URO & cheap aftermarket parts - Tales of Woe

[gsxr]

Bummer nobody archived the thread before it was deleted. Shame on Pelican.

 

[gerryvz]

It's probably available in the WayBack Machine, but I'm not skilled at using that to find stuff.

The thread was titled "Dang you Uro and other tales of woe" if anyone knows how to search Wayback Machine archives to find posted threads. As far as I know, it was stil up a year or so ago, but to be safe it would probably be there in 2018 and before -- the time period before URO became an advertising sponsor of PeachParts, and began calling the shots there against anti-URO members like me, and anti-URO threads. I see that other anti-URO threads there have also been deleted, or have been closed to further posting.

Though I did fool more than a few people on April Fool's Day 2019, with the announcement that URO Parts had bought this site from me.

PeachParts is already well-known for censoring posts (for many years) that mention rival forums -- even forums like this one that don't compete with them in any way, shape or form. They XXXXX out the names in posted mentions and links to rival forums, effectively invalidating them. I think @400Eric was instrumental in getting PeachParts to censor this forum from their forum's posts, in retaliation after he left this forum in a huff some years ago when I banned him. He has been unbanned for some time now, along with his buddy @szvook.

In any case, this is a classic reason why I do not accept money/donations/advertising from anyone on this site. Because money corrupts, and creates expectations fropm donators/advertisers that the site owners will do what they want, or they will withhold future advertising/payments.

 

[gsxr]

Mercedes Shop --> PeachParts --> Pelican used to be primarily a parts vendor back in the early 'oughts, and they took great offense when any forum member pointed out lower prices anywhere else. So they XXX'd out any domain of competitors, for example BuyMBParts back in the day.

They really went to extremes with the censorship IMO; for a while they even banned the benign W124performance site because it had some MB documentation (!?). I'm a little surprised this practice hasn't changed after they were bought out by Pelican. Maybe the same person/people are still in the background as forum admins.

 

[alabbasi]

It appears to be cheaper for URO to hire a marketing guy to talk up their products, send PMs to forum members and offer them sh*t for free in exchange for saying something nice about them, instead of getting their quality in order.

The best thing we can do is keep talking about them.

Mercedes Shop --> PeachParts --> Pelican used to be primarily a parts vendor back in the early 'oughts, and they took great offense when any forum member pointed out lower prices anywhere else. So they XXX'd out any domain of competitors, for example BuyMBParts

I don't know if I would consider this censorship and being unfair. They had a business to run and were also offering a public service that helped them and others. We all know how to price shop on the internet. They should take offense. If anyone walked into Costco and started putting up price tags showing where items are cheaper at Sams Club. I'm pretty sure that they'd be booted out by their ear pretty quickly.

It's their platform and their primary business is to sell parts.

 

[gsxr]

I don't know if I would consider this censorship and being unfair. They had a business to run and were also offering a public service that helped them and others. We all know how to price shop on the internet. They should take offense. If anyone walked into Costco and started putting up price tags showing where items are cheaper at Sams Club. I'm pretty sure that they'd be booted out by their ear pretty quickly.

It's their platform and their primary business is to sell parts.

It's their fault for having non-competitive pricing. I almost never bought from them because they were considerably (not just a little) more expensive. Back when they were the premier online forum, and I posted there almost exclusively, I made it a point to always post URL's to MBShop when recommending a parts purchase. They must do better with other marques, or have another revenue stream, because their MB parts are some of the most expensive on the web.

Sure, today we all know how to price shop on the internet. 20-25 years ago, a lot of people didn't know the internet existed, and were using 28.8k dial-up. If you didn't have the Bimby site bookmarked in Netscape, you'd never know it was out there. And *no* dealers were selling genuine parts online. My how things have changed...

 

[alabbasi]

It's their fault for having non-competitive pricing

It's that attitude that has made the likes of URO parts so successful and has pushed quality parts vendors out of supporting older car models. The need to chase the bottom dollar. Never mind that they provided a technical forum where we all went for years to get information so that we can DIY our cars. How to documents etc which all costs money.

