[s-cars] Looking at suspension parts,

[Tom Green]

That sounds like tie rod ends you had the problem with, Chris.
You will see a lot of original parts rusted in place because the  
plating was
inadequate or non-existent. Most suppliers have gotten better at  
that, but
you don't know for sure until you open the box.

Ideally, you would like several thousand Germans to test these  
individual
parts for you.  That's where the preference for Febi, Lemforder,  
Bilstein,
Eibach, FAG, etc, came from, but traditional manufacturing is  
changing in
Germany just as it did here.  Plants moved to the former eastern bloc
countries and some are now sliding toward China.

If you can buy from a place where you can have them open the box at the
counter and they have a solid, no-hassle return policy, you can assess
some quality yourself.  The labor installing suspension parts has to be
considered in your plan, since that is a sunk cost-maybe twice.  :-)
Convince the parts place that it is a defective part you installed  
correctly
or you will eat the parts cost as well since most parts will be special
order.

Specifically, Moog--always take TRW instead, unless they suddenly drop
the price by 50%.  Spicer is better know for US parts.  I would doubt  
their
ability to catalog S4/S6 parts properly.  Beck-Arnley is a value-added
supplier, the foreign car JC Whitney.  They repackage parts from world-
wide suppliers with a mark-up in price.  I doubt their catalogs are good
enough to identify the URS specific parts.  You can usually see a red  
flag
on these catalogs that lump A6/S6 parts together.  This is not the place
to get the part when time is important unless there is no question it is
correct.

If you use the ETKA and use online suppliers with a good reputation for
S4/S6 parts, and call or email if in doubt, you will do as well as these
marginal suppliers that try to cover everything.  I like to include  
dealer
pricing in the search at the best discount place I know, but the online
catalog for genuinevwaudiparts.com or Audi Parts Depot (Riverside Audi)
is almost useless unless you check by part #.

Tom


> Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:21:28 -0700 (PDT)
> From: chris chambers <fastscirocco_2000 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [s-cars] Looking at suspension parts,	are any of these brands
> 	bad? Moog, Beck Arnley, Spicer
> To: Scar <s-car-list at audifans.com>
> Message-ID: <89115.4528.qm at web65414.mail.ac4.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> Are there any brands I should consider?
>
> I've ruled out meyle, although a couple suppliers claim
> they haven't had ANY problem with Meyle, every Meyle part I
> have bought has rusted/seized fast.