What is a 'Best' part?

[DaveNP]

Prompted by a thread in the 850/V70 forum I began thinking about what might make me or others regard one part as the 'best' for the job and wonder what other people think on this. In that thread regarding a replacement clutch one member put forward the opinion that Volvo make/sell the highest specification and quality which will last for 20 years so why buy anything else, which another member countered with the cost and not expecting to keep the car 20 years; both points of view I can find myself agreeing with.
Thinking further about this and my own attitude I'm a bit of a mixed bag, for my wife's car which is relatively new I'm quite happy to pay more for a premium higher quality part which will last longer or perform better, but for my old V70 which is a tatty workhorse I'm happy to go with something midrange because there's a bit in my mind that accepts that the car may get to a point where it's not viable to repair, so long life parts are not so important. I'm thinking there are several factors to consider such as durability, ease of fitting, performance, cost, and there may be others, each of which may have more or less importance depending on circumstances.

So what does anyone else think?
I'll say at the start that I don't think there are right and wrong answers to this question and we don't need to fall out over it.

[Moomoo]

Reliability is , I think, my most important requirement in a car. Even as a cheapskate and tightwad I don’t skimp on service and repair of my cars. On Wednesday I was going to put some adequate budget tyres on my Mini but bottled it and bought European Bridgestones.

Had to watch the pennies once, it taught me the , ‘pay cheap, pay twice’, adage, has weight!

[ITSv40]

A lot depends on the circumstances. As Dave stated: with his wife's car - relatively new with a good life expectancy, it needs quality parts, with his V70 not so much as the life expectancy is much lower. However, I would never skimp on safety related items.

With my previous V40 I was always replacing light bulbs - they don't last long with the daytime running lights. I used to go into Halfords and buy them by the dozen - I knew at the time it was daft buying their own make, but it was convenient. When I bought the current V40 I fitted new Osram bulbs everywhere and vowed not to fit cheapo bulbs anymore. 80,000mls later I have only had to change the headlight bulbs once and the odd tail light.

I tend to work on the principle that I do my own servicing and save on the labour, so fit the best parts I can.

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

Reliability is , I think, my most important requirement in a car. Even as a cheapskate and tightwad I don’t skimp on service and repair of my cars. On Wednesday I was going to put some adequate budget tyres on my Mini but bottled it and bought European Bridgestones.

Had to watch the pennies once, it taught me the , ‘pay cheap, pay twice’, adage, has weight!

I broadly agree, 'Moomoo', but I also share David's philosophy to a certain extent. He and I do run similar cars after all, so that is hardly surprising.

You mentioned tyres. I have always favoured something mid-range, such as Firestone, for instance. I like a name that I recognise, and have never had any issues with them. As I don't demand the last ounce of performance from my car or travel at three-figure speeds on the Autobahn, I feel that 'premium' brands would be an expensive extravagance. Nowadays, being retired and covering a relatively low milage, my tyres tend to expire from age rather than physically wear out anyway.

Regards, John.

[Moomoo]

Yes, I agree John, completely.

[Pidgeonpost]

When replacing safety related items I'll likely use genuine Volvo items unless there's a massive price difference between the Volvo price and that of an OEM or well-recognised manufacturer. But what do you do when you discover a cheapo item during servicing a car that's relatively new to you? Do you replace it regardless of the fact that it might be good for years/1,000s of miles? Depends on a lot of things I guess, and we all have our own feelings for what is/isn't acceptable, and what our budget is.

I once agreed to buy a car, but told the dealer that I wasn't happy that the rear tyres didn't have much life left in them. He agreed to put a new pair of tyres on, did so without me having any input, and put the car in for an MOT as part of the deal. The tester then discovered faults on the two front tyres. The dealer then put a new pair on the front too - again without my involvement as I was buying at a distance during the pandemic. I was quite pleased when he rang me to say the car was ready for collection, but my heart sank when I saw that the 4 new tyres were what are commonly known as Chinese 'Ditchfinders'. Certainly wouldn't have been my first choice, but I wasn't about to go out and slap 4 new Michelins on 'just because'...

