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[chrisgixer]

recomended with long term ownership in mind. Ie best reliability for the least cost.

(Tc) =  available on Trade club. http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=90491.0

Engine;

Sensors.
 Without exception, buy genuine. (Tc) There will always be the odd genuine GM item suffer early failure, that's the nature of manufacturing. Likewise there will be the odd report of pattern lasting a half decent amount of time. But without doubt, by far the most reliable results come from genuine. Don't be tempted by sensors listed as genuine by sellers on eBay. Normally Chinese shite, which is worse than just pattern shite.

Spark plugs
GM. (Tc) made by Bosch. By far the best value for money especially on trade club.
Ngk. But expensive when compared to the trade club price.

Filters.
GM. (Tc) By far the most reliable in oil filter fit. Greater area in the air filters. Do use the carbon filters to keep the face lift particulate sniffer happy. For the minimal extra cost of GM filters it's not worth messing about with. Plus they are cheaper than most other pattern parts on trade club.


Gaskets.
Cam cover gaskets and o-rings. Black goo.
Known quantity are GM. Reliably give the best life, compared to the factory fitted items. There are some pattern ones on test, courtesy of Dbug, for the v6's but until they fail we dont know their life span. Yet.

Auto box gaskets both sumps. GM or Jpat are cheaper.

Sumps are grey goo (Tc) , as is the oil cooler cover plate, and breather box behind pot 5. Part number in the oil cooler guide.


Steering and suspension;

Wheel bearings. Oe supplier are Fag, koyo available from All German parts. Link in parts section. Also comes with the all important dust cap. (Pattern do not) Mention Oof for discount.

Wishbones
Lemforder or Merle from Agp.
Atp via eBay. Cheaper option. But obviously cheaper construction. But they are the only cheapo eBay type pattern wishbone where the maker(or supplier)  is prepared to put their name on them.
GM are good, but considered very expensive given the life of alternatives.

Steering idler
GM only (Tc) Not cheap at £110 retail, but at the time or writing no other reliable part is known to the forum.
Lemforder used to be reliable but lately they have all failed within a couple of months. Although more recently there have been better reports. So maybe they had a bad batch. If it doesn't tighten up solidly and click off to 60nm send it back.
This part can play havok with the steering if it fails, not worth messing about with.

Bushes.
Front wishbone front bush.
GM, give best results out of the rubber ones ime. There are also Lemforder and Merle heavy duty from All Germamn.
However, by far the most reliable option is to fit poly by powerflex. Very slight increase in firmness, but by far the best improvement in accuracy in steering. But do need re greasing periodically.

Rearward wishbone bush. Again, best result from GM (£14 each) Merle HD and Lemforder fractionally less durable.

Roll bar bushes.
GM. Never fail. Never give trouble. Cost about £3
Poly by powerflex. Probably not worth the bother.especially as they need greasing. Minimal benefit.

Rear subframe bushes. (Donuts)
Lemforder or cheaper Febi for rubber ones. Links in the guide iirc
Pedders for poly. They are for Monaro, but fit, with rare reports of the bush tightening into the captive nut home. Link in parts section. Good upgrade. But does firm up the ride.
GM (Tc) are too expensive given the life of those above.

Drop links
GM (Tc) known to be most reliable, however
Merle HD and Lemforder also last well.
Atp cheaper option.

Track rod ends.(Tc)
GM most reliable.
Good results from Delphi. 60k so far.
Atp cheaper option.

Centre tie rod.
GM but very expensive. Nobody seems to make the ball joint boots. Used would be far better than the utterly appalling pattern items available.

Shocks
GM give best results. (Tc)
Bilstein. (B4 primarily. Take 30mm lowering)
Sachs. All German.

Springs.
GM (Tc) (mv6 Lsc na ) best results but expensive.
Sachs Agp
Irmscher or Eibach for 30mm lowering but add 10mm of cushion pads to bring the back up to 20mm lowering or the rear camber is excessive.
Kyb (only known self levelling supplier apart from GM ) cheaper but prone to rust and breakage.

Rear of rear subframe bushes.
No longer serviced by GM.
Please advise if you know of a supplier.
Pm Taxi Al.



Exhaust.
Cat back system.
Eternal via eBay shop. Face lift not listed but pre face lift fit with longer tips added.
GM (Tc) fit well but at £300 on trade club for a poor alternative to the clam shell design of the original, they really should not shed their packing and block the system.


Fluids;
ATF
Dexron III Fuchs Titan 4000

PAS
Dexron II

Coolant.
GM concentrate. (Tc)

Oil
GM (Tc) 10w40 semi synthetic. Dexos2 5w30 fully synthetic.


Brakes;
GM (Tc) front axle service kit includes 2 discs and 4 pads. (Paint the discs with heat resistant paint to get the best out of them.
Agp. Meyle do a pre painted option iirc
GM. Oe pads. (Tc) Expensive at £70 on Tc . But give less dust and better feel and life. Riveted shims.
Trade club pads. (Tc) £14 a set. Best value. Dusty slight squeal in some instances.

[chrisgixer]

Any further gents?

[Webby the Bear]

ATF I have used Carlube for top ups, Chris. Absolutely no issue having used it about 10k miles ago.

Same with Carlube diff oil to top up. Need a spec?

[Mr.OmegaMan]

I've been happy with Pagid rear discs and pads, Discs don't rust but only where the pads have had contact, Minimal dust from pads. Overall i like them.

[chrisgixer]

As with the tyre thread, probably need at least two members to agree , having experienced the full life of the part.

