O E Brand = junk?

[Bonnewagon]

I saw a couple of Fleabay auctions for front end kits and the prices where half what I consider normal. It caught my eye because the part numbers were Moog, but buried in the text was "O E Brand". I searched and found that OE is the logo of FPD which means Foreign Parts Distributors. I also found some totally scary reports of OE ball joints breaking. I am guessing they are cheap Chinese junk, but the FPD site is very secretive about where the parts are made. I have come across the brand in AutoZone, but not for anything as critical like steering and suspension parts which I will stick to Moog for. So unless anyone can prove otherwise lets consider this a heads-up for cheap junk you don't want to risk your safety on.

 

[DoubleV]

I always just assume everything nowadays, especially on epay are Chinese made garbage. I really hate what this world has become.

 

[oldtinsmith]

Bonnewagon,
Thanks for taking the time to do the research you stated in your post! Good job! I'll never understand why people buy this cheap crap just to save a buck. I would never purposely put me, my family, or the general public at risk of being injured or even killed by buying this (alot of which is pirated) junk. All I can say is THINK PEOPLE!!!

Doug

 

[pontiacgp]

Thanks Mark, with all the offshore junk these days it's hard to keep up with them.

 

[Bonnewagon]

You're welcome Doug and Steve. I was pissed that they advertised with the Moog part numbers, trying to lure the unsuspecting. I asked why and got no response. I try to buy American whenever possible, as hard as that can be sometimes. So far I list foreign stuff like this- Canada is good, followed by Mexico, Taiwan, and even Vietnam is decent. Japan is good, but expensive so you don't see much anymore. Way down the list is Korea, Indonesia, Russia, and last is China. Even when American companies go through the trouble of producing something good in China, it gets pirated and the market gets flooded with the cheap knockoffs. Case in point, several years ago the market was flooded with cheap-*ss tire valve stems from China which failed after only a year or two. Sure enough my constantly leaking tires had the bad China stems.

 

[oldtinsmith]

Mark, I never thought about the valve stems! I have two tires always loosing air and blamed the GM aluminum wheels on my '93 cutlass! Thanks buddy!

Doug

 

[pontiacgp]

Doug, Mark just changed his valves and found a nice tool to do it so you won't have to remove the tires..

 

[mheath717]

I bought all of my steering components from autozone... They are sold under Duralast Gold, by Raybestos. On each tie rod end, it is stamped "Made in USA." They cost even more than the MOOG Problem Solver parts.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Doug, bend the valves over and look where they enter the rim. I bet they are cracked all to hell. This is the tool.

http://www.ameintl.net/uploadedfiles/files/AMEValveStemFlyer.pdf

 

[dragonmaster093]

i can say first hand the those parts are junk guy at one shop i worked at had me put in ball joints and tire rods on his car
(rich guy but cheap as hell) in three months relpaced the ball joints 2 twice and three sets of tie rods. before he got smart and listened. yea the parts were warrenteed but shop labor to replace wasent so put simple run do not walk way from these parts.