W203 thrust arms - Lemforder or Replacement?

[paul_f]

I want to replace all 4 arms in the front suspension of my 156k mile W203 as all of the bushes have some play in them.

Looking at Euro Car Parts they have Lemforders for £68 for the top arms and £89 for the bottom arms (+VAT) or Replacements for £49 for the top arms and £29 from the bottom arms.

This is a huge difference in price, which rings alarm bells to me...

Has anyone used the much cheaper arms?

The cheaper arms have a part number ending in 0 and the Lemforders end in 5 - the ECP website says this:

For example: 332456780, 332456781 and 332456785 are all water pumps for a Saab except '0' indicates 'Original Equipment Manufacture', '1' indicates 'Alternative Quality Brand' and '5' indicates 'Genuine Part'.

Cheers
Paul

 

[grober]

Lemforder are OEM supplier to Mercedes Benz so by using them your are getting MB quality. Since labour is the main cost in suspension replacement I would always go for the MB/OEM quality parts.

 

[Dieselman]

For example: 332456780, 332456781 and 332456785 are all water pumps for a Saab except '0' indicates 'Original Equipment Manufacture', '1' indicates 'Alternative Quality Brand' and '5' indicates 'Genuine Part'.

I don't understand this statement from ECP.
If '0' means OEM, what does '5' mean. Or is it thet '0' means from a maker of OEM parts, but not for this manufacturer.?

Id' stick with the Lemforder ones as they are part of the ZF/Sach-Boge empire, so quality is assured and are the original part.

 

[kth286]

I would just go to Mercedes and get the correct parts - full stop.

You are assured of correct fit first time and proper spec rubber bushes etc and 2 years warranty.

As grobber has pointed out, you are making a major saving on the labour anyway so why compromise on parts. Keep the integrity of the vehicle and the Mercedes dealer invoice for when you sell the car.

I certainly would not want to see a book full of ECP invoices for parts of unknown quality when buying a second hand car.

 

[paul_f]

The car is 8 years old now and has done 155k miles - it is worth 3k tops. It was my fathers has been regularly serviced by an independant since it has been out of warranty. Its not worth getting Mercedes boxed parts, so it is either pattern or OEM.

I have only used VW parts from ECP some of there pattern parts are great, others are rubbish which is why I asked the original question.

 

[franey]

If you want a set of Febi ones (who make some stuff for MB) I can supply all four arms inc nuts and new bolts for £260 + postage of around £10.

Steer clear of the cheaper ones, a lot of them are very cheap copies and whilst they may seem ok at first they don't last too long in my experience.

The febi ones are brilliant quality, have sold quite a few now for the W203 and even more for the W220.

 

[bigstuff]

you only buy the cheap ones if you are not keeping the car if you intend to trade it in soon ect

 

[nick mercedes]

I want to replace all 4 arms in the front suspension of my 156k mile W203 as all of the bushes have some play in them.

Looking at Euro Car Parts they have Lemforders for £68 for the top arms and £89 for the bottom arms (+VAT) or Replacements for £49 for the top arms and £29 from the bottom arms.

I've got some real MB ones you can have for less than ECP price, drop me a PM...

 

[BlackC55]

The Lemforder arms are cr@p. Use MB ones only.

(most Lemforder stuff is superb but the 203 arms are awful)

 

[paul_f]

I can't send any PMs until I get up to 30 posts...

 

[paul_f]

I have the old arms off now, the front arms are pretty bad (the car passed an MOT 6 weeks ago - but has been on an extended trip from Kent to Scotland and the knock started since then)

The tie rod ends appear to have a little bit of up and down play in the ball joint, are these expensive to replace whilst I working in that area?

Cheers
Paul

 

[nick mercedes]

I can't send any PMs until I get up to 30 posts...

See your other post in the feedback section.