[VXL V6]

I'd disagree about GM being the best droplinks, have got through two pairs on two cars and they both failed around 20K. Current Meyle HD just done 43K with no issue in 15 months on one car and 10K on other car which doesn't get used so much.

[tigers_gonads]

I've been happy with Pagid rear discs and pads, Discs don't rust but only where the pads have had contact, Minimal dust from pads. Overall i like them.

I'll second that 
Running then on my back end now 

[tunnie]

I'd disagree about GM being the best droplinks, have got through two pairs on two cars and they both failed around 20K. Current Meyle HD just done 43K with no issue in 15 months on one car and 10K on other car which doesn't get used so much.

Second this too, Meyle have lasted much longer than GM's. Better made 

[Steve B]

I like this list...Mainly the under car stuff. Suspension/Steering Etc;Owing to, If you go wrong and go out buying rubbish suspension/Steering parts and then after a Costly setup At WIM.Then X amount of miles later you are out to replace the cheap parts again And end up going around in circles..

But Then. Lets take say the springs This is just a example.. And i only picked springs owing to everyone Knowing what they look like..Top of the list.. VX Springs...Bottom Being them KYB Ones..

ColinMcrae only gets 5K out of the VX ones Where Miss Daisy Got 20K out of the cheap and nasty ones. See what im getting at.   

So Some members may Knock A part owing to there driving style Where others Take it slow and Crawl over speed bumps and corners..

So Surely on some Suspension/Steering parts Genuine or Cheapo Deteriorate To some degree Depending upon how the car is driven. 

[EMD]

I like this list...Mainly the under car stuff. Suspension/Steering Etc;Owing to, If you go wrong and go out buying rubbish suspension/Steering parts and then after a Costly setup At WIM.Then X amount of miles later you are out to replace the cheap parts again And end up going around in circles..

But Then. Lets take say the springs This is just a example.. And i only picked springs owing to everyone Knowing what they look like..Top of the list.. VX Springs...Bottom Being them KYB Ones..

ColinMcrae only gets 5K out of the VX ones Where Miss Daisy Got 20K out of the cheap and nasty ones. See what im getting at.   

So Some members may Knock A part owing to there driving style Where others Take it slow and Crawl over speed bumps and corners..

So Surely on some Suspension/Steering parts Genuine or Cheapo Deteriorate To some degree Depending upon how the car is driven. 

Exactly 

[TheBoy]

I got less than 40k from Delphi TREs (sold as OE by that dishonest outfit in Yorkshire  )

Boge make saloon self levellers. That's whats on tunnie's 3.2

[TheBoy]

I got less than 40k from Delphi TREs (sold as OE by that dishonest outfit in Yorkshire  )

Boge make saloon self levellers. That's whats on tunnie's 3.2

No, that's a lie, I kept them back to flog on egay, but melted them before I had chance 

[tunnie]

Got normal Boges in 

[chrisgixer]

I like this list...Mainly the under car stuff. Suspension/Steering Etc;Owing to, If you go wrong and go out buying rubbish suspension/Steering parts and then after a Costly setup At WIM.Then X amount of miles later you are out to replace the cheap parts again And end up going around in circles..

But Then. Lets take say the springs This is just a example.. And i only picked springs owing to everyone Knowing what they look like..Top of the list.. VX Springs...Bottom Being them KYB Ones..

ColinMcrae only gets 5K out of the VX ones Where Miss Daisy Got 20K out of the cheap and nasty ones. See what im getting at.   

So Some members may Knock A part owing to there driving style Where others Take it slow and Crawl over speed bumps and corners..

So Surely on some Suspension/Steering parts Genuine or Cheapo Deteriorate To some degree Depending upon how the car is driven. 

Exactly 

Firstly, these are not recommendations from any one particular member.  Certainly not just from me. However they are my understanding of the last few years and posts of what's been recommended before on here as a known quantity to others, as a result of collective trial and error.

For instance a member posts "these new TC exhausts are shite compared to the factory fit" another posts up about eternal on eBay. We all try them. We are all happy with them, given the design/fit/cost/life etc compared to what Colin Mcray and Miss Daisy where using before. Call it collective development perhaps? But you can be sure if Colin Mcray is happy to buy a part, you can be sure it will last for Miss Daisy.


Secondly, there does appear to be an element of reinventing the wheel each time somebody asks for a recommendation or another part is suggested over another. As a result the info is in danger of getting lost under a heap of posts for shite from Ecp or Autovaux. Companies known to be either economical with the truth or chasing a bottom line so tight there's no quality left in the parts.
If recommending something to others on here you really need to be certain of the life of the part before somebody else goes out and buys it. "Oh I got this off eBay" isn't a recommendation. It's an item purchased blindly based on cost alone. Only once the life of the part is understood can it be recommended with any justification. Or not, as the case may be.

Thirdly, it's important to keep that line of communication open about what works. Something a bit lacking lately. And is why it's good to see the comments above on updated opinions and life spans of the parts involved.

I guarantee the life of and and use of an omega will be greatly improved as a result. I know this because mine was. Because TheBoys was. VxlV6's was. Tunnies was. Terberts,Pauls,TaxiAl,Jamesv6cdx,DarthLooney,MarksDtm,Jimbob and so on and so on had good results with these parts and from their experience with these parts.

It's not a random thought plucked out of thin air, it's years of OOF experience. It just needs an update. That's all

[Toledodude1973]

This is a very useful list, thanks for taking the time and trouble ,this bulks it all together and helps less knowledgeable folk like me