URO & cheap aftermarket parts - Tales of Woe

[asultan]

all this banter supports my idiocy in ordering that nissens a/c condenser i mentioned on my owners thread, receiving it, seeing made in taiwan —

then realizing as it sat next to the old condenser i had just removed, that they were completely different, thinner fins, no condenser pipes just end tanks, and it was about .5” thinner… yeah into the the garbage pile lol

it’s hard not to make the same mistake 100 times when ordering from FCP that will claim that A. it fits and B. that it’s OE…

ACM unit on the way…

 

[bclifton]

URO digging themselves into a hole here:

Crazy prices from Mercedes for our old cars! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

I have a need for a transmission mount for my '85 300D. Part A1232402518. Looks like the aftermarket ones are out of stock at many vendors. So, I

www.peachparts.com

In case they delete the whole thing - member bought an engine mount went to install and the part broke. They took pics showing the torque specs and then mods deleted the "proof" and URO basically accusing them of using the wrong kind of wrench, etc. Kind of a wreck

 

[chicky]

Hello Gentlemen,
I was doing some research for Top Mounts for my R129.066 and came upon an American company "TRQ Car Components" out of Pepperell MA, selling the top mounts for US$47.00 each.
Has any member have any feed back with regards to quality even if USA made?
Thank you in advance

 

[gsxr]

I was doing some research for Top Mounts for my R129.066 and came upon an American company "TRQ Car Components" out of Pepperell MA, selling the top mounts for US$47.00 each.
Has any member have any feed back with regards to quality even if USA made?

Never heard of TRQ. Definitely not USA-made parts, or they would be screaming that from the rooftops. TRQ appears to be a reboxer, I would expect ÜRO parts in the box, or equivalent. No bueno.

TRQ Aftermarket Auto Parts - View Before You Do

www.trqautoparts.com

What "top mount" are you looking for on the 129.066?

 

[gerryvz]

We've talked about all this over and over. No, a blanket statement that ALL parts made in China are garbage, is simply incorrect. There are good products that come out of China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, and other places.

BUT, I think the caveat here is the PRICE of the items. You get what you pay for.

So if you are looking at a Chinese-made FEBI or URO part that is 40% the cost of a quality aftermarket or 20% of the cost of an MB part, there is a damn good chance that it is junk. As mentioned above with regard to the A/C condenser, etc. But there are also going to be some parts (I have yet to see them in reality) made in China that will likely meet MB specs and MAY WELL BE as good as European-made parts. We'll have to call that out when we see it.

There's two things that I decry here:

1) Companies like Lemforder and Continental (ContiTech), who once made very high quality products, having off-shored their factories and parts to low-cost countries, and are now pretty much making junk that is maybe a half-step better than URO, if that.​

​

2) Companies like TRW that produce a "high-line" product that is pretty much OE quality, and a "low-line" product that is cheaper and off-shore-made junk. Why can't they just make ONE quality line of products that supports their brand quality message?​

One thing I have always found interesting with regard to MB parts -- how many MB parts have you EVER come across that are made in the USA? Over nearly 30 years, and many thousands of parts ordered from MB, I can put the number of OE MB replacement parts I've received with "MADE IN UNITED STATES" on probably one or two hands.

Has always intrigued me. Maybe the US doesn't make quality parts either (or ones at least that meet MB spec).

 

[gsxr]

URO digging themselves into a hole here:

Crazy prices from Mercedes for our old cars! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

I have a need for a transmission mount for my '85 300D. Part A1232402518. Looks like the aftermarket ones are out of stock at many vendors. So, I

www.peachparts.com

In case they delete the whole thing - member bought an engine mount went to install and the part broke. They took pics showing the torque specs and then mods deleted the "proof" and URO basically accusing them of using the wrong kind of wrench, etc. Kind of a wreck

WOW. That is a disaster. I expect the entire thread to be deleted, probably soon. PDF attached of the current thread content. Someone at Fruitbird, if not the URO personnel, have already deleted / censored posts. NOT cool.

Textbook dumpster fire...

 

[gerryvz]

Yep, I am highly surprised that the thread has even lasted this long. URO's responses are comical, not only full of inaccuracies, but misinformation and outright false assumptions. There is no question that the thread will be deleted in fairly short order, consistent with other past threads about poor URO quality being deleted.

This thread ranks very high in the search rankings for URO quality, so it should continue to be easy to find. I am going to do what I can to even improve the SEO rankings of this thread more, if I can, to help warn off others in the future from URO parts. It is very clear, despite all of their "we're improving our quality" posturing and increased marketing, that the overall quality of their products continues to be absolute JUNK.

 

[gsxr]

URO digging themselves into a hole here:

In case they delete the whole thing - member bought an engine mount went to install and the part broke. They took pics showing the torque specs and then mods deleted the "proof" and URO basically accusing them of using the wrong kind of wrench, etc. Kind of a wreck

That reads like the URO "rep" is a Gen Z'er living in their parent's basement, who got a "social media" job to make ÜRO parts look good on various forums. They probably have never turned a wrench and might not even have a driver's license. LOL. OK, maybe they have and do, but I wouldn't be surprised...

Note: Photo below is representative, not actual.

 

[alabbasi]

WOW. That is a disaster. I expect the entire thread to be deleted,
Textbook dumpster fire...

