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[New POD]

They keep sending me emails about discounts, so i thought I'd price up wishbones in their 55% off sale.

[Doctor Gollum]

They give the VX part number AND list the brand as Trupart...

And if their "RRP" is £79, HTF can they justify charging £190

If you're on a budget, buy the ATP kit for £75. If you're seriously considering Autovaux as a credible supplier, then you may as well buy genuine wishbones for £275 ish.

The ATP parts may well be considered inferior, but they are exceptional value when you factor their pricepoint. Companies such as Autovaux/Eurocrapartsonly serve to reinforce this point.

[TheBoy]

Autovaux have long tried suggesting that their pattern parts are genuine GM. Nought new there.

That does sound expensive for a pattern part, not withstanding their clear cock-up.

ATP are generally best avoided as well IMHO, because even on the offchance the shit actually turns up*, their wishbones are of such appalling quality, you will be buying another set in a year.


* Both times they have claimed to have sent my stuff, then have refused to give a tracking number, and my contact at DHL was unable to find any label requested from them to me.

[Doctor Gollum]

Your issue has more to do with your typical interactions with both Ebay and anything that isn't hand delivered 

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

I had exactly the same experience with ATP. They are a fickin disgrace, and I told them so.

[Doctor Gollum]

I have had more positive experinces than negative, although their communication is shocking. That said their pricepoint sets a pretty low bar.

[TheBoy]

I have had more positive experinces than negative, although their communication is shocking. That said their pricepoint sets a pretty low bar.

Admittedly I've only used them twice, neither was positive, in that I never saw my items, and it took weeks to get my money back both times.  Doesn't matter how cheap it is if it never turns up (actually, never dispatched).

Added to the fact the wishbones in particular are of a level of quality below utter shite...   ...think on a par with Firstline, only more expensive.

[Raeturbo]

In my experience they last about  6000 miles,  take that as it is.

[New POD]

In my experience they last about  6000 miles,  take that as it is.

 
I've done 21K on a pair, and it passed the MOT a few weeks back.but i know they aren't quite right.

[TheBoy]

In my experience they last about  6000 miles,  take that as it is.

 
I've done 21K on a pair, and it passed the MOT a few weeks back.but i know they aren't quite right.

If an MOT detects they are knackered, then they are truely knackered, and probably have been for a long time.

[TheBoy]

In my experience they last about  6000 miles,  take that as it is.

In comparison, from my setup, I tend to get around 50k before they need £30 (rear bushes) spending on them.  As ever, the biggest cost is in the geometry setting afterwards.


My setup is:
The original GM wishbones (although in my case for reasons I've long forgotten, I think TBE's wishbones are the ones off the Silver Bullet - I recall they got swapped over at some point when I had both, I *think* at the time I experimented with rear polys).
Powerflex front polys
GM rear bushes
I *think* these ones might have had Lemforder balljoints fitted at some point, though that might have been the other set.

[STEMO]

Just an over complicated system. My astra has done 70odd thousand miles over six years and has only had a rear spring. It still feels tight enough to me and, although I'm no boy racer, I've been driving long enough to know if it feels right or not.

[TheBoy]

Just an over complicated system. My astra has done 70odd thousand miles over six years and has only had a rear spring. It still feels tight enough to me and, although I'm no boy racer, I've been driving long enough to know if it feels right or not.

Suspect if you jumped in a brand new spankers one, you would feel the difference, though does that actually matter? Probably not.

However, the Omega is a wildly different kettle of fish, as being a luxury exec car, it has long suspension arms and fairly big bushes, and weighs a lot.  Not helped by the fact most pattern wishbones available are shockingly shite, and GM ones are silly money

[STEMO]

Just an over complicated system. My astra has done 70odd thousand miles over six years and has only had a rear spring. It still feels tight enough to me and, although I'm no boy racer, I've been driving long enough to know if it feels right or not.

Suspect if you jumped in a brand new spankers one, you would feel the difference, though does that actually matter? Probably not.

However, the Omega is a wildly different kettle of fish, as being a luxury exec car, it has long suspension arms and fairly big bushes, and weighs a lot.  Not helped by the fact most pattern wishbones available are shockingly shite, and GM ones are silly money

I've had a desmond estate and a 2.5 cdx saloon and, to me, it always felt as if the factory suspension set up was too soft. But, as you say, perfectly adequate for a luxury barge. If you want to start throwing them around, then frequent replacements or stiffer components are necessary.

[STEMO]

My 2.5 also used to tramline and I often had trouble keeping the rear at the rear in the wet.

[TheBoy]

My 2.5 also used to tramline and I often had trouble keeping the rear at the rear in the wet.

The Omega does seem to be very sensitive to tyres when it comes to tram lining.  Price didn't seem to be a factor.

Whilst I've had other cars that were fussy on tyres, usually through performance or chronic wear, my Facelift Omegas have been by far the worse for the variance caused by tyres.  Worse than my PFLs, which I could never grasp.

[Nick W]

Just an over complicated system. My astra has done 70odd thousand miles over six years and has only had a rear spring. It still feels tight enough to me and, although I'm no boy racer, I've been driving long enough to know if it feels right or not.

At 70,000 miles, I would consider that at the nicely worn-in stage. New shocks would make a noticeable difference to most of us, but wouldn't be good value at this point.


Past 100k, and that metric starts to swing the other way. When Astra rears are £20 and a few minutes per side this is just a routine maintenance job. But I would also be considering the springs, as the commonly opinion that they don't wear is utter 'dangle berries'. This performance decrease is gradual, and is the reason why inspections are not done by the user or person normally responsible for the machine.


Mcpherson struts are a good all-round compromise for front suspensions, but one thing they're not good at is location: each of the three attachment points has to allow for movement in more than one direction, and that requires compliance. And that means the bushes wear out quickly, whether we're considering the weedy anti-rollbar based method that Ford started with the 100E, heftier twin arm designs(Triumph 2000, Avenger, BMW etc) or single wishbone with aligned or perpendicular bushes. The bigger and heavier the car and its wheels, the quicker these lower bushes wear. Polyurethane is one way of making them better, but all you're doing is changing the compromise: poly bush a Capri TCA(wishbone equivalent), anti-rollbar and steering rack, and you transfer the wear to the internal rack bushes. Upgrade those, and it's not unheard of to split the rack tube which is at least one step too far!


I've changed several sets of Omega wishbones, and haven't seen the reported massive difference in fabrication quality. But, I only use poly front bushes, and the cost difference between aftermarket and genuine replacements for the rears is so small as part of the job I would buy genuine when the supplied ones wear.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

My 2.5 also used to tramline and I often had trouble keeping the rear at the rear in the wet.

The Omega does seem to be very sensitive to tyres when it comes to tram lining.  Price didn't seem to be a factor.

Whilst I've had other cars that were fussy on tyres, usually through performance or chronic wear, my Facelift Omegas have been by far the worse for the variance caused by tyres.  Worse than my PFLs, which I could never grasp.

Bigger rims and lower profile tyres I would have thought.

[TheBoy]

My 2.5 also used to tramline and I often had trouble keeping the rear at the rear in the wet.

The Omega does seem to be very sensitive to tyres when it comes to tram lining.  Price didn't seem to be a factor.

Whilst I've had other cars that were fussy on tyres, usually through performance or chronic wear, my Facelift Omegas have been by far the worse for the variance caused by tyres.  Worse than my PFLs, which I could never grasp.

Bigger rims and lower profile tyres I would have thought.

Sadly not, as I frequently swapped wheels and tyres over.  That said, both my FL's were Elites and my longest lived PFL was a retail MV6, so all on 235/45/17