I've had personal experience with this in selling parts where I spent hours on the phone explaining how to test a faulty part, then to get a call from the same guy a few days later wanting me to explain how to install the same part that he found online for few dollars less. I would do exactly the same thing and refused to help.

They're providing goods and services. If you don't like their pricing, by all means shop somewhere else. But stop using the service also, especially for blowing up their sales which is certainly offensive.

 

[gerryvz]

No question that it is wrong to go on a parts vendor's forum and post information about their competitor's cheaper price for a specific part. It's really bad form.

Back in the Mercedesshop days, it was a well organized forum and a lot of people used to hang out there. Sure it supported their parts operation and yes it was a sales tool, but it was also very very informative and helpful. It started dying when it changed to peachparts and the forum's organization was pretty much removed and put into a smaller number of more general buckets. It's gone downhill ever since, unfortunately. The censorship is pretty onerous -- pretty much the worst I've ever seen on a forum.

Dave is right though, pelican parts has very high prices for the same exact parts as their competitors. I have purchased a few things from them over the years, and they do have deals on some stuff, but I really won't do business with them because their prices ARE so high, and the fact that they're just jerks, and have gotten more so with their forum. And the worst insult was when they added URO as an advertiser, and started censoring people and threads due to pressure from an advertiser. Why not just archive that stuff? Why remove it? Why muzzle your members when they didn't do anything per your forum rules to deserve it?

PelicanParts has a loyal following from other marques, like Porsche, so they are not going anywhere. But I won't do business with them.

I think the idea of having a forum to help drive parts business is a good one. IF it is executed well. BUT, you also have to be competitive in pricing with the parts business to make money and have some volume. Once upon a time, Mercedesshop had the formula down and things worked. But like with MBCA and its forums, they pissed a perfectly good franchise down the toilet. MBCA back in the day also had great forums, but they lost it and everything went to Benzworld and a few specialty forums like this one.

 

[alabbasi]

There's no question that all forums (vendor supported or otherwise) are facing stiff competition from social media and more transparent pricing. I've shut down a bunch of the ones that I ran (w108.org , stroke8 and a couple of yahoo groups) because of dwindling activity, making it not worth the effort. I appreciate this forums resilience. It (like the car values discussed in other topics) is beating the odds.

You'd almost think that the guy who runs it might know a thing or two about marketing.

 

[Kyiv]

It appears that the thread about "URO Tales of Woe" that I had started on PeachParts many years ago, specifically listing links to dozens of individual stories posted by individuals about their poor experiences with URO Parts, has been deleted by the moderators there

Seems to me, that this is a small reverberation of a larger, more general trend. It's not against the law to state a different, unofficial opinion, but who's brave enough? Especially if you're an average person with mortgage, career, bills, putting kids though college, etc. Dark times, and it's only about 1 am on the clock. Sorry, I couldn't resist . Most of you know it anyway, just can't speak about it out loud

 

[Allgonquin]

I used to buy a lot of parts from Mercedesshop - they had Phil, who was incredibly helpful when trying to source or identify a part. He helped me more times than I can remember. Unfortunately he just up and passed away one day, and that, as they say, was that. Things were not the same after that.

 

[gsxr]

It's that attitude that has made the likes of URO parts so successful and has pushed quality parts vendors out of supporting older car models. The need to chase the bottom dollar. Never mind that they provided a technical forum where we all went for years to get information so that we can DIY our cars. How to documents etc which all costs money.

To clarify - I don't mean that I was looking for the lowest price for a given part number, which would be URO or similar junk. I was looking for the best price on a particular brand. If (for example) MBShop was selling a Nissens radiator for $250, and I could buy it from 3 other vendors for $200, why would I want to pay a 20% premium? For EVERY part order? My memory may be off, but in general I recall MBShop / Fruitbird typically priced 20%+ above most other aftermarket part vendors, and often without free shipping. They simply were noncompetitive.

I've had personal experience with this in selling parts where I spent hours on the phone explaining how to test a faulty part, then to get a call from the same guy a few days later wanting me to explain how to install the same part that he found online for few dollars less. I would do exactly the same thing and refused to help.

I agree 110% in this case. Tell the dude to ask whomever he bought it from! That's just rude.

