I often find myself wondering which of the cheap/off brand parts on the market are usable. It used to be the answer was always "Moog but not the R-prefix part numbers", but anecdotally I've heard Moog's quality has slipped and new-manufactured parts even in the Problem Solver line don't necessarily hold up like they used to.
Which, of course, leaves very few options for "trusted brand names" that are also not "a significant percentage of the value of the vehicle".
I can tell you this: when I first did the big brakes on my 91, I used Dorman complete lower control arms with included non-greasable ball joints. I used Ultra Power K8678 upper ball joints. One year/less than 10k km later, I had visible slop in one of the Ultra Power uppers and a crunching sound coming from one of the lowers. One of the lowers, unsure if it was the crunching one or not, is rather sloppy as well. So I can very confidently recommend against those specific parts because they were disasters for me. I replaced them before any separations, of course, and I'm also the sort to periodically check my suspension for slop anyway so the chances of them failing before I noticed were slim.
Can anyone provide their experiences with the various brands that are out there? I'm specifically wondering about Mevotech Supreme. If Moog is not the king it once was, maybe the price premium for Moog parts is not justified like it once was. If a competitor makes a part that's roughly as good for half the price, overspending for the name on the box doesn't make much sense...does it?
Lower ball joints are the part that led me to make this post, but anything is fair game to list off...
The parts exist, surely someone is buying them. And surely some of those $8 ball joint offerings have to be decent or there's no way they could stay on the market. I do not believe that you always get what you pay for - on a level paying field, sure. But since price is not linearly related to cost of manufacture or build quality, it doesn't necessarily mean much. I'm certain that a portion of that $50 ball joint is just inflated to make the brand seem more premium because of attitudes like "you get what you pay for".
Which, of course, leaves very few options for "trusted brand names" that are also not "a significant percentage of the value of the vehicle".
I can tell you this: when I first did the big brakes on my 91, I used Dorman complete lower control arms with included non-greasable ball joints. I used Ultra Power K8678 upper ball joints. One year/less than 10k km later, I had visible slop in one of the Ultra Power uppers and a crunching sound coming from one of the lowers. One of the lowers, unsure if it was the crunching one or not, is rather sloppy as well. So I can very confidently recommend against those specific parts because they were disasters for me. I replaced them before any separations, of course, and I'm also the sort to periodically check my suspension for slop anyway so the chances of them failing before I noticed were slim.
Can anyone provide their experiences with the various brands that are out there? I'm specifically wondering about Mevotech Supreme. If Moog is not the king it once was, maybe the price premium for Moog parts is not justified like it once was. If a competitor makes a part that's roughly as good for half the price, overspending for the name on the box doesn't make much sense...does it?
Lower ball joints are the part that led me to make this post, but anything is fair game to list off...
The parts exist, surely someone is buying them. And surely some of those $8 ball joint offerings have to be decent or there's no way they could stay on the market. I do not believe that you always get what you pay for - on a level paying field, sure. But since price is not linearly related to cost of manufacture or build quality, it doesn't necessarily mean much. I'm certain that a portion of that $50 ball joint is just inflated to make the brand seem more premium because of attitudes like "you get what you pay for".
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