What's the deal with Britpart spare parts?

[KrisDR]

I've read quite some stories about the reliability of certain Britpart spares and the anxiety attacks some people seem to experience when they discovered that the spare parts they ordered came in a blue box. So far my experience is positive with spares ranging from bumper blades over shock absorbers to various plastic trim pieces. I know for sure that I would have paid 5 times the price for some of the door trim pieces I bought if the car was from a German brand. I will admit that I chickened out for brakes and a water pump but all the rest seems really fine and offered at a very competetive price.

Which parts specifically are to be avoided?

 

[dailysleaze]

The problem is it's a total lottery. Sometimes you will get something OEM or maybe even genuine quality, other times you get Chinese carp. And it changes over the years based on the economics of who they choose to supply them, so what may have been good years ago may be poor quality now or vice versa. So anecdotal evidence from forums doesn't count for a lot.

Personally, i've been stung by them too much so if I have to buy pattern (or can't afford genuine) i'll go for Bearmach/Allmakes and OEM wherever possible. Although, the Chinese stuff is sometimes good enough, and even though it looks poor quality, it may work for many years. Either buy genuine and you'll (mostly) be trouble free, otherwise you're always rolling the dice - win some, lose some. Nowadays I will pay about 3x the pattern price for a genuine part up to about £100, then i'll research more to find an OEM part of good enough value.

The bigger problem is that many retailers don't say which distributor the part will come from, and invariably you'll get Britpart as their attractive wholesale model allows a cottage industry of parts suppliers.

Some broad advice though is that i'd always avoid the cheapest bearings, seals, brakes, a complex unit (alternator) and anything cosmetic.

[Daan]

There are many bad stories, as you have noticed. In general, bearings, for seals and things like brakes and suspension parts I would avoid the blue box. But things like body panels and generally things that your and others life don't depends on, it will quite often safe you quite a bit of money.

You pushed the boat out a bit with the shocks, but even so, let us know if they turned out to be good. It does happen occasionally.

Also, beware of people trying to sell you OEM parts which then turns up as blue box. There are quite a few people doing this on Ebay.

Daan

[KrisDR]

10 hours ago, Daan said:

 

You pushed the boat out a bit with the shocks, but even so, let us know if they turned out to be good. It does happen occasionally.

It does sound like Russian roulette. I had read here and there that the shocks can be ok, I wasn’t prepared to take the gamble with the water pump. Tons of early faillure stories out there. 

[paintman]

In the main vehicle manufacturers don't make their own parts. They will buy in from one or other of the specialist manufacturers to spec. 

They may change the supplier from time to time & parts may be varied to deal with identified problems - I last had this with a Peugeot head gasket. The genuine had changed from composite to a MLS but the others were still composite. The MLS addressed a particular oil leak issue.

The parts manufacturers will also sell the parts to other resellers & will sell them under their own labelling as well.

Some high volume parts will be copied by other parts manufacturers & these 'pattern' parts may not be of the same quality or dimensions as the original.

Couple of examples. Valeo are a major supplier of clutch components to car manufacturers. A genuine Renault dealer supplied clutch will come in a nice box with Renault logos plastered all over it. When you open the box you will find 'Valeo' marking on the components. You can buy the same Valeo clutch cheaper from motor factors, but it won't come in a box with Renault logos.

I worked in a factors in the 70s & amongst the stuff we sold were panels. We sold Mini wings & your choice was genuine BL or an alternative make. The alternative was half the price & was made on press tools the BL had chucked out as worn out of tolerance. The genuine fitted perfectly & the alt fitted where it touched & needed time spent adjusting.

I will avoid cheapie parts & for certain items which are safety critical and/or require a lot of work to replace will only buy from a franchised dealer. 

Edited March 31, 2018 by paintman

[Gazzar]

I've had some good parts from them, the mudflaps for the series were okay.  I had fuel filler cap seals that swelled up to twice their original size in contact with diesel.

Their outriggers do the job, but could be ever so lightly off in every direction.

Just sloppy work, missing holes, slightly too long, all stuff that doesn't demonstrate a commitment to quality.

 

 

 

[Disco1tdi]

A Britpart water pump is probably the best example of something I've bought from them, which was utter garbage.

The bearing failed in very few miles. Admittedly, as I wasn't doing an high mileage, this was after 14 months, so I had no come back.

If you cost in fitting the parts twice, and the added stress of unreliability, why not spend a little more to not buy Britpart?

[landroversforever]

I've had some awful parts from them and some good bits. My first set of swivel balls I fitted were great and I've only replaced them as I had a couple of stone chips in the coating. The replacement set, one of them was very poorly machined with an awful finish. Another bad experience was a defender lamp holder, took ages and ages to trim all the flashing off from the incredibly poor injection molding before it would actually fit on the connector. 

[lo-fi]

The other thing to think about is the health and longevity of the supply line. I refuse to buy *anything* in blue boxes, not because everything they make is bad, but simply because I don't wish to support a race to the bottom business practice. As Gazza points out, they don't seem intent on producing quality parts, more like flooding the market with cheap parts. If people keep buying the cheap stuff, the quality items don't sell. If they don't sell, manufactures either cut quality to compete, or stop producing.

Keep buying cheap rubbish, and at some point that's all we'll have. When even ebay sellers don't list the make (though you know darn well it'll turn up in a blue box) unless they're making a point of it being a-n-other brand, it should probably tell you something. All in my humble opinion, of course. 

[cackshifter]

I generally avoid Britpart for reasons above, though sometimes they are the only option. However they do seem to supply 'OEM' parts as well as their own. While the true meaning of 'OEM' is debatable, I have not had problems with their 'OEM' parts. And they do Richards chassis which you could say was a pattern part.  After all, even LR parts are not infallible, witness 300tdi valve caps. I use lrdirect quite a bit; I quite like that they show usually Britpart, Allmakes and Bearmach and  indicate acceptability to them of parts as LRD workshop approved. They have their own workshop, K Motors, and I do think if it's good enough for them it should be OK. 

[ejparrott]

The key to it is the quality of parts ordered.  Most people see the cheapest part on the list and buy it.  It turns up in a blue box, it's Britpart, they ordered the cheapest part so it's **** and Britpart get the blame.  If they'd bothered to look at the listing properly, for some more money there would have been another part listed with a part number ending in 'G' for genuine.  Still from Britpart, but to the same standard as LR themselves fit, and there's a much higher chance of those parts being good.  That said, I still won't fit Britpart unless I absolutely have no choice.  I had an LT77 gaiter from them, arrived fine, fitted it, six months later it was in tatters, on a vehicle that had hardly moved.  Unfortunately it was the only choice at the time.

[Tanuki]

I'll use Britpart stuff in some places: I recently needed to replace a door-mirror head and a Britpart one seems to have done the job OK (not really sure how you could get a mirror wrong).

I also used a Britpart cam-case gasket when replacing the injector wiring-harness. No leaks after 15,000 miles.

But if it comes to parts that go round and round or up and down, or things like belts/filters/brake-parts, I'd prefer to spend a little bit more for better quality, and know the parts will fit and have some chance of lasting. If I'm spending an afternoon replacing a part, that's at least a £50 'opportunity cost' to me, I'd rather not have to 'spend' another £50 of my time in six months redoing the job.