They're providing goods and services. If you don't like their pricing, by all means shop somewhere else. But stop using the service also, especially for blowing up their sales which is certainly offensive.

I did shop elsewhere. But their forum was public and there was no requirement to purchase from the related, but separate, storefront. On the flip side, I did contribute quite a bit to their forum, including several How-To writeups that generated a lot of traffic to their forum.

No question that it is wrong to go on a parts vendor's forum and post information about their competitor's cheaper price for a specific part. It's really bad form.

I agree, and when I posted on Fruitbird, I always referenced "you can buy the part you need, XYZ, from the forum store at this link" and pointed n00b's to MBShop. I played by their rules.

Back in the Mercedesshop days, it was a well organized forum and a lot of people used to hang out there. Sure it supported their parts operation and yes it was a sales tool, but it was also very very informative and helpful. It started dying when it changed to peachparts and the forum's organization was pretty much removed and put into a smaller number of more general buckets. It's gone downhill ever since, unfortunately. The censorship is pretty onerous -- pretty much the worst I've ever seen on a forum.

Exactly - my beef was with the censorship, the xxxxxx'ing out of domain names, sometimes done weeks/months/years later, destroying links to useful information. I've never seen anything like it before or since. I stopped using that forum partly because of this, and partly because I was transitioning from diesels to M119's. At the time, they had the best diesel forum around, and almost nothing useful about M119's.

Dave is right though, pelican parts has very high prices for the same exact parts as their competitors. I have purchased a few things from them over the years, and they do have deals on some stuff, but I really won't do business with them because their prices ARE so high, and the fact that they're just jerks, and have gotten more so with their forum. And the worst insult was when they added URO as an advertiser, and started censoring people and threads due to pressure from an advertiser. Why not just archive that stuff? Why remove it? Why muzzle your members when they didn't do anything per your forum rules to deserve it?

Yes, yes, yes. If they could have at least come close on pricing I might have supported them. But it wasn't a 5% difference, it was 20-25%, usually with shipping tacked on top. At the time, 20 years ago, I simply couldn't afford it. I was barely making my ISP payments for the 28.8kbps, Jlaa-approved dialup interweb service.

I used to buy a lot of parts from Mercedesshop - they had Phil, who was incredibly helpful when trying to source or identify a part. He helped me more times than I can remember. Unfortunately he just up and passed away one day, and that, as they say, was that. Things were not the same after that.

I vaguely recall hearing that Phil was super helpful, and for people who needed personal assistance, I TOTALLY understand that being worth paying a premium. You are receiving a service in addition to the parts. I was more of the corner-case anomaly, using my green-screen EPC to ferret out part numbers, and searching p/n's myself. I forgot about Phil's passing, that was indeed a sad day.

 

[alabbasi]

Without dragging this on

1) There's no requirement to purchase from them, they provided a public service to the MB community, but positing competitor information on their site will hurt their business no matter what the intentions
2) If you wrote something on the forum. That's a public service and if I learned something from it. Thank you.

 

[gsxr]

When Honcho opens up store.500Eboard.com as an eCommerce front-end to the WorldPac catalog, I expect @The Emperor will force-choke any who dare refer to FCP or AHAZ!

 

[Trae]

Thanks for keeping us up-to-date on Quality Parts Gerry. Steering clear of URO parts is critical for long term ownership. Jono, Klink, and GSXR have all implored over the years to stay with quality OEM parts. We should all heed their warnings!

 

[nocfn]

Elsa, let it go.....

 

[LWB250]

It appears that the thread about "URO Tales of Woe" that I had started on PeachParts many years ago, specifically listing links to dozens of individual stories posted by individuals about their poor experiences with URO Parts, has been deleted by the moderators there. Of course, this is after URO Parts became a major sponsor of PeachParts, and probably put pressure on them to delete the thread. It is nowhere to be found on that site any longer. This has happened in recent months.

This thread will, of course, remain on this site and there is nothing that URO Parts can do about it. The general public needs to be kept informed about the scourge of these cheap Chinese-made parts.



