Parts Acquisition - Non-Main Dealer
Traders, T25 specialists and 80-90 community members find that some non-genuine VW parts don't always cut the mustard! Thanks to contributors - these sort of tips can save an awful amount of time, trouble and.... money.
Header tank caps, loads of problems, never hold pressure - buy genuine!
Thermostats, don't seems to open far enough, again cost me time.
Temp senders, problems on Diesels, they seem okay on petrols.
There seems to be 3 qualities of rear wheel cylinder, I only now use the most expensive ones, had problems with the cheaper ones leaking within 12 months.
Anti roll bar to bottom arm bushes don't last 2 minutes, but I use poly ones now anyway.
Washer jets need to be dropped into boiling water before fitment or they just snap their little legs off!
Front inner wheel bearings seem a little tight on the shaft, you really need to fettle the shaft with some 80's to get them to slide on.
Brake pads - whilst many cheaper alternatives work - Genuine VW really work better, so if it matters at least get your pads and shoes from VW.
Beaker: Had a Hi-Torq branded top ball joint from them last year, started to fail inside 3000 miles, was spotted and replaced but I missed out on the warranty by 2 days !!!
I would agree that you pays your money and ......I get VW when I can justify it, i.e. a part that should be good for ten years, and which is a major job to replace, or when there is no choice, otherwise GSF, EuroCarParts, Brakes International or my local factor AndrewPage [1], who will pay the labour charge on replacing failed or out of spec parts which means they do really try to get it right.
Pickles: In my experience I would not buy any more from GSF the following items:-
Tie rod ends and tie rods
Water jacket gaskets (only full kits)
Wheel Cylinders
Bushes
Thermostats
Ball Joints
I would buy:-
Exhausts (Ernst)
Clutches
Brake Pads (top quality ones)
Get the original rocker cover. You can get the original one from VW Classicparts Centre in Wolfsburg (part of VAG).
Thier website is http://www.vw-classicparts.de/
VAG Part Numbers (required):-
Rocker Cover: 021 101 471
Rocker Cover Gaskets: 021 101 481
These covers are fairly cheap and are worth the money.
To order them, go to thier website then do the following:-
- Click on Aktionsangebot
- Ring them up on the phone number shown on that page. This will create a new customer number for you. You can then email them with your credit/debit card details. Make absolutely certain that there are no viruses nor spyware on your computer before you do this !!
- The parts should then arrive in approximately 10 days or less. The customer number will appear on the invoice (where it says Kundenummer).
If you need to order any parts from them on future orders then do the following:-
- Go into the website http://www.vw-classicparts.de/
- Click on Verfügbarkeitsabfrage (availability question)
- A new window (or tab if you are using Firefox) will now appear
- Click on the Verfügbarkeitsabfrage starten! button
- Type in the part number without the space in the Teilenummer (part number) text box
- Click on the finden! button
- A list will now appear. Green means in stock, yellow means in stock outside Wolfsburg and red means unavailable
- Type in the Menge text box the number of items you want
- Click on Positionen uebernehmen (places the parts in your shopping basket)
When you have finished adding items to your shopping basket then click on the Anfrage bearbeiten (ask them about availabilty and for a qoute on how much they will cost).
They will them email you back with a PDF file and if you wish to go ahead with the order, then you will need to reply back (to the email address who sent you the qoute) with your full payment details.
I hope this helps.
