Aftermarket parts brand recommendations.

Took around 7 days last time I ordered.
I’ve used them in the past to order a lot of parts at once but have heard some stories about them substituting for another brand if not available without notification which is a bit naughty.
Their prices have gone up quite a lot too.
 
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Establish which part manufacturers supply the Mazda factories and use those brands.
 
Establish which part manufacturers supply the Mazda factories and use those brands.
Thanks for that. Although it's not so clear cut sometimes! Many years ago, I had a mate who worked for QH, in their quality control department. This was back in the days when they actually made stuff here. Sometimes, they would be supplying original equipment to the car manufacturer for production vehicles. The manufacturer would have a very tightly specified set of sign-off criteria. So (for example, in the case of a balljoint), surface roughness of the ground surface of the ball, angular tolerances on the taper, material specifications, obviously, surface hardness, specifications for the nylon socket, etc. Parts coming off the production line that were within those tolerances would be assembled and sent to the car manufacturer (who, of course, had his own goods inwards QC checks).

However, parts that were JUST out of tolerance, could be acceptable as "genuine spares" to the manufacturer, and would be boxed accordingly.

Further down the out-of-spec tree, parts could still be assembled and put in QH branded boxes.

Even further out-of-spec, could be sold to the "no-name" aftermarket parts manufacturers.

So you were quite a long way from the OE specification by the time they were bad enough to actually make it to the scrap bin!
That's the trouble with using someone who supplies the OE components. There's no guarantee you'll get OE quality. The other problem, is when you use a reputable brand but for something that they're not reputable for. As an example, I bought a couple of anti roll bar droplinks, branded SKF. Now SKF seem to make fantastic bearings, but these droplinks were pants! The rubber bushes pulled straight out of their housings within about 10 miles!
 
Counterfeit parts compound the issue. I ordered parts from an ebay seller and they were obvious fakes. Two KYB label shocks, same part number, allegedly from the same factory. The list of spot the difference was lengthy.
 
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Yes, that's a real problem. And the counterfeiters are getting really good at copying logos - even holograms on the boxes!
 
Update. Autodoc. I ordered on the 22nd of August and the parts arrived on the 30th. 8 days. Not as good as before Brexit, but reasonably good, I thought. Parts are both TRW (which is what I ordered) and look to be genuine, as far as I can tell. Haven't tried fitting them yet, though.
 
Update. Autodoc. I ordered on the 22nd of August and the parts arrived on the 30th. 8 days. Not as good as before Brexit, but reasonably good, I thought. Parts are both TRW (which is what I ordered) and look to be genuine, as far as I can tell. Haven't tried fitting them yet, though.
Certainly when it comes to German car parts AutoDoc appears to be the equivalent of Amazon. Having browsed several on-line parts outlets recently I've scrolled down to the very bottom of the page, to search for contact details & out of curiosity clicked on 'Legal' (or similar wording) Surprisingly in several cases the intermediary's registered business address (& even sometimes their 'mail account) is the same as AutoDoc's ;)
 
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