Here is the URL of my now-deleted thread "Dang You URO and Other Tales of Woe" -- PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Mercedes-Benz Forum and Technical DIY Discussions for Enthusiasts. PeachParts is NOT affiliated, sponsored nor authorized by Daimler AG.

www.peachparts.com

Going back and reading this thread made me curious about Gerry's posts on PP. So I fired up the Wayback Machine and started digging. I found 23 instances of the page that the WB Machine allegedly captured, but interestingly enough, none of the links I ran down were good. I don't think the WB Machine people will recursively remove stuff, as that pretty much defeats the whole idea of the WB Machine. For reference I have attached a list of the archived pages.

Dan

 

[LWB250]

I did find this thread still accessible at PP:

BAD quality parts, trying to document all threads on topic - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Some Üro references from the UHT there.

Dan

 

[DLL]

I just stumbled across this thread, someone in another group considering a Uro parts EHA for his 300E. I advised against it.
Pic attached of a Uro parts a/c relay I took out of one my cars. No issues with an OEM (I think it was Hella) I replaced it with.

 

[gsxr]

Bummer this thread (link below) was closed. How long ago did you install that melty ÜRO relay?

Official URO/FEBI/Aftermarket Success Discussion Thread | C126 / W126 Misc. Discussions

Hi all. I'm taking a minute to create a thread with the purpose of gathering all the aftermarket part use success stories. I'm sure we're all aware of the word on the street about URO/FEBI/Other Aftermarket parts on their cars and how some are garbage, and some work. But I still see people...

126board.com

 

[DLL]

Bummer this thread (link below) was closed. How long ago did you install that melty ÜRO relay?

Official URO/FEBI/Aftermarket Success Discussion Thread | C126 / W126 Misc. Discussions

Hi all. I'm taking a minute to create a thread with the purpose of gathering all the aftermarket part use success stories. I'm sure we're all aware of the word on the street about URO/FEBI/Other Aftermarket parts on their cars and how some are garbage, and some work. But I still see people...

126board.com

About, year and a half ago or so? I was chasing my auxiliary fans not working. It wasn't in very long.
Solved with a good relay.

 

[gerryvz]

Here is a comparison between a NOS MB part that is NLA, and an aftermarket "Meyle" kit that is one of the aftermarket alternatives available (URO and a couple of other firms also make this part, but I did not purchase them). This is the ONLY part of the entire front suspension of the W126 that is NLA from MB -- all other parts, bushings, hardware etc. are easily available from MB sources.

Overall, I have to say that the Meyle parts kit, though Chinese-made, seems to be of actually good quality. The hardware is stout and directly matches the MB hardware. The rubber definitely has the "Harbor Freight" smell as opposed to the MB rubber having the traditional European rubber odor; but from what I can see outwardly and in the hand/through feel, the Meyle rubber seems OK. No idea how it would last in service, under some months and years of duress. I believe the Chinese-made rubber would likely degrade before the MB rubber due to a different formulation and differing levels of carbon black and other ingredients in the rubber.

This particular part is a bushing kit that mounts where the W126 brake support rod attaches to each of the front lower control arms. The W126 has a very different suspension setup from the W124 (some would call it antiquated); the function of the brake support rod and associated bushings, and a large ball joint (which is still available from MB), is to prevent the rearward/forward movement of the suspension, particularly under acceleration and deceleration actions. It provides additional triangulation between the suspension and chassis, as the W126 front lower control arms are much smaller and thinner than those of the W124. Also, the front ball joints on the W126 are not attached to the LCA as they are in the W124.

W126 front lower control arm as compared to the W124 front lower control arm:



The NOS part came to me through @GRAEME JOHNSON, who kindly purchased two of the parts kits from a vendor in the Netherlands, and then re-sent them on to me.

My insistence is using MB/NOS parts for the front suspension is to achieve another 250,000 miles of longevity and service, which cheap, Chinese-made aftermarket parts would likely not last for. I believe this particular bushing kit has gone NLA from MB probably within the last 2-3 years, FYI.

Anyway, here is a detailed unboxing of both kits.

View and comparison of the packaging:



View and comparison of the contents of the two kits:



View and comparison of the rubber bushings:



Markings/notation on the Meyle rubber. The MB rubber had no markings, part numbers or other notations.



