Brand-Shopping Rockauto (and otherwise)

Hey guys, When I got my shipment today I realized I'm a noob when it comes to part manufacturers. I knew I took a risk buying closeout parts from a supplier I hadn't used before, so I can't really complain. Also, hats off to Rockauto for refunding me my money for the spark plug wires that didn't fit correctly (anybody want a free set of 4AGE plug wires that won't seal water out? they apparently don't want them back, lol).

That said, who are the good brands to choose from? I tried a couple of different Beck/Arnley parts today and won't be repeating that decision. I know the basics like AC Delco does some oem GM parts, NGK and Denso are likely oem suppliers to the Japanese brands, Bosch "Premium" is decent, etc. However, there are a bunch of brands on the site I've never been familiar with.

Also, before anybody says it, I know OEM is the way to go most of the time. Lithia Toyota of Springfield has gotten so much of my money that they sent me a free TRD bottle-opener/keychain.

I disagree with oem being the way to go most of the time. Though I've bought beck arnley parts in the past and haven't had a problem. I'll admit that rockauto had some weird part makers, and you have to watch out for what warehouse your getting different parts from or you'll get raped on shipping.

Overall I've had a good experience with them though.

I have a lot of "Mevotech" parts on my cars. I've been impressed with the quality and price, and have had no problems with any of them.

Beck Arnley, i haven't had a problem with either, but be aware that Beck Arnley is a distributor. They slap their sticker on parts and sell them.

I'm not real surprised you had a problem with them, but i wouldn't rule them out in the future, either.

Ah ok, I won't cross them completely off the list then. I don't think I'll be buying their general maintenance parts again though. Not only were the plug wires connector boots incorrectly designed, but the connector themselves were the cheapest type as well. Not really a big deal, but their air filters have about 1/3 the folds of the autozone filters, and also lacked an outer wire mesh. Whatever, I'll just change them out more often. For the price I paid it won't matter (got a few months worth).

Digdug - Agreed on shipping, I played around with different brands for a minute there to play the "game".

Halftrac - Thanks for the heads-up, I'll keep an eye out for Mevotech.

Matt B wrote: Ah ok, I won't cross them completely off the list then. I don't think I'll be buying their general maintenance parts again though. Not only were the plug wires connector boots incorrectly designed, but the connector themselves were the cheapest type as well. Not really a big deal, but their air filters have about 1/3 the folds of the autozone filters, and also lacked an outer wire mesh. Whatever, I'll just change them out more often. For the price I paid it won't matter (got a few months worth). Digdug - Agreed on shipping, I played around with different brands for a minute there to play the "game". Halftrac - Thanks for the heads-up, I'll keep an eye out for Mevotech.

I think Mevotech does mostly suspension stuff.

Any more most of your "parts suppliers" are buying from various manufacturers and reselling - even old names like Delco and Autolite have gotten into that in recent years. It's hard to know for sure what you're getting, but the more types of parts they sell, the less likely they actually make them all

I agree that the dealer parts seem to be somewhat more reliable than the others, but usually not enough for me to pay the upcharge.

Yeah the Beck Arnley coil for my audi is actually a Bosch coil but was much cheaper!

One brand I tend to avoid is A1 Cardone. After working parts for many years I have run into many issues regarding fitment of their remanufactured products. Just recently I ordered a set of A1 calipers for the Starion (only ones I could get with the brackets) & when we went to install them the brackets were not even close to being correct. I see a lot of issues on their electrical components as well.

I have had good luck with Mevotech parts. Nearest I can tell is they are Moog knockoffs sourced from China or similar. The construction is fair to midland, certainly good enough for something you are fixing to send down the road. They are easy to find and cross reference because the part numbers are identical to Moog with a different prefix.

A1Cardone has done me well in the past with their steering racks, my friend who managed a 'Zone for a while said they were decent parts and never came back too often. I havent bought a lot from them though.

You definitely have to comparison shop though. Get used to looking at tooling marks, threadings, grease zirk fittings, casting or foundry marks, etc. When I was looking for new pitman arms for my Chevy, there were really only 2 variants I could find at all the parts stores, all branded different and selling at different price points.

Its funny too about the reboxed stuff being cheaper. The only two manufacturers for a fuel filter for a 6.5 Diesel are Stanadyne (OEM) and Baldwin. Every parts store sells the Stanadyne in their box. Purolator from Advance are $13, OEM Stanadyne from a diesel shop are $20, Napa Gold from NAPA are $35. Same part number/Stanadyne logo inside the box.

All you can ever hope to do is shop around and get to know your specific vehicle if you want to find the deals. Rock Auto isnt always the cheapest, especially when you figure in shipping and sales tax.

I've heard that Mevotech was reboxed Moog, but at the same time, I've heard that Mevotech makes their own stuff.

Find out who made the stuff that came on the car. In this case, we'll use my XJ as an example. A whole ton of parts that Jeep used were Federal Mogul parts. Those are the parts I look for. I then check to see if anyone reboxes those brands.

Well it sounds like more than a couple of the re-boxing brands have mixed results, as would kinda be expected from the practice.

Thanks for the tip with the Mevotech/Moog part numbers.

Agreed on Rockauto not always being the cheapest (but the closeouts are tempting). A lot of times I found it was better to just go down to the local Napa or Carquest and grab what I needed. Same discussion applies there as well though I guess.

Anyone know a way to find out if a brand has been reboxed? Other than ask the parts counter guys?

i usually google the supplier name if they are unfamiliar to me. i used mevotech control arms on the probe gt and they've been fine for the two years that they've been on the car.

