Just replaced tie rods, boots already cracked!!
 

I just replaced my tierods in April with FEBI parts, and the boots are already cracking. :mad: They have not failed yet, but I don't think the boots should already be cracked. Should I send them back. Should I expect more cracking with the replacements? I thought FEBI was the one of the better suppliers???

Febi is a re-packager. MOST of their suspension parts are very "aftermarket".

They buy parts like that from Turkey most of the time.

What would you recommend then?

Brett, I think I have some boots for that in stock if you are interested in changing the boots.

Tom W

I would love to see a list of which of these aftermarket parts companies are reputable and which are not. If it were I, these tie rods would get returned. The problem is that most online parts houses are ready to take your money in one instant, but painfully slow and unwilling in many cases to return it after their bogus parts are returned to them. Lately, I find the local NAPA store much more reliable. They can even order most OEM parts and have them the following day.

I've had some questionable Meyle parts.

Also theres seller deutschepartsusa on ebay, who knows where they get their parts from but the W220 front suspension parts I used on a friends car were absolute crap. The boots on 3 of the 6 pieces we replaced were torn open within 5 months and making noise, after 8 months, the car was unsafe to drive, with the ball joints about to pull out of the sockets. I redid the right side for free and he just called me again last week saying the left side is making noise now and it looks like I'm going to be doing that side now too. No help from them on the bad parts either.

Several years ago I had the tie rods replaced under warranty at a highly respected north Dallas MB dealer.
One of the rods appeared very nice, just like the OEM.
The other was rusty, cheap, and the boots were already cracking.
The reply was that they carried both the OEM and the cheap junk, and let the customers decide which they wanted to pay for!!!!!!!!
They apologized for putting the junk rod on a warranty claim, and replaced it with an OEM unit.

No problems since; all the parts I have bought there appear to be OEM quality, as far as I can tell. Certainly the prices are OEM-level!!!

DG

280EZrider asked, "I would love to see a list of which of these aftermarket parts companies are reputable and which are not."

From everything that I have read and seen, it would be my considered opinion, that when it comes to rubber suspension parts, I would ONLY use genuine OE factory parts. Not OEM and not aftermarket. It is just false economy on these types of parts to use anything but MB branded replacement components.

In reading this thread, there seems to be a misunderstanding of the terms OE, OEM, and aftermarket. OE and OEM are NOT the same. M.B.Doc has it right (of course).

OE = genuine factory parts with a full replacement warranty. It will have the tri-star on nearly every part and will be replaced under warranty, by a Mercedes dealer (labor included), no matter who installed it the first time (as long as it was installed properly, of course). I think most OE parts are warranted for two years, if I remember correctly.

OEM = is just a manufacturer that might make one type of part for MB, but sells other types of parts also. So, for example, say that Febi makes the OE factory power steering fluid for MB, but supplies MB with nothing else. (MB sets the quality standards of the fluid, buys it from Febi, and sells it, branded MB, to you.) Febi can claim to be an OEM, for instance, but they have absolutely no requirements that they must follow on the quality standards on the suspension parts that they might manufacture or repackage from someone else.

dakota, thank you for clearing this up.

Additionally, dakota's reply should be placed as a sticky. It's absolutely scary the amount of fobbing that goes on in the business of auto parts. Without this type of information, we are nothing more than sheep being led to the slaughter.

be careful with aftermarket suspension parts
 

When I was shopping parts before replacing some front suspension parts at 100K miles in my W220, I found there was a large difference in price between OE and aftermarket. I called some dealer mechanics and some independents and asked re their experience. Several had bad experiences with cheap suspension parts.