Decent wishbone suppliers

[Anthony 1,000]

Who is still supplying/manufacturing decent quality 205 GTi wishbones these days, both in terms of bushes and balljoints that last?

 

I know Motaquip used to be good until they started supplying Ocap garbage a few years back.  Delphi used to be good for 309 GTi wishbones but no idea what they're like now as I've not bought any for years.  What about Febi-Bilstein - I know the bushes they supply separately are pretty good, but not sure on balljoint longevity or whether the entire wishbones they supply are manufactured by them or just a rebrand?  Any other suggestions?

 

Slightly irked as a new wishbone I had "in stock" and fitted in June this year has already got slight play in the balljoint and sullied what would otherwise have been a clean MOT pass this afternoon.  Admittedly I've done 2500 miles since I fitted it, but even so to have play within a couple of months is dreadful.

 

Amusingly, the old wishbone on the other side that must be 15+ years old now, done 10's of thousands of miles and cosmetically looks like it has been dredged out of the sea?  Balljoint is still in good condition.... 

[DamirGTI 323]

Delphi , or TRW (if you can find any on stock) or Sasic .

 

Delphi wishbones really last for very long time (balljoints , not sure about the bushes as i tend to replace them with OE or Sasic bushes) , i've an set of Delphi wishbones for god knows how long now on my daily 205 ! still no play in the balljoints , + lowered and the roads over here are pretty rough .

 

French Sasic is also good , haven't tried the wishbones myself (fitted a few to other's peoples cars though with no complains afterwards) but i have Sasic drop links for quite a while now too .. using a lot of the Sasic bushes and engine mounts during the years and they're always good quality (seems that Kleber makes rubber parts for Sasic , as there's "Kleber industrial" writing/stamp on the bushes , nowadays often erased) , also strangely often times you'll get OE part in Sasic package ! .

 

D

[Anthony 1,000]

Thanks Damir

 

Good to hear that Delphi are still good, although interesting on the bushes - certainly their 309 GTi wishbones used to have the OE Kleber bushes fitted, which it sounds like the 205 GTi ones don't (or at least not now).

 

I have historically found Sasic a bit hit and miss, but it's good to hear that you've had positive experiences more recently.  Certainly the handful of recent Sasic bits on my car seem to be generally fine, although the ARB bushes do subjectively seem to be a little soft and ill-fitting compared to OE - they do at least have the correct locator cut out though, which is better than many of the other aftermarket / poly offerings!

[SRDT 146]

TRW was OE for 309 GTI wishbones and also the ones with a stronger balljoints sold by Peugeot Sport, not sure how it is now.

[DamirGTI 323]

Indeed TRW was in the OE package when buying wishbones directly from Peugeot ... for 205 as well .

 

Usually very good and most durable , though back in the days , i had one odd occasion with the OE bought TRW wishbone at Peugeot on which the balljoint let loose after only 1 year of use !

 

TRW and Lemforder would be best suspension wise , but unfortunately nowadays it's hard to find some on stock for older cars like 205/309 .

 

D

 

 

[DamirGTI 323]

6 hours ago, Anthony said:

Good to hear that Delphi are still good, although interesting on the bushes - certainly their 309 GTi wishbones used to have the OE Kleber bushes fitted, which it sounds like the 205 GTi ones don't (or at least not now).

 

 

I have historically found Sasic a bit hit and miss .

 

Yeah , from what is available/on offer nowadays i'd go with the Delphi  ... not as many choices anyway , especially from known good suspension part manufacturers like TRW/Lemforder which where known good for years .  

 

Think the TRW wishbones had Kleber bushes ? can't recall if i've seen them on Delphi bones (reason why i used to replace them with OE bushes) , possibly though , might be "foggy memory" we're not as young as we're used to be !

 

Yes Sasic does have some softer rubber compound bushes and mounts now , depends for which car brand/make/model and which specific rubber part .. surely for some old cars with the likes of 205/309/405 demand for parts is low thus the production might've likely been outsourced from other manufacturers or if you get lucky pulled from old OE stocks and repacked .

In the old days i always got OE "Kleber Industrial" bushes inside Sasic package (still have some new unused in my pile of parts) , i remember that the complete set/kit of wishbone bushes and bolts/nuts from Sasic came with the "Kleber Industrial" writing on them and where identical to those bought from Peugeot !

 

D

 

Edited September 1, 2022 by DamirGTI

[Gavin Waddell 18]

Bit of a thread revival, i needed to change my wishbones, so i ordered a set of Delphi from mister auto. After 3 months of them sitting in a box finally got the time to fit them. 

So i tried to fit them and well got the front bolt in and the rear bushing was. 10mm to far out. Tried the other side and same thing .

So i went and got the old wish bone and ran a long m12 rod from the rear to the front bush and and  they are offset by 10mm where as the delphi ones you can fit the rod through the 2 bushes, mean they are aligned no offset, meaning i cant fit them. Out of interest all gti/diesel wishbones are the same?

