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OEM for land rover bushes?


reb78

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As above. Does anyone know who is the OE manufacturer for LR bushes and where you can source them from? I don't want to pay dealer prices if I can help it, but would like to get the genuine article!

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The three on there listed as OEM *SHOULD* be the same part as landrover are selling, Given the definition of "OEM".

The question is if they actually are.

Recently i ended up with a genuine LR rear A-Frame-to-chassis bush, and also a Britpart "OEM" one, they looked pretty similar, but the landrover one had metalastik on it and the britpart had nothing. I queried Britcar on it, and they confirmed the Britpart OEM bushes were made by the same people as landrover bushes.

As a comparison, i've ordered "OEM" Bushes for my audi before, and when those arrived, they clearly state BOGE on them, and you can even see where they've ground off the audi rings and part number that would originally have been visible. I've had similar things ordering various OEM Audi parts, theres almost always signs of them having ground off the Audi rings, presumably because they're not allowed to supply them with those trademarked logos visible.

I sort of expected to see something similar on the britpart OEM ones, even if the metalastik logo had been ground off, you'd have some reassurance that they were infact the real deal. For instance in the past i ordered Britpart OEM swivel seals, which clearly had the seal manufactuers name visible and it was the same as the landrover part (i forget the name now though).

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In my experience of Britpart, OEM seems to mean AN Original Equipment Manufacturer, not THE Original Equipment Manufacturer. So a Britpart OEM shock absorber may not be Armstron/Woodhead but Boge, who do make OE parts, just not for Landrover. As usual, it is caveat emptor.

Chris

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In my experience of Britpart, OEM seems to mean AN Original Equipment Manufacturer, not THE Original Equipment Manufacturer. So a Britpart OEM shock absorber may not be Armstron/Woodhead but Boge, who do make OE parts, just not for Landrover. As usual, it is caveat emptor.

Chris

I guess this is the real problem, and it is what I have found as I have purchased parts over the years. Genuine always seems to have a manufacturer mark on it. If you are lucky, OEM does too and that increases your faith in the product.

hmmmmmmmm don't know what to do. Do I just bite the bullet and buy genuine? Or, trust the G spec bits and save some cash...

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Perhaps you could ask the retailler if the bearmach bits have a manufacturers name on them?

I've sent Britcar an email, so lets see. Hopefully they will give me a little bit more info than their response to you above.

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In my experience, if it doesn't have metalastic embossed on the rubber, it won't last as long as one that does. Personally, i would not trust a supplier to be 100% accurate on the origin of a spare part which doesn't have the manufacturers name on it or come in the correct packaging.

Sometimes I think it is because the person you speak to 'believes' what they are telling you, and sometimes it is just easier for them to tell you its the same - because it looks the same!

Regards,

Diff.

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Genuine ones aren't expensive when you consider how long they should last.

Another thing to be aware of when buying OEM parts is that it just means it's made by the company in question - but not necessarily to the same spec. This is most evident when buying things like propshaft UJs where you can get an OEM UJ from a variety of suppliers which comes in a Hardy Spicer/GKN box and is marked up with their trades, but when compared to the item from Land Rover it is built to a lower specification in terms of things such as thrust washers, roller size, seals etc. etc.

Some things it doesn't matter, for example I've found OEM bearings from Timken are identical in spec to the Timken ones from Land Rover and the same with Gaco seals. But UJs seem to be a particular example of this - probably because of the number of different vehicles using a "80mm x 24mm" or whatever it is yoke size and therefore the availability of lower spec parts to the resellers such as Britpart who can then, completely legally, sell it as OEM.

The only thing you can do in the minefield that is Land Rover parts buying is to know what you're buying! If you can be 100% sure that the OEM bushes you're getting are Metalastik then go ahead and get them and save yourself a few quid in the process. But if you have any doubt then personally I'd just get the Land Rover ones. It's also handy to be able to go into your local dealer and pick them up in person, I always prefered doing this to ordering stuff online. But now my closest dealer is 60 odd miles away so no longer an option for me.

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Thanks

Britcar replied today to the original query to say:

'I can confirm that the Britpart OEM (G) is metalastik brand.'

I'm tempted to take a chance. I know what you mean about the price and longevity James, but given RNPs post, these might be ok....

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I've taken a chance on Britpart 'G' ones too, but given my current rate of progress, it might be a while before I can report back!!

Have you bought them already - if so, do they have any embossing/marking that indicates they are the real deal?

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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!

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.

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!

Just like sainsuburies homebrand butter and lurpack! If you dont have your glasses on, you could pick one up mistaking it for the other...

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

Yes I've seen this with things like oil-filters: what looks like "Bosch" is actually "Bosgh" .

Another thing to beware of is where a copy-part has been made by taking the OEM part and using it to make a mould. All the OEM part-numbers, casting-marks etc. get copied on to the bogus-part so it looks like the OEM part but you can't see the truly horrendous internal machining or swarf-in-the-fliuid-drillings.

In the case I'm thinking of, it was six-pot brake-calipers for a Mercedes: I spotted the issue before they got fitted, otherwise the unfortunate owner would have been digging swarf out of the ABS pump....

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The difference between Genuine and OEM parts is sometimes negligible, But the Genuine will always be better, trade agreements don't stop companies selling parts they make but they do have to be slightly different so in the case of bushes the material used will change

The cost of genuine for the whole car is about £150 roughly the same as a polybush kit ( the welsh company) and if you consider that genuine bushes are known to be good for over 100,000 miles in normal conditions and the time it takes to do the job properly it's not a lot of money to spend long term.

My 110 has over 350,000 miles on it and has been to Africa most of Europe and many miles on and off road, I've tried most types of bushes and have gone full circle back to what it started life with Genuine.

The only thing I can say over my last statement is if you have a lift kit and longer shocks the Genuine bushes are not designed for that amount of movement so you will wear them out quicker, in which case Bearmach Blue polybush kit seems to last well that is what I have on my challenge truck

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I bought some new take off shocks recently and they came with the genuine bushes. The rubber looks shinier and smells more pungent than a typical cheap bush. I would say they're quite clearly different types of rubber. I wish I'd realised this a year ago as the bushes I put on are all starting to crack now (bought from Newbury)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi RNP/others,

My order arrived today. I was very careful to order the bushes that Paddocks marked up as Metalastik only (all Britpart G spec). Now, only NTC7307 have any markings on them saying Metalastik. None of the others (ordered all of the bushed for the 110) have any markings on them at all. Was this the case with yours, even for the smaller bushes like the ones for the rear of the trailing arm??

I need some re-assurance here, especially given Jefs recent post on the brake flexi pipes!

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