View and comparison of the bushing cups. Note the cad plating finish of the MB cups, as compared to the unfinished/metallic color of the Meyle bushing cups.



View and comparison of the mounting bolts included with the kits. Meyle is on the left; MB on the right.



View and comparison of the nuts included with the kits. Meyle is the shiny nut on the left; MB the galvanized nut on the right.

 

[DLL]

Thanks for that Post Gerry.

This thread - ironically - I just had another Uro parts experience. I'm reviving an 88 300CE, I had a brand new Uro OVP relay that came in a box of parts from another car I bought, so tried it, and the cold start injector didn't work.

Swapped with a used Siemens I had, it worked.

I guess they haven't improved over the years.

 

[gerryvz]

There has been some folks on other forums (including 126board folks active on BW) who have been insisting that URO now has its act together and is making quality parts these days.

I don’t buy it, even for one nanosecond.

 

[TimL]

There has been some folks on other forums (including 126board folks active on BW) who have been insisting that URO now has its act together and is making quality parts these days.

I don’t buy it, even for one nanosecond.

URO for the win(!) Good luck to them and all who sail with them

 

[alabbasi]

There has been some folks on other forums (including 126board folks active on BW) who have been insisting that URO now has its act together and is making quality parts these days.

I don’t buy it, even for one nanosecond.

After I posted a message on BW regarding my broken W220 S55K cup holder, I was contacted once by a URO rep on BW who offered to send me a free one if i'd say nice things about them. I politely declined as I like my coffee hot.

 

[MBchap]

MODERATOR NOTE: Copying this post from a WANTED post (link) to URO-related post. It seems that URO quality has not improved as some folks have been saying it has.....


Looking for a complete set of used MB metal oiler tubes. My original 175k plastics started failing a year ago and my mechanic looked for MB replacements. He said the current MB branded metal tubes made in China or Russia at the dealership didn't look very impressive and put metal UROs in.

Now the end caps on those UROs are leaking after one year and less than 5k miles.

Does anyone have some that they would like to sell? I really would like to get the prototypes that I've read about but would settle for a solid metal set.

 

[gsxr]

Now the end caps on those UROs are leaking after one year and less than 5k miles.

@MBchap, what was the failure mode of the URO tubes? Did they pop the ends off like the factory plastic tubes, and cause lifter ticking? A "leak" in the tube shouldn't cause a problem, but if the tube has completely failed, that's different.

 

[MBchap]

@MBchap, what was the failure mode of the URO tubes? Did they pop the ends off like the factory plastic tubes, and cause lifter ticking? A leak in the tube shouldnt cause a problem, but if the tube has completely failed, thats different.

Yes, the ends on two of the tubes popped off. Would definitely have been a problem. Thanks

 

[gerryvz]

I wish that @CousinPierre would stop reading my parts rants and stealing my ideas and thoughts....

 

[emerydc8]

I agree with everything said.

I hope I’m wrong, but the way things are going lately with NLA parts, Mercedes seems to have made the decision to let the existing parts stock run out with no indication whether they plan to make more.

 

[gsxr]

I hope I’m wrong, but the way things are going lately with NLA parts, Mercedes seems to have made the decision to let the existing parts stock run out with no indication whether they plan to make more.

It does very much seem this way. Some mission-critical parts on certain 124 models have gone NLA, like radiators & plastic expansion tanks for 6-cyl cars, and throttle control cables for most all 5/6 cylinder cars. There's no aftermarket option for throttle cables, and used ones are usually junk, so what can you do? There are Nissens aftermarket radiators and Febi expansion tanks, both of questionable kwality. I have a feeling the M119 versions will not be far behind - those items are still available at the moment.

 

[alabbasi]

On the Pe*chp*rts forum: This has turned out to be an interesting thread regarding You Replace Often Parts. The conversation got pretty interesting between myself and a champion of theirs called Rumb. In the end, proving that the manufacturer has invested significantly in PR

 

[gerryvz]

On the Pe*chp*rts forum: This has turned out to be an interesting thread regarding You Replace Often Parts. The conversation got pretty interesting between myself and a champion of theirs called Rumb. In the end, proving that the manufacturer has invested significantly in PR

Looks like that post has been deleted or is otherwise not available. Perhaps you can post a web page capture of the thread or screen captures.

