Thoughts on cheap eBay tie rods.

[WTFestiva]

Looking for some thoughts or reviews behind these. Seems cheap to me, thinking about getting the set for my second festy to get it on the road. Will be upgrading later but just wanted a fresh front end as it's been sitting far to long.

Ad says it's without middle control arm bushing. I'm guessing he means the sway bar bushings?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/352054738120

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[ryanprins13]

I bought some cheap ones on amazon and was dissapointed. They did not last long at all. 2 years and 40k miles iirc. And they are totally done, should have been replaced before that.
For that important of a part and the time involved changing them and the cost of a wheel alignment i think the extra money you spend for good ones is worth it. I will be buying moogs or acdelco next. One guy on here who drives a lot of miles every year said the ac delco would last a long time.

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[WTFestiva]

Right on. 40k miles isn't bad for the $64. If I get 20k on this festy before I upgrade to advanced suspension and the poly bushings stuff I'd be disappointed in myself. Just hoping for some road worthiness right now.


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[bhazard]

Like Ryan said. They don't last long at all. Long enough to sell the car to the next poor fella.

Pretty much Moog only for that kinda stuff.

[ryanprins13]

Dude, on rockauto outer tie rod ends acdelco, inners moog, control arms moog is $105 or so. Thats $40 more and will last 100-200k miles, not 30k.
All moog is $115.
Your gonna want or need to do it anyway when you do the advance suspension, or you replace the parts as they start failing but they wont all go at the same time, so youll replace 1 part, then another, then another.... ends up costing more. Ive always bought the cheapest stuff the last 10 years. After a lot of work and cars not working quite right im just starting to realise its not worth the $20 that you actually dont save in the long run on parts like this.
Just my 2 cents


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[Rick the Quick]

I'm with Ryan and Bhazard on this. Spend the extra $40-$50 and buy Moog parts. This is not a good place to cut corners.

[ryanprins13]

Just read over my comment from this morning, seems to have a different tone than i intended. You can do whatever you feel like and no one is going to hate you for it, 85% of us here including me go for the cheapest parts every time.
I just dont think its the best choice on these particular parts given the vast quality difference and small price difference. Especially if its going on your rally car.
I have a newer civic that i wanted all greasable suspension parts for. Bought the cheapest greasable suspension parts i could find. Replaced the sway bar links, oem ones were still fine. The new ones lasted 1 year, 16 or 17k miles and were making noise. They clunk every time i go over a bump now. Oem ones likely had 188k miles on them and were still working fine. Big quality difference and not worth the time to me ordering and changing the parts all the time...

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[WmWatt]

My thinking is if you don't think the car is going to last then don't pay extra for long lasting parts. In my situation I only drive the car 2k-3k km a year so don't need long lasting parts. If I were going on trips where a breakdown would be costly I'd go for the higher priced parts.

[ryanprins13]

My thinking is if you don't think the car is going to last then don't pay extra for long lasting parts. In my situation I only drive the car 2k-3k km a year so don't need long lasting parts. If I were going on trips where a breakdown would be costly I'd go for the higher priced parts.

[emoji50] and i guess its hard for me to imagine that, i drove 2k in the last 2 weeks... always been like that for me, 3-4k a month. So for me its not so much breakdowns as much as constantly replacing parts.


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[F3BZ]

don't understand some of the reasoning on this site. guys go all ga-ga over cheap chy-knees tires and rotors, another arguably more critical link in the safety chain, but insist on moog suspension parts?

[ryanprins13]

don't understand some of the reasoning on this site. guys go all ga-ga over cheap chy-knees tires and rotors, another arguably more critical link in the safety chain, but insist on moog suspension parts?

I dont think safety was mentioned here, just life of the part vs cost.
Yokohama 145 r12's cost $75 or so and cheap tires i get are $20 balanced on a rim. Set of 4 is $400 with no shipping for the yokohamas balanced or $80 for cheap ones that last just as long but may not ride as nice. Thats a decision people make differently. You have to pay a lot more to get quality.

For rotors until i was a member of this site a year ago i wouldnt have even guessed you could get oem quality rotors. What rotor brand do you recommend and how much are they?
But even then, a rotor warping is a lot less dangerous that a tie rod end or ball joint coming apart on a daily driver.

Its a judgment call for everyone and when you ask for an opinion you get people with different thought processes answering.

Would i install a $400 windshield instead of a $200 one? Yes.
Would i spend $5 at a wrecker for a battery hold down bracket when 12awg wire works? No.
Would i spend lots extra for timken rear bearings? Yes.
Would i replace my battery 3 months early to avoid boosting or having to push start it? No.

Everybodys different and most festiva people are pretty weird. I would say especially me but i think im a bit average here in this group [emoji4]


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[TominMO]

don't understand some of the reasoning on this site. guys go all ga-ga over cheap chy-knees tires and rotors, another arguably more critical link in the safety chain, but insist on moog suspension parts?

Agreed. All these parts are safety related; never go cheap except in an emergency, e.g. a road trip breakdown and only cheap stuff is available locally and right now.

[Dragonhealer]

don't understand some of the reasoning on this site. guys go all ga-ga over cheap chy-knees tires and rotors, another arguably more critical link in the safety chain, but insist on moog suspension parts?

Also agree, but context matters too. On an Aspire swaped Festiva, Chinese rotors have proved fine, as the brake package is for a much heaver more powerful car (same rotor size on 1990-1993 Miata).
But also the parts work as a system, great tyres are little use if a shock is not working etc.
Buy the best you can afford, especially if you have to pay to have the work done. Festiva parts of good quality are about 1/3 to 1/4 the price of parts for other mazdas I've found.