John Simister
John urges us all to stop tolerating poor quality spares
Parts quality isn’t what it was, says John. We should demand better.
Car manufacturers don’t really like making or supplying parts for their obsolete models once those models have been more than 15 years gone. There are exceptions, of course, especially for items still in enough demand to make continued manufacture worthwhile or items both critically safety-related and not catered for by the aftermarket. But a replacement rubber sealing strip for your Renault 21 Savannah’s rear side window? Probably not.
So, the world of aftermarket component manufacturers becomes your oyster. Trivial trim items like that Renault example might still be a no-no, but the important mechanical and electrical bits will be available in boxes bearing credible brands. Or as copies originating in China, in which case buyer beware. That said, China’s bad press in this regard is not so justified today. The Chinese can make parts to a quality as good as anyone else’s. The parts are made there mainly because expertise is widely available and labour is cheap.
Split engine mounts
The picture is cloudier when we get to classics of the Seventies, Sixties or earlier. The big aftermarket parts companies are mostly uninterested unless a part has very widespread application, such as a Lucas coil. So, small runs of reproduction parts are made by small companies, or specialists in a car or the car’s club might commission them.
Tooling-up for reproduction parts is costly, as are original-equipment-grade materials. Many owners won’t pay high prices for parts to use in a car which is a hobby. So, to keep prices low, materials are skimped on. Rubber engine mounts split or part from their metal backing within months, or track rod ends’ boots perish as soon as they are exposed to daylight. When you complain, you’re told that people won’t pay more for a better part.
Or maybe the part isn’t right for the job. It is what you could call a ‘will fit’ part, because it will fit and function, just not properly. Suspension dampers are a good example: they might fit the mountings but the damping curves and the stiffness could be completely wrong. If you have a Lotus Elan or a Hillman Imp, say, you are unlikely to find a new damper able to mimic what Lotus or Rootes intended, although plenty of people will sell you adjustable units which might get somewhere near.
The same goes for polyurethane suspension bushes: your car might feel better than it did on the perished rubber ones, but new rubber ones to original spec would probably have been even better. For years, there has been a mentality in the classic car world of supplying a part to ‘get you out of trouble’ rather than being right. So, to use an Imp example again, we have rubber seals for the coupé’s rear side windows unable to take the metal finishing strip, because that would have needed a more complex tool and the price would have been higher.
But there are signs that things are changing and people want their cars to be right, not just functional. Excuses like: ‘Environmental regulations mean we can’t use the old rubber compounds and bonding materials’ no longer wash, because mounts and bushes in modern cars seem to be lasting as well as such components ever did. So, it must be possible to make components that last properly.
Saab Club excellence
People are fed up doing a job twice because a quite new part has failed. And as the values of many popular classics rise, so people are prepared to spend more on them and demand the better parts we all know can be made.
The excellent Swedish Saab Club is a case in point. It has had many parts remanufactured, especially rubber ones, and it has taken great pains to ensure the compounds are correct, such as in the gearbox mount of my 96 two-stroke. Previously, two-stroke owners have had to use a ‘will fit’ V4 part, which is too hard and transmits terrible vibration. Now, refinement is restored and the price well worth paying.
We all need to insist on the best for our cars, to keep them functioning as they should and, vitally, to keep them safe. But that will happen only if we’re prepared to pay a fair price for the right parts.