Jump to content

Britpart - The good and the bad


Tetsu0san

Recommended Posts

i've had too many poor experiences of britpart to even contemplate buying their stuff ever again.

I dont think i've used them for a few years now!

only thing i've had off them that was even remotely worthwhile was a fuel tank for my 90. and that needed one of the mounting holes 'ovalised' so that it would line up with the mounting points.

The worst was brake disks for a tdi disco. Run-out was so massive it was almost hilarious except for the tragedy they were safety critical brake parts!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use a lot of Britpart stuff and overall have saved a shed load of money by using them over the years and it's not uncommon for items that are unobtanium at a main dealers to be available from stock through Britpart.

It's difficult to know which parts fall into the GOOD category because I fit so much and never normally notice the GOOD bits, especially service items. The BAD bits are normally easier to notice as they kind of draw attention to themselves....

"old style" Defender light units (tail/brake, indicator and sides) with the bullet connectors are really bad at the moment, the brake/tail units are made of plastic that melts when the body of the bulb gets hot, causing the bulb to fall out... not ideal really ! I've started using AllMakes instead for these.

The "new style" light units with the detachable bulb holders are fine apart from the contacts. I buy Britpart units and then buy genuine replacement bulb holders. For some reason the genuine bulb holders cost the same as the Britpart ones and are much better quality, the rest of the light unit on the other hand is identical between Britpart and Genuine but the Britpart is a fraction of the price.

Britpart wiper blades will last forever, the rubber is so hard it'll wear through your windscreen before it will wear the rubber away... the main downside of that being that they don't actually remove much water from the windscreen because they only touch in a couple of places because they won't "mould" themselves to the screen. The wiper arms seem to be good though.

Their bottom Defender door seals (the ones that attach to the sills) are made of a rubber-like compound that is so hard that you can't shut the doors properly after fitting without the aid of a body jack or a passing Rhino... so probably best avoided. Strangely the main door seals seem to be the same as the Genuine ones and work fine.

Most of the Land Rover oil seals on my motors are Britpart items, never had any problems with them apart from when a mechanic fitted the grease wheel bearing type instead of the oil wheel bearing type, no real surprise that they leaked, the replacement Britpart seals of the correct type were fine.

HD steering arms are good as are their castor corrected front hockey sticks and their bent rear trailing arms. Their replacement Defender seat squabs are very good quality as are their waterproof seat covers. The ball joints on my HD steering arm set have been fine really, I fitted them in late 2007/early 2008 time and had to replace the first TRE last month, the other three are still fine. Running into a tree stump at high speed last weekend has put a bit of a dent in the drag link though.

Obviously the branded stuff they sell is all pretty good, the Polybush stuff is good (although not as good as Super-Pro nowadays. The EPC brake pads and disks are good for those who like to use their brakes "enthusiasticaly", the ARB stuff is... well, ARB stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Britpart experience not universally awful.

300TDi fan belt tensioner - bought Britpart by mistake, turned out to be the OEM one anyway, works fine so far

Everything else, especially brake bits - very bad

Conclusion - I shop elsewhere, mostly brit-car, (not a shareholder and unimpressed by Paddocks/Craddocks these days)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

good:

300tdi Rad fitted first go and even has brass bleed plug.

110 HD rear springs

retrim kits were superb

series diesel front springs, over 3 years old and still as good as new. used off road at least twice a week for two of those years. did daily commute including some big person I'm not that keen on speed humps.

bad:

er?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

defender plus 2inch springs. absolutely rubbish. i almost rolled my 90 in a tiny ditch due to there being no compression what so ever (i run cage +twin winches)

went and bought OME and what a transformation …. I can cross that same ditch and much deeper with true stability.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have adopted a rule of:

"If it turns, seals or is safety critical - use genuine"

Anything else - Britpart is fine. Also, some of the items they supply are genuine - it's just hard to tell.

Britpart resell X-Brakes - so there is at least one decent product! ;)

Si

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Defender 300 tdi diesel fuel tank sender, 3 of them... BAD!! one snapped during fitting, second leaked afterwards, the last kept fouling on the internal baffles in tank. Got there in the end! Overall, mostly very average build quality parts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The boxes can be quite useful for storage, once

you have thrown the contents into the bin

I have sadly in the past bought (unwittingly) ***tpart **** and

all the bits were either v poor quality, and / or didn't fit, and if they did

fit then then failed shortly afterwards.

Buying Britpart stuff, and hoping for 'quality part' 'that last, is a bit

like trying to juggle soot, ....technically its' possible, but in reality frankly

highly ****ing unlikley :(

Never ever again will I use, or fit,for me or for anyone else Britpart junk

Nige

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Britpart Master clylinder gave up on the way to alps, was fitted the week before i went, 2weeks later in alps i lost my clutch completely, cost me nearly 400 euros to be recovered and repaired, and a totally ruined trip in the alps, as i was without the 110 for 5 days

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wiper wheel box - pants, disintegrated after two incontinent sparrows passed overhead

Bearings/UJs - awful, Bearmach are much better

Light units - OK so far, not tried their new super cheap units though.

Brackets/panels/non-spinny-movey parts - fine, I got four outriggers (two bulkhead, two rear body) that were excellent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 years later...

i hate to say anything good about britpart, it hurts!

 

however i am a lazy guy and never bother to take boilersuit off at work when getting into 90 unless really really bad so i go through waterproof seat covers at a set a year or so, and thats with washing them.

 

for fit, washing ok and being functional the britpart ones work fine

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A note on Exterior panels... I've got Britpart ABS plastic outer front wing skins on the 90... they where an absolute PITA to fit due to the pitch of the fixing hols being all in the wrong place so they had to be made wider to fit onto the genuine wing top panels, also due to the positioning of the internal retaining flange its a really really tight fit to get a nut or bolt in there and then secure it while you tighten... oh and the profile of the curve of the edge of the panel isn't quite the same as the original doors or rear panels...

I'd like your lists to be updated if possible Si... ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Britpart front brake discs and warped really baby within 2000 miles - absolute rubbish.

handbrake drum out of round so far that I could not adjust the handbrake to work without binding - absolute rubbish.

swivel housings (kit) is working well so far and I have used oil and not grease - good, but it was only kit ( came with corteco seals, timken bearings and land rover swivel housings)

cubby box cup holder - good!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Landrovernuts said:

Britpart front brake discs and warped really baby within 2000 miles - absolute rubbish.

handbrake drum out of round so far that I could not adjust the handbrake to work without binding - absolute rubbish.

swivel housings (kit) is working well so far and I have used oil and not grease - good, but it was only kit ( came with corteco seals, timken bearings and land rover swivel housings)

cubby box cup holder - good!

I'd second that.  I replaced a swivel housing about 2 years ago, and had no problems with it at all.  I've also replaced rear discs in the past, and had them fail the MOT due to pitting less than a year later.

I recently put their Cellular Dynamic shocks on, and so far they've been an improvement over the ProComps (oil vs. gas), but need longer to confirm reliability.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience. By using our website you agree to our Cookie Policy