RockAuto usually has at least 3-4 mfg for each part. Don't buy the cheap one. I bought e-brake cables for my mr2 and they were identical, include all of the brackets, grommets, etc. Same Japanese writing printed on them.

I've had really good luck with them, if you buy the top 1-2 options price-wise that they list.

Mevo tech and moog are unrelated companies. most chassis suppliers use moog part #s. I find it funny you had an issue with beck-arnley as I used to find their quality top notch. These days I run mostly denso for ignition wires and plugs.

I have never had a problem with rockauto, and the beck arnely fuel pump i got from them worked fine

More votes for B/A huh? Maybe they just got sloppy reboxing stuff for the 4AGE, who knows.

I've also used the e-brake cables from Rockauto for my mr2, but with mixed results. They looked great when I installed them, but a year later the driver side cable froze up again.

I replaced it with a Toyota part.

Staying away from the cheap end of things is probably a good idea, especially on RA. Anybody have brands they will never buy from again? Rockauto or not?

Some of the parts are the same suppliers as OEM. I know some of the Toyota stuff was Denso from the factory. Usually can get the same part for less from Rockauto.

I've had pretty good luck with Rockauto. I try to buy brands I know. Different brands for different things. Bearings I always try to get SKF or Timkin. Brake parts, I've had good luck with Centric. I look for them now. Also had good luck with rebuilt parts from A1Cardone. I gotta say, generally speaking I don't see loads of the junk parts on Rockauto. I've gotten worse parts from the local parts places. Got one crappy set of wheel cylinders from rockauto, but they were like $2.95 each, so shoulda figured.

Tyler H wrote: RockAuto usually has at least 3-4 mfg for each part. Don't buy the cheap one. I bought e-brake cables for my mr2 and they were identical, include all of the brackets, grommets, etc. Same Japanese writing printed on them.

Yep, I agree. And I got the same cables! Work great.

That is why I love Mazda Motorsports. OEM parts at generic parts counter pricing.

Matt B wrote: Anybody have brands they will never buy from again?

Almost everything inside Advance or AZ.....

If you go to NAPA, ask if they have what you want in an Altrom part. The majority of them are reboxed OEM parts, purchased directly from whatever manufacturer the car company bought theirs from.

digdug18 wrote: I disagree with oem being the way to go most of the time.

I used to think that, but I will gladly pay OEM prices to do the job once and be done. I worked at Autozone in kolledge (sp?) and used parts store and Rock Auto parts for years. I have had TERRIBLE luck with non-OE replacement parts. The OE front wheel bearing hubs lasted ~60k on my cadavalier. The quality parts store replacements lasted about 2 years each (about 30k miles.) These were the Timken and similar "quality" parts, not the cheapies. Same thing with the cv axles. Between the two wheel bearings and the two cv axles, I was replacing something at least every 6 months. After a couple rounds of this, the free replacement part isn't worth it's weight in dog turds. The Duracrap batteries seem to only last a couple years, and the same thing with the alternators. I've been wrenching on friends and family members cars for probably 10 years, and I'd guess there is a 50% failure rate within 1-2 years on most parts.

I've started rebuilding my own alternators and starters if the repair isn't time critical. Rebuild kits can be found online, and I have yet to have a failure. All while costing 2-3x less than an AZ/Advance rebuild, which was rebuilt by monkeys. The only thing I go to the parts stores for is maintenance and brake parts. It's pretty hard to screw up pads and rotors, and it's readily apparent if anything is askew.

Rockauto isn't bad as long as you stick to known brands. I once bought a waterpump and coolant hoses for my BMW made by URO parts since it was the cheapest and after about a year the hoses were buldging and the waterpump started leaking. I googled it and it seems to be getting mixed reviews. Maybe I just got a bad batch and I still tempted to buy control arms, idler arm, and strut mounts which my old BMW desperately needs.

I also agree that you gotta watch out about the shipping because certain parts come from different locations. Occasionally rockauto will email me discount codes which is good.

Ranger50 - Agreed. I just buy my fluids, washing materials, bulbs, and occasionally a tool or two at those types of places. Thanks goes out to internetautomart for providing some nice discount codes for Advance though.

Thanks belteshazzar, I'll ask for Altrom next time I'm in Napa. That is exactly the kind of info I'm looking for.

Yani - apparently I've had similar luck with non-oem replacements as well.

MA$$hole wrote: One brand I tend to avoid is A1 Cardone. After working parts for many years I have run into many issues regarding fitment of their remanufactured products. Just recently I ordered a set of A1 calipers for the Starion (only ones I could get with the brackets) & when we went to install them the brackets were not even close to being correct. I see a lot of issues on their electrical components as well.

did not read the entire thread but got to this...

I worked for a warehouse where we got crates in with lots of chineese writing and chemicals (nasty stuff) we'd pull the parts out of the crate and depending on who they where destined for we'd either just repack the crates to have the proper quantity ordered (so I guess we where a middle man... although our president had a large ownership in the manufacturing side in china apparently)

anyway we would recrate the parts... part of that process would be to apply different part number stickers to the box... and sometimes rebox the part all together for a different company... in this case cardone... which as I recall also required us to put a "MADE IN USA" sticker on it...

for your plug wires on an aw11... OEM is the way to go... few others seal...

I think the real way to go is find the local enthusiast forum for your car... sometimes it just doesn't matter what you get... other times it does (like for my volvos stick with bosch cap and rotors)