I called mister auto, and i am now arguing with them because thay have a 30day return policy and now wont take them back. They do have a clause in there policy for a 2 year guarantee for any defects or no conformity. Trying to make them understand that they are no conform. Wil post some pictures to show what i mean.

 

Basically dont buy delphi wishbones

[Gavin Waddell 18]

[chris 417 mi 24 2 Cars]

Did you get anywhere with this ? 
I’ve had a Delphi wishbone sat in the boot of my Td since November last year ( to fit in a few weeks time) and now you have me worried 

[Gavin Waddell 18]

I have sent them back. Once i get a refund i will ordersome sasic ones.

You can check if they will fit with a bit of 10mm bar like in my photos. If they are the correct ones the the bar shouldn't go through both bushing holes. Like in the photos.

[chris 417 mi 24 2 Cars]

Yeah I checked on Saturday strait after I’d seen this, same issue ... this isn't good  

Edited February 26 by chris 417 mi

[Gavin Waddell 18]

s*it, i sent them back and got a refund even after 4 months, i had to speak to head of the customer service department, i argued that the product had a fault and was non conform to the original, as this is in their 2 year guarantee policy.

[chris 417 mi 24 2 Cars]

So the Febi arms I ordered early this week are also exactly the same which is annoying ! 
looking at the photos it seems they’re slightly off and need bending out ? 
 

[DamirGTI 323]

Crap ! ...

 

Unfortunately , Delphi went south lately trough entire range , since they're switched from the Delphi-Lockheed black-gray boxes with red logo to blue-white boxes it's all pretty much dubious quality wise ie. repacked stuff from god knows where .. there's not even a "made in" writing on the boxes just the barcode (always UK) .

 

Febi , kinda similar ... last timing chain kit i bought from Febi looked like made by Ray Charles .

 

With regards to the 205 wishbones , nowadays of insanity all around - go for French "Sasic" or Turkish "Teknorot" , those should be OK.

 

If in doubt , go directly to the motor factors and order there rather than online .. so you can inspect/check the part if it's good or defective and return/refuse buying on the spot .

 

Or , order a few variants of different brands (say 3) and see what you'll get , pick one which is good and return others back .. in case if the seller/shop policy accepts that kind of "order-and-return" (returns are usually within 14 days) if not by yourself as an regular/private buyer/customer , try to ask someone who runs business aka car repair shop they'll be able to order multiple items and return excess free of charge .

 

D

[chris 417 mi 24 2 Cars]

So I tried a set of Febi bilstein off eBay from another supplier to see if this was just a Delphi problem … nope … exact same casting as the Delphi and will need to be returned

[chris 417 mi 24 2 Cars]

Literally seems the casting has been offset, anyone else had luck with other brands yet ?

[Gohn 62]

good find, especially for faraway owners ordering parts from the other side of the planet

 

I got a set of Febi's just over 3 full years ago and they're good

obviously worthless feedback now as they must have gone to new suppliers in china or something

 

its not proof but..

peugeot shop and Serie04 only do peugeot

and both are selling the SASIC wishbones

 

 

 

 

[Gavin Waddell 18]

I have oedered some sasic ones, will see when they arrive next week.

[Richie-Van-GTi 70 2 Cars]

I recently bought new Delphi 309 arms, having compared them to Chris's 205 arms that are wrong they appear to be far closer to correct and should fit. 

[DamirGTI 323]

What ever you're intentions are i'd strongly advise against as you're playing with dangerous component (in case it fails whilst driving) .

 

Wishbones are made from cast iron , you cannot bend/twist cast iron , it'll crack .

 

D

[chris 417 mi 24 2 Cars]

I’ve send the pair I ordered back to parts in motion in Exeter, the one that I’d got from eBay in August is another story … 

seller not answering at all and well out of the returns date, tempted to give Delphi themselves a call and see what I can do. 

[SRDT 146]

2 hours ago, DamirGTI said:

Wishbones are made from cast iron , you cannot bend/twist cast iron , it'll crack .

 

As far as I remember they should be forged, not cast.

[DamirGTI 323]

Old ones very likely forged , but this new ones ... the one on the picture above , if looking at the parting line on the center and sand mold grain texture on the wishbone i'd say cast item .

 

Either way i'd stay clear of trying to modify either one of them being forged or cast .. simply isn't worth the risk , as good wishbones can still be found/purchased from other suppliers .

 

These ones i'd certainly report to the suppliers , likely it'll be the only way they'll be able to know they're faulty and rectify (if they stand by they're reputation in the aftermarket parts business) .

 

No doubt it's some Chinesium operation special , found out that there's money to be made on making and reselling GTi wishbones , unfortunately their blueprints for making them somehow ended f***d !!

 

D

 

 

Edited March 16 by DamirGTI

[petert 549]

Cast steel?

[SRDT 146]

1 hour ago, petert said:

Cast steel?

It can be done, but it could also be ductile iron:

Quote

Ductile iron is distinguished from ordinary grey iron by its remarkable mechanical properties (elasticity, impact strength, elongation...). These are due to the spheroidal nature of the graphite particles.

 

It could also be that the forging parting line was ground to close to nothing before sandblasting as part of the finishing process.