 

[alabbasi]

All I have is the Emails. I linked the BW flex disc thread after the 'parts support' marketing team chimed in (threads edited to remove long hyperlinks to a deleted thread).




This guy "rumb" kept insisting that I should find posts in the last two years, I suspect knowing that they've been going around and having negative posts deleted.



After a few more back and forth, the thread was deleted, which explains why he keeps insisting that people look for recent comments. I wonder what it took to get him to flip from this comment in 2014, found on Benzw*rld

 

[gerryvz]

It is apparent that since URO became a key advertiser for PeachParts, that they immediately made very active moves to censor and remove all threads and posts that are derogatory toward URO parts. This includes the "Tales of Woe" thread that I authored many years ago (and then later on began THIS thread here, which URO cannot censor).

I am 110% confident that URO knows of this forum and thread, and log on here with regularity, because this forum's thread comes up very high in the Google search rankings when it comes to the quality of URO and similar Chinese-made aftermarket parts.

It was interesting that when URO tried to also become a key advertiser and sponsor at Banzworld, the members there ultimately rejected / nixed that sponsorship.

I'm still waiting for an offer of sponsorship here by them. If and when that ever happens, I will roundly laugh in their face.

 

[bclifton]

URO parts are interesting. I do appreciate when folks make parts for these classics, especially as supply starts to go down and there aren't any options except used (from junkyard, etc) or NOS. It's nice to see them try

I've seen the quality though (it has been a few years though) and I just refuse to use these parts on my cars. Even if I was just fixing a car to sell. MB sets a high standard for their parts and I always try to get the MB stamped parts. Until they're capable of meeting those standards, using URO parts is always going to be a no-go for me

 

[daantjie]

I have to confess that I used Uro door seals on my 6.9...they seem to be holding up pretty good but I fully agree that MB is best. I figured on a non safety critical part I was willing to roll the dice as the price differential was substantial at the time. What to do though if a part is NLA and Uro is the only game in town? I guess good used is better but in many cases that supply is also dwindling. Ugh...choices...

 

[alabbasi]

, especially as supply starts to go down and there aren't any options

It's a very basic strategy:

1. A supplier enters the market selling sub standard goods at an extremely low price.
2. Because people naturally gravitate towards the lowest prices, quality manufacturers get pushed out of certain product lines as they can't compete at that price point.
3. This leaves the sub standard part supplier to own the market and they can now raise prices.
4. Instead of improving the product, they deploy teams of marketing specialists to take down negative reviews because it's more profitable when compared to raising quality.

Nothing new here.

 

[emerydc8]

It's sad that URO would rather spend its efforts censoring negative posts than making quality parts. How much extra would using quality materials cost? I guess it's cheaper to do what @alabbasi just stated because that was their game plan ab initio. I do think we will get to the point where we have no other choice as Mercedes distances itself from being a real automotive manufacturer in favor of a lease/finance company that sells disposable products will a view towards designed obsolescence (at least through the warranty period).

 

[gerryvz]

It's a very basic strategy:

1. A supplier enters the market selling sub standard goods at an extremely low price.
2. Because people naturally gravitate towards the lowest prices, quality manufacturers get pushed out of certain product lines as they can't compete at that price point.
3. This leaves the sub standard part supplier to own the market and they can now raise prices.
4. Instead of improving the product, they deploy teams of marketing specialists to take down negative reviews because it's more profitable when compared to raising quality.

Nothing new here.

APA Industries is owned and operated by the Seeman family, and is based in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California, northwest of Los Angeles. They own and operate two parts brands under the APA Industries company -- Üro Parts and Autotechnica.

And yes, URO (actually the mother ship, APA Industries) realized some years back (very correctly so) that they had an image problem. And they knew it was based on cheaply made, and prematurely failing products.