[classicswede]

There are lots of sub standard parts on the market and that is what you need to take care of.

In the past I have fitted cheap clutches and they only lasted a few thousand miles. The cost of fitting a clutch is going to be more than the cost of the clutch so if it does not outlast the car then you have not saved money but lost money.

240 strut top mounts. All rubber ones on the market a very poor quality even the ones sold by Volvo are not fit for purpose

B200/230 water pumps. The ones sold by Volvo are now very poor quality. For a bit less money you can have a great SKF pump or for less money again you can get the same poor quality Volvo pump but without the volvo box.

7/900 series ball joints. You can buy Volvo or TRW (TRW make them for Volvo), they are more expensive than most other after market ones but the base plate on the cheap ones is very thin and liable to snap if shock loaded.

There are some parts where genuine is best, some where they are rubbish and some where pattern parts will be just as good a the real thing

[S60D5-185]

It depends entirely on what the job is.

If I was replacing the clutch on an old V70 for example I would fit a top quality unit like LUK due to the labour involved in the replacement and not wanting to do it twice.
When I replaced the rear wheel bearing on my 16 year old XC90 I could have bought one for about £50 but went for an SKF bearing at over £100 as the cheap one is liable to fail early.
Cambelt is another example of not buying cheap.

Stuff like bulbs i buy in boxes of 10 off ebay for a fraction of the cost of premium brands and have noticed no marked difference in any area.
Something like an easily changed drop link I would buy a pattern part and hope that it was going to be reliable. If it fails, no big deal and certainly not a big job.

Anything that involves a lot of labour to actually replace the item, I will always use quality.

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by S60D5-185

When I replaced the rear wheel bearing on my 16 year old XC90 I could have bought one for about £50 but went for an SKF bearing at over £100 as the cheap one is liable to fail early.

I made that mistake - twice - on my first 2003 XC90. Bought a cheap wheel bearing from e-bay, lasted circa 10k miles. Seller refused to honour the warranty saying it had been incorrectly fitted (Bahuha you shysters), bought another cheap one from another seller and that lasted about 13k miles. Bought a used genuine Volvo one, did another 30k before I sold the car.

For me, I'd agree with all that's been said - if it's a high hour job to change (clutch, bearing) I'd always go genuine Volvo or high spec aftermarket (such as LUK clutch kit). I'd also consider if I'd need to be doing the job again whilst I still own the car.

I always fit only genuine Volvo brake discs and pads, on every car I've ever had they always outperform any aftermarket parts in terms of pedal feel, reliability and effectiveness.

If it is a "sacrificial" part - i.e. one that will always wear out like wiper blades, bearings, brakes, etc. the genuine Volvo parts always perform better and outlast any aftermarket (brakes excepted from the last point but I don't care if better brakes only last 80% of cheap brakes).

Bulbs - when I ran company cars the lease company had a contract with Halfords for minor repairs, and once a headlight bulb had failed you had to get used to going in every 6-12 weeks so they could replace the cheap Ring or Halford branded crap they fitted with another of the same. I buy Osram or Philips from powerbulbs.com.

In many cases I would prefer to fit a genuine used part rather than a aftermarket part. Fortunately not often I have to do that now but when I was more budget constrained, that's what I did.

Someone mentioned strut top mounts - again fitted pattern ones to my first XC90 - lasted about 18-20k. I've got two genuine ones in the garage for my current XC90, cost three times as much (£50 each) but they will see that car out.

The quality of pattern parts, especially re-manufactured, is at an all time low in my opinion and that of the friends I have who work in the motor trade. A big part of that issue is many people run cars as cheaply as possible.

And on the odd occasion that I work on other peoples cars (not often now but used to be weekly) - generally only genuine parts.

[S60D5-185]

Originally Posted by Tannaton

The quality of pattern parts, especially re-manufactured, is at an all time low in my opinion and that of the friends I have who work in the motor trade. A big part of that issue is many people run cars as cheaply as possible.

.

Totally agree.