I think that Jay is correct in some respects, but even the smaller
"specialists" can be a problem. The "rebuilt" water pump (shipped up to Sydney
from Melbourne) that was installed on my Isis last Saturday morning had failed
by Saturday afternoon - but a return is under way with a replacement going in
this morning.
Probably the most scary thing about all this is that whilst some components may
look perfect, if you do not know what material has actually been used and/or
how the item has actually been manufactured and/or stored then you could be in
line for a component breakage at a most inopportune time. If it is a
safety-related component and it breaks, then you could be in real trouble.
Also, another problem is that there are a number of counterfeit components
going around (particularly in high demand and high value items) and sometimes a
reputable supplier can end up with a batch of these in good faith - resulting
in the potential for the end user to suffer serious problems.
I guess that "caveat emptor" will always apply, but it would be nice if we
could have a higher degree of confidence in the quality of what we are buying.
I suspect that most members of this list are prepared to pay for "quality" as
they want their cars to continue running for a long time - if the original part
last for "n" years then the replacement part should last for "n" years also.
Don't see an easy way around this, other than continued discussion on lists
like this - we may only be a small group, but we do seem to care about our cars
and our fellow listers.
Regards....Andrew Pursey....1955 Morris Oxford, 1956 Morris Isis and 1958 MGA+
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