What they decided to do about it, was the following:

1. Pull the most critical, egregiously and commonly failing products off the market (such as the faulty flex discs)
2. Pursue a multi-faceted marketing campaign with the goal of improving their image, with the following key tenets:
   1. Begin touting that they are an "OEM" for various European car manufacturers, based on the very thinnest of actual truth. I have yet to see any Mercedes-Benz part that has been confirmed to have been manufactured by APA/URO
   2. Begin touting that they have a true R&D program and laboratories to develop and improve the quality and longevity of their products, citing a couple of specific examples. Meanwhile, 99% of their European car products continue to be sourced and sold from the same Chinese factories, with no changes in specs or quality whatsoever
   3. Begin investing significant marketing dollars in various European car forums out there, to sign on as a highly visible sponsor. This is for all marques, not just Mercedes-related forums
   4. Begin touting parts that are otherwise NLA, that only URO/APA is providing, thus making URO/APA the "go-to" brand for these parts because nothing else exists. This is very, very shrewd and a smart thing to do
   5. Once a forum sponsorship is secured, pressure the forum's owner/operator to quickly remove derogatory posts and threads -- however old and/or accurate they are -- about URO/APA the company and its parts, with leverage being the withdrawl of financial sponsorship/support. This is literal censorship and very, very dishonest
   6. Petition Google and other search engines, and adopt SEO tactics to suppress negative reviews and the visibility of negative-to-URO/APA web pages from web searches
   7. Begin engaging with specific "influencers" present on web forums to begin touting the virtues of APA/URO parts, likely with some sort of financial or parts-related compensation. This can take the form of reviews, positive posts about the company/products on web forums, and generally being an evangelist for the URO parts products
   8. Introduce new sub-brands of Uro Parts, to distract people from the poor quality of the original URO Parts product line. These new sub-brands (Uro Parts Premium and Uro Parts Classic) have nomenclature and marketing specifically to infer that they are extremely high quality and even of better quality than a manufacturer's own OE/OEM parts. Meanwhile, they are sourced from overseas/Far Eastern factories, just like the original Uro Parts
   9. Begin sponsoring "Cars and Coffee" regional events at their facilities, and other car enthusiast related events. This is a very shrewd PR tactic to attract owners to see the company's premises and improve brand awareness

It's a very shrewd, multi-pronged strategy that has indeed begun to pay results over the past 5-7 years. But unfortunately, the substance of the company, the quality of the parts themselves, does not seem to have improved, appreciably, across the board. URO Parts are still being sourced primarily from Chinese factories.

 

[nehuge]

Everyone I know on facebook, forums, instagram, whatever I'll keep touting to them that URO is junk and don't buy. Hopefully the true OEM demand may make Mercedes do some small batches here and there.

 

[gerryvz]

It always amazes me the folks on other forums who INSIST that URO parts are great, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, over many many years. And not just with MB owners, but BMW, and Volvo, etc.

URO has done a great job at suppressing many of the threads and much of the content online that denigrate the quality of its products.

They will NEVER censor or suppress any of the content here that relates to their inferior products, though. There is just too much information out there about how bad the products are. You can't argue with facts and reality !!!

 

[alabbasi]

It always amazes me the folks on other forums who INSIST that URO parts are great,

That kind of marketing is available as a paid service

Hopefully the true OEM demand may make Mercedes do some small batches here and there.

I don't think anything would make MB happier than people turning in their 10+ year old car and taking out a lease deal on a new one.

 

[gerryvz]

Cousin Pierre with a segment on why he WILL NOT use Asian-made parts on his customers' cars.

He is my brothah from anothah mothah on this topic, no question.....

 

[gsxr]

Japan is the exception, eh? Like Marty McFly said... "Doc, all the best stuff is made in Japan!"

I had to chuckle about him ranting (rightfully) about cheap offshore parts, while... simultaneously pushing a sponsor that sells used gaskets? 'Better than Fel-Pro!". LOL. *rimshot* AFAICT this is a joke, as the site does not exist, but it seems something got lost in the delivery.

That said, I agree with most of that video. Also got a chuckle out of "...Febi guide rod mounting kit, which is made in Germany... if you believe anything that Febi says..."

