GREAT Price on Control Arms

[insite]

i just bought a new lower control arm here for $99; thought i'd share. no affiliation.

http://www.fcpgroton.com/product-exec/product_id/49839/nm/1997-2004+Porsche+Boxster+Front+Lower+Rear+Control+Arm

[tonycarreon]

just an FYI, the part is made in china - okay for my ipod, but not my car. but decent price. just replaced 1 of mine - $500 parts+labor.

[insite]

i figured it was chinese based on price alone. i'm sure the casting is fine. we'll see how long the ball joint lasts.

[clickman]

Why would you assume the casting is fine?

[insite]

Originally Posted by clickman

Why would you assume the casting is fine?

1. simple material
2. chinese factories are getting pretty good at this stuff


the ones that are getting REALLY good are the ones who market to the US & europe. lots of them are running AS9100/ISO quality programs as well. i must admit i know jack about 'URO' (mfgr) and their factories. when it shows up, i'll have one of our MatE's take a look at the alloy compared w/ OEM. i bet it's very close.

[insite]

and here we go:

http://www.apaindustries.com/uro/site/quality

URO is ISO9000 certified. most of these companies start out w/ abysmal performance records. over time, they adopt industry standard quality techniques & manufacturing processes. eventually, they can get quite good.

these guys have been around since '84. my guess is that they started manufacturing in england or the US, and then moved some or all mfg ops to china. this is always a rocky transition, but expat owners tend to be motivated to bring these operations on par w/ their domestic counterparts. just because it's chinese does not mean that it's crap.

btw, do we know where porsche buys their cast aluminum parts? i bet you dollars to donuts it is NOT germany or any other western euro country.

[BYprodriver]

Originally Posted by insite

1. simple material
2. chinese factories are getting pretty good at this stuff


the ones that are getting REALLY good are the ones who market to the US & europe. lots of them are running AS9100/ISO quality programs as well. i must admit i know jack about 'URO' (mfgr) and their factories. when it shows up, i'll have one of our MatE's take a look at the alloy compared w/ OEM. i bet it's very close.

Hey Insite, speaking of questionable castings any insite on the alloy used to make M96 engine parts like case, heads,cam covers? Having a hard time finding the best solution for cleaning parts without turning dark grey.