smell the same as that of the bushes that have the name on them?

Sounds like I need to get kinky with them Barry!

[mikec]

I bought some britpart g radius arm bushes, the chassis end. They didn't have any markings on them.

[Aragorn]

As i said earlier, i recently ordered both a Britpart "G" bush, and a genuine landrover bush for the A-Frame chassis end. The britpart one had no markings, the genuine one had Metalastic on it.

[reb78]

As i said earlier, i recently ordered both a Britpart "G" bush, and a genuine landrover bush for the A-Frame chassis end. The britpart one had no markings, the genuine one had Metalastic on it.

Sorry Aragorn. I must have missed that. Just checked the A frame ones and they have no markings on them. The only ones marked Metalastik are the radius arm ones.

For some reason they have put some genuine radius arm bushes (chassis end) in the box as well as the BP G spec ones - the genuine ones are hard to compress, the BP ones are soft and compressible by hand.

I have contacted Paddocks, but no reply yet. No time to ring them today, but i will tomorrow. I think this lot will be going back.

[CwazyWabbit]

See Richard, getting kinky with them was the way forward But you haven't mentioned if they smelled any different ....

[Aragorn]

I didnt notice any obvious difference between the britpart and genuine in terms of look/feel bar the writing. They're now installed in the A-Frame, so i guess i'll have to see how they last.

It was all a bit of a coincidence, britcar had three options, cheap pattern for a fiver, britpart-G for 19quid and genuine for 22quid. For some stupid reason i chose britpart G and got a pair of them rather than just spending the extra on Genuine. Unfortunately when fitting them, i didnt have the press/arm/bush/drift quite aligned properly and mangled one of the bushes by jamming 5 tonnes into it at an angle, so i ordered a genuine one as a replacement to see if they were infact different.

[reb78]

Emailed Paddocks on 29th June in the evening. I had a hectic week and no chance to chase it, but no reply a week later on the 5th June, so i rang them.... yep, someone will deal with that query today. Still waiting this afternoon, so i ring them.

1. they 'strongly' disagree with my thoughts on Britpart quality and hence cant see why i am worried.

2. they state that whilst the britpart G spec bushes are Metalastik, they will have no markings on them to prove it and then glossed over the fact that the BP G spec radius arms bushes (NTC7307) do in fact have it stamped on them.

service not great, slightly patronising guy on the phine and not really sure what to think as to comment 2. Plus, i have just realised that they have given me three LR rear radius arm bushes (NRC4514) and then slung in a pack of four britpart ones to make up the correct number.

I'm not impressed.

[mikec]

Emailed Paddocks on 29th June in the evening. I had a hectic week and no chance to chase it, but no reply a week later on the 5th June, so i rang them.... yep, someone will deal with that query today. Still waiting this afternoon, so i ring them.

1. they 'strongly' disagree with my thoughts on Britpart quality and hence cant see why i am worried.

2. they state that whilst the britpart G spec bushes are Metalastik, they will have no markings on them to prove it and then glossed over the fact that the BP G spec radius arms bushes (NTC7307) do in fact have it stamped on them.

service not great, slightly patronising guy on the phine and not really sure what to think as to comment 2. Plus, i have just realised that they have given me three LR rear radius arm bushes (NRC4514) and then slung in a pack of four britpart ones to make up the correct number.

I'm not impressed.

I too have had issues with paddocks customer service, but I do think its who you get handling it.

On the issue of the bushes, I'm beginning to be very wary of the britpart "g" parts, in fact I don't think I'm gonna bother with them anymore and just buy genuine ones

[reb78]

I too have had issues with paddocks customer service, but I do think its who you get handling it.

On the issue of the bushes, I'm beginning to be very wary of the britpart "g" parts, in fact I don't think I'm gonna bother with them anymore and just buy genuine ones

TBH, the bloke was just making excuses - i'm not a professional mechanic by any means, but I do know a little bit about the car I am buying parts for and when someone is simply bull****ting to get me off the phone!

I think i'm going to send the lot back. I guess I will get clobbered for the return delivery charge though? Where would I stand with this? Its a £73 order, so is it worth it?? The radius arm bushes are metalastik and if I look up the price for genuine LR on Britcar, these are £18.07, so I have almost got the cost of the order there perhaps? The rest of the stuff from Paddocks... who knows?!

What I do know is I wont bother with them in the future.

[mikec]

TBH, the bloke was just making excuses - i'm not a professional mechanic by any means, but I do know a little bit about the car I am buying parts for and when someone is simply bull****ting to get me off the phone!

I think i'm going to send the lot back. I guess I will get clobbered for the return delivery charge though? Where would I stand with this? Its a £73 order, so is it worth it?? The radius arm bushes are metalastik and if I look up the price for genuine LR on Britcar, these are £18.07, so I have almost got the cost of the order there perhaps? The rest of the stuff from Paddocks... who knows?!

What I do know is I wont bother with them in the future.

I think you have to foot the cost of return, plus they might try and screw you with a restocking charge.

[reb78]

I think you have to foot the cost of return, plus they might try and screw you with a restocking charge.

