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D3 - Axles, Brakes, Suspension and Steering Brakes, Springs, shocks, steering racks, steering columns, suspension arms, wheel hubs etc.

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  #11  
Old 13th January 2018, 06:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mechcanico Lee View Post
Did you like how I guessed correctly them being from euro hehe !!

Where we can we tend to use genuine parts ....yes yes I know the genuine parts can be mega expensive on some things , we have used ecp since 1988 and back in the day the parts used to be pretty good quality , but over the last few year we use them less and less , lots of under handed going’s on .....Chinese copy parts in Bosch boxes ..... guess which batteries come back for warranty issues more than any other ...yes Bosch .....air mass meters , egrs , crank/cam sensors ,abs sensors , starters and alternators ...we have had more trouble with ecp parts than any other ...LUK clutches and dual mass flywheels going faulty after a couple of thousand miles ....it’s ok them saying take it back out and we will
give you a replacement ( which also will go faulty ) some of these clutch jobs are engines out or very labour intensive ....6 , 7 , 8 hour jobs .....yes we can claim the labour back but at THERE labour rate £30 an hour , we are on £60 an hour so we have to stand that as our loss , we have ended up fitting dealer parts to some of our come back clutch jobs and they have been fine since .
Ecps Padgid brakes have gone down hill aswell ....caused alot of friction with some customers (see what I did there ) .

We fitted some of the Brembo stuff to a few range rovers and some of the bigger cars we do , one set warped , a couple of the others customers complaining about brake fade , some of the others seemed happy enough with them .

I could go on and on with issues , at the minute we only use them for Mann filters and Lemforder suspension parts , any other track rod ends and such steer clear of em ( snigger ).

We have been using Ferodo premier brakes for the last year or so and they seem to be pretty good ,we get these through another local factors .



Architex ......there’s an engineering beauty of skimming discs on the car as the skim will allow for any imperfection on the hub aswell .



Did I tell you the one about the 40 foot shipping container pulled in at the docks full to the top with Chinese copy SKF wheel bearings , perfect copy boxes with the hologram sticker .....wonder where they was headed .........
I just returned my Bosch s5 battery to ECPs the other day too. And yes, very impressive Lee that you pinpointed the seller as you did!!!!
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  #12  
Old 13th January 2018, 06:42 PM
Mechcanico Lee Mechcanico Lee is offline
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Batteries.....we use exide or Varta not had an issue as yet
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  #13  
Old 13th January 2018, 08:00 PM
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See John, was I right or was I right?
Told you Lee was a knowledgeable bunny!!!!
Well spotted Lee, only problem is has John wasted his money or can he reclaim it? But as you said ECP are quick at replacing parts not money.So you fit the replacements and two months down the road you are back again to square one.
Were you not tempted to push that container off the dock?
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Old 13th January 2018, 10:00 PM
Mechcanico Lee Mechcanico Lee is offline
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They will not want to give refunds , Johnmed could ask to exchange the Bosch battery for an exide ??

With brakes it’s difficult to prove whats wrong , faulty parts or incorrect fitment , I would say in most cases about 50 /50 , I’ve seen discs fitted to the most rusted hubs ever .

Ray .....” push the container off the dock “ the pushing will be done by ecp .....pushing them as original equipment parts when they are really ting tong parts made from sub standard materials
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Old 13th January 2018, 10:04 PM
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The battery was exchanged for another. They didn’t even want to see my receipt. I think that’s decent really, seeing as the duff door handles could well have slowly but surely seen that battery off. I’ll be doing the same before the 5 year guarantee expires.

My hubs were in good order and I wire brushed them before fitting the new discs and cleaned the discs thoroughly with brake cleaner etc. I’ve changed discs/pads/shoes before without issue.

If the parts are hooky, then trading standards should really be involved methinks.
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Old 13th January 2018, 11:36 PM
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Friend of mine:
Same car
Same brand
Same supplier
Same issue

After four sets he ended up fitting my spare set of ceramics and he is happy as Larry now.

Hope you will get this sorted really soon
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  #17  
Old 14th January 2018, 07:02 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M-A8 View Post
Friend of mine:
Same car
Same brand
Same supplier
Same issue

After four sets he ended up fitting my spare set of ceramics and he is happy as Larry now.

Hope you will get this sorted really soon
Thanks for that mate. Ok. So did he return them to ECP? If so I think an email to their customer services may be needed. Can’t see them exchanging pads and discs after they’ve been fitted for a few thousand miles...
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  #18  
Old 14th January 2018, 09:43 AM
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Quality issues aside ECP now offers lifetime warranty for a little extra cost. I guess they reckon most of the cars are not kept for long enough by the same owner so they can make money on something that's mostly covered by manufacturers warranty already and there will be few cases were they will need to cover it outside manufacturers warranty. I recently had to replace Bosch S4 battery on A6 that I bought 5 years ago from ECP, it only has 4 years warranty so was not covered by manufacturer anymore and I had to buy a new one. They offered me lifetime warranty for £12 extra so I went for it. For most people it would be of no use as most people keep car less than 4 years already covered by manufacturer and would not be bothered to swap it out when selling the car. For me it made sense as while I am thinking A6 will be replaced in 2 years time the same battery also fits in S8 and also in a lot of newer cars including the newer A6 BiTDI which I am thinking of getting in 2 years time. I have kept the old battery so it will go back in A6 when I sell it as it's still OK if you drive it every day or in summer, it's just a bit weak in cold if you leave it without running for 3+ days but conductance tester shows about 60% health and recommends to replace it. The new battery with lifetime warranty will be kept and replaced when needed for free. It would have come in handy if I had lifetime warranty at the time when I bought the old battery and would have saved me £90 now. They also offer lifetime warranty on many other parts.

I think I have seen adverts from KwikFit or Halfords for brakes for life where they replace worn or faulty brakes for free for as long as you own the vehicle. Again most people does not keep the cars long enough for brakes to be replaced more than once so they make money selling it with very little costs. But If you intend to keep it for long time it's worth considering.
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  #19  
Old 14th January 2018, 09:47 AM
Mechcanico Lee Mechcanico Lee is offline
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“My hubs were in good order and I wire brushed them before fitting the new discs and cleaned the discs thoroughly with brake cleaner etc. I’ve changed discs/pads/shoes before without issue.”

Hey I wasn’t getting at that you had not done the job properly by the way John+

This is worth a watch just out of interest .

https://youtu.be/X4JWLNw_fD8
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  #20  
Old 14th January 2018, 09:54 AM
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Kwikfit used to do it with exhausts.
I once bought, extremely cheaply, a Vauxhall Astra Estate from work. Two years old and they had replaced the exhaust with lifetime replacement. I took that car all over Europe, even into Berlin in '89 when the wall came down. They did replace parts as needed whilst I had the car.
Don't know if they still do it.
I could not see why they did it at the time but in afterthought it does make sense, money for nothing in most cases.
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