 

[alabbasi]

Just a couple of points:

1) As far as classic car enthusiasm, I'd have to disagree. I spent a year in Jordan in the 90's and it was like a classic Mercedes Benz heaven. The average Taxi was either a W115 or a W123. There was also a shared ride service called 'service' which ran a fixed route for 10c per passenger and those were mostly W110's. Lebanon was much the same way and I'm almost certain that MB had a factory in Turkey back when the W115 was being made.
2) I've had the misfortune of having to deal with people who have wanted to offshore. There's a way to execute this correctly which cost money, or to flip in over the fence for bids and get the lowest price. You get what you pay for and the first thing to go out of the window is quality control. If we're blaming some factory in China for this, we're blaming the wrong people. I'm sure that they can make better stuff, it will just cost more.

 

[gsxr]

2) I've had the misfortune of having to deal with people who have wanted to offshore. There's a way to execute this correctly which cost money, or to flip in over the fence for bids and get the lowest price. You get what you pay for and the first thing to go out of the window is quality control. If we're blaming some factory in China for this, we're blaming the wrong people. I'm sure that they can make better stuff, it will just cost more.

Absolutely correct. Some major companies (including the one I work for) produce top-quality products in China, but it is NOT cheap.

 

[Jlaa]

2) I've had the misfortune of having to deal with people who have wanted to offshore. There's a way to execute this correctly which cost money, or to flip in over the fence for bids and get the lowest price. You get what you pay for and the first thing to go out of the window is quality control. If we're blaming some factory in China for this, we're blaming the wrong people. I'm sure that they can make better stuff, it will just cost more.

Japan is the exception, eh? Like Marty McFly said... "Doc, all the best stuff is made in Japan!"

I had to chuckle about him ranting (rightfully) about cheap offshore parts, while... simultaneously pushing a sponsor that sells used gaskets?

Absolutely correct. Some major companies (including the one I work for) produce top-quality products in China, but it is NOT cheap.

Usually the people that have this mindset - "quality is completely dependent on country of origin and not dependent on the person doing the outsourcing / having "bid for lowest price." are blinded by their own hubris. Any upstart will start at the bottom and before you know it ... they will work themselves to the top.

This is how Japan totally took away the HiFi, television, consumer electronics, and automobile industry crown away from the USA from the 1950s- forward. Remember the movie "Guns Ho" starring Michael Keaton in the 1980s?

This is how the Koreans are actively taking away the automobile industry crown away from Japan (remember the Hyundai Pony from the 1980s?) Already look at how much of the world's consumer appliances (dishwashers, refrigerators, etc.) are produced by Korean manufacturers.

Focusing on the cheapskate end of the automotive parts market (30 year old Mercedes owners looking for inexpensive parts) and labelling Asian manufacturers as "bad" is ...... to completely underestimate the competition. As an example, for anyone in the RF industry, I challenge them to try and get something consumer/business-grade RF related (like Wifi antennas, waveguides, microwave-frequency related things) manufactured outside of China. It is next to impossible. China, Inc. owns the whole ecosystem there!

 

[alabbasi]

This is right,

Usually the people that have this mindset - "quality is completely dependent on country of origin and not dependent on the person doing the outsourcing / having "bid for lowest price." are blinded by their own hubris.

You don't need to convince me! My ancestors who were Babylonians couldn't say enough nice things about the stuff coming out of the silk road, and they're a fussy group of people.

 

[LWB250]

Just a couple of points:

1) As far as classic car enthusiasm, I'd have to disagree. I spent a year in Jordan in the 90's and it was like a classic Mercedes Benz heaven. The average Taxi was either a W115 or a W123. There was also a shared ride service called 'service' which ran a fixed route for 10c per passenger and those were mostly W110's. Lebanon was much the same way and I'm almost certain that MB had a factory in Turkey back when the W115 was being made.

I believe they were assembling for that market in Turkey, much like what they did in countries like Australia that require local manufacturing. My Dad was involved with Holden's presence in Australia when he was a VP at GM, and that was a deal where they shipped sub-assemblies and just assembled the car in-country to comply as I recall.

I was in and out of Lebanon and Israel in the first half of the 90s, and yes, it was MB taxi heaven! Parts of Greece were like that as well as Cyprus.

Dan