Its rubbish really. As far as I am concerned, the majority of the order was not as described - especially considering Aragorns post above - the A frame bushes they supplied had no marking on them to designate manufacturer. I suppose 4 x £18.07 = £72.28, so, since the radius arm bushes actually have the right stamp on them, i'm just about quids in with a load of rubbish spare.

I'm gonna buy genuine (should have in the first place) and if the compare differently to the so said OEM, kick up a fuss with Paddocks.

Last time they get my business anyway!

[Aragorn]

Keep the metalastic bushes you already have, return everything else?

[jbs]

the words "not fit for purpose" spring to mind Richard!!

[reb78]

the words "not fit for purpose" spring to mind Richard!!

I've decided I will buy genuine, then with the two side by side, I will have evidence of that as well.

Perhaps I need to grow a pair and get stroppier on the phone. I do do it sometimes, but I need to get unusually wound up first.

[mikec]

I've decided I will buy genuine, then with the two side by side, I will have evidence of that as well.

Perhaps I need to grow a pair and get stroppier on the phone. I do do it sometimes, but I need to get unusually wound up first.

Yep be interested to see.

I'm the same, once I'm wound up god help anyone

Not sure the "not fit for purpose" would fit here though

[jbs]

Mike, Surely if they are'nt the same quality as genuine land rover metalastik bushes and they're advertised for example as RTC***G and the G being genuine, then they're being sold under false pretences and are copies of said genuine item, so from what I can see then they're copies and not genuine after all i.e.: like the Chinese copies of anything else that the trading standards seem to have a thing about, I have to agree with Richard and I try and buy genuine parts when I can as I know that they'll fit and I'm not going to have to go through the ball ache of trying to get my money back, I went into Paddocks a while ago as I was visiting relatives up In Notts and I needed to get a few things whilst I was up there, The guy behind the counter asked me after I asked him for the items and said"britpart ok"? I said genuine items please he then smirked and got what I asked for-the smirk was all I needed to be told that even he knew BP were gash!!

And yes Richard grow some you'll be amazed how much further you'll get when dealing with people that want to try to take the piddle out of you

John

[dailysleaze]

I've decided I will buy genuine, then with the two side by side, I will have evidence of that as well.

Perhaps I need to grow a pair and get stroppier on the phone. I do do it sometimes, but I need to get unusually wound up first.

So the question is, which company will you now trust to send genuine when you buy genuine?

[reb78]

So the question is, which company will you now trust to send genuine when you buy genuine?

I'll just go to AJDs at Hoddesdon. Should have just gone there in the first place. Helpful fellas behind the counter. No quibbles if you tell them you don't want BP and an overall decent service. I normally use them, but thought it would be easy to order the lot one night online with free delivery and save me the 25 minute drive to AJDs.

[reb78]

Well, I picked up the genuine bushes today. They are clearly different. All but the small panhard rod bushes have Metalastik embedded in them. The machining of the metal is also obviously different too - the taper on the edges is much more consistent on the genuine bushes than the BP G spec ones, and the centre metal sections are thicker and machined more neatly on the genuine ones too.

I took pics, but they haven't come out very well. I'll try again with a better camera.

[simonr]

A couple of years ago, as an experiment, I bought one UJ, branded as 'Genuine Quality', but not Land Rover from each of the suppliers of such things plus one from a Land Rover Main Dealer. I ended up with six in total with prices between £15 & £32.

Of the six, three were obviously the same - leaving 4 different types.

Of these, all of them were marked as GKN (However, the GKN logo cast in to the spider was much more distinct on two than the other two). Two of them came in Land Rover printed boxes - but curiously, the one from the main dealer came in a plain white box with a LR label.

The three non LR ones had the same size rollers, but the LR one had rollers about 50% bigger. The LR one was the only one to use proper bonded, retained seals. Also the LR one weighed more than any of the others.

Despite all being marked and sold as 'Genuine' or 'Genuine Quality' - the difference between them and a LR UJ was very noticeable - most particularly the construction of the seals.

My guess is that 'Genuine' or 'Genuine Quality' have no meaning in Law and although they might get you something better than ones costing £2.60 (the cheapest patterned one I could find), it does not mean that you will get the same quality as one form a main dealer!

Buying parts has become a nightmare / gamble and IMHO the only way to be sure that you get something fit for purpose is to buy from a main dealer! I wish it were different but the evidence says different!

I have some good photos of the difference - but they're not on this PC. I'll have a hunt through the various backups & see if I can post them.

Si

[reb78]

I finally got a refund from Paddocks for these parts! It took an initial email (ignored), two phone calls (one 'I'll get back to you'....never did and another 'no you are wrong, we are right, nothing wrong with our parts...') a further email to the girls in their office and I got a decent response apologising and offering a refund (including return postage).

I'm about half way through gradually doing the bushes with the genuine ones I bought from AJDs. At the moment, the new bushed (trailing arms and panhard rod done so far) have made the 110 feel a little 'springy'!

I think I'll give up with mail order... at least if you buy over the counter, you get to see the parts before you actually buy.

[Diablo]

sounds like you've discovered what Paddocks are really like then!

Absolutely useless at any form of customer service, especially if there's a problem. Think it took me nearly 3 months to get a refund out of them, and they still disputed it.