This was my experience more than 10 years ago when I contacted URO regarding the flex disc failure on my 560SEL. Their response was hostile and all they kept saying was that their parts are backed with a 2 year warranty and that they never have comebacks. Same old URO, nothing has changed.

 

[daantjie]

Unfortunately I think Uro garbage is akin to the Asian carp and feral hog problem. It has permeated into the aftermarket ecosystem and getting rid of them will be nigh impossible.

 

[gerryvz]

I love how URO just keeps digging themselves into a hole in that thread. The fact of the matter is, that the poor guy bought a URO mount that failed because of faulty metal in the fastener.

Yet URO keeps insisting that because of their tests (bias, anyone?) that it can take 50% higher torque than MB spec.

That may be true for the part that THEY tested, but they refused to acknowledge that the part that the poor guy got failed early because of being defective.

Which is exactly the problem.

They can never admit any fault with their product, or that their product could be or is sub-par in quality. To do that would instantly ruin their entire business model. Heck, they won't even admit that the mount in question was made in China !!!!

I just wish people would STOP buying their crap.

And I wish URO would come onto this forum to try to defend themselves and their quality of their products. They would be utterly destroyed here.

 

[alabbasi]

They're waiting for you to sell and buy that brand new Camry you always wanted

 

[Jlaa]

Please allow me to share something fascinating. Maybe @maw1124, I mean, "Big Time Roller", can dig up even more info!

APA Industries in Simi, California is the parent company that manufactures Üro Parts.
They look pretty small. Anyways, looking at their YouTube channel, it looks like they were trying to tout their quality processes (every single video talked about quality quality quality) from 2009 - 2017.

Then, all of a sudden, 6 years ago, the videos on YouTube stopped. Silence.

Then, just as suddenly, around Feb of 2023, they started pumping out videos again with really slick production quality overlaid with jazzy music. Hmmmmm. Did something happen in early 2023?

Yes, APA took was either purchased or recapitalized (!!!!!!!!) through a Private Equity Firm "PNC Riverarch Capital" https://www.pnc.com/content/dam/pnc...rch/press-release/apa-announcement-011023.pdf

Hmmmmmm.... I have never heard of PNC Riverarch Capital (not that I know anything about this stuff anyways but still.....)

OK, let take a quick look at these PNC Riverarch guys ---- https://www.pncriverarch.com/conten...utional/riverarch/riverarch-firm-overview.pdf

Look below. Okay then. I don't recognize ANY of these portfolio companies.






Lastly, if having this PE firm inject a bunch of capital into APA Industries is a good thing (as those banal quotes in the press release would make you think it is) then how much nothing about this development is mentioned on the "News" section of the APA website?

URO Parts & Autotecnica, Manufactured by APA Industries

 

[gsxr]

Great detective work, Jlaa! I bet the cash injection also funded the ÜRO Keyboard Warriors on the various socials to try and boost their image, like the guy on Fruitbird who keeps coming back to the customer's torque wench must be grossly miscalibrated...

 

[a777fan]

Remember the movie "Guns Ho" starring Michael Keaton in the 1980s?

left coast Freudian slip @Jlaa?

Gung Ho (1986) ⭐ 6.3 | Comedy, Drama

1h 51m | PG-13

www.imdb.com

 

[maw1124]

Great research @Jlaa... yes it's a cold trail... from what I can tell PNC Riverarch is a small, unfocused (or vaguely focused) middle market PE firm (see below) that invested in APA in February 2023 (that explains timing), more or less as its last investment. God only knows what APA did until then but maybe Uro is one of their "industrial products" companies. APA had even fewer employees and investments than PNC, so maybe more focused and less real (see below). Maybe Uro and nothing else.

In any event, I wouldn't put anything they're making on anything that transports me or my loved ones. Full stop. These folks are blind squirrels trying to get a nut as far as I'm concerned. Since the pandemic a lot of big PE money has poured into auto parts, because the proletariat cannot afford to buy new and must keep their older cars running (contrast to most here who have both new and old, and simply choose to keep old cars running; or combine both markets). These folks I would bet are trying to position themselves to sell to that big PE money (that's what I would be doing in that industry).

In other words, just trying to hit a financial homer not make quality auto parts. STAY AWAY.

$.02

maw

 

[maw1124]

Further to this... PNC is one of those PE firms (small, unfocused, inexperienced) that can only "thrive" when money is too cheap for too long, thanks to the federal reserve. Hopefully these squirrels will crawl back into whatever hole they came from. Amateur hour has long run its course IMO.

maw

 

[ace10]

Bosch Starter Motors and Generators is now SEG Automotive.

The well-established Starter Motors and Generators division of the Bosch Group has completed its transition to an independent company: It will operate under the name SEG Automotive, effective immediately.

www.seg-automotive.com

 

[gerryvz]

There is a member here, @URO Parts, who registered in 2015 with the email daniel@apaindustries.com

That’s Daniel Seeman, scion of the owner Seeman family. He registered here as part of the previous effort to engage on various forums and monitor what was being said about the company’s crappy parts.

 

[gerryvz]

I continue to find it humorous that PeachParts forum continues to use vBulletin 3.8.x

The last time that VB 3.x was updated with any type of new feature was sometime around 2004, perhaps 2005. Since then a few minor releases have been made, mainly because of the relatively large installed base, to extend 3.x support for newer versions of php and MySQL.

So this is a platform that has been literally dead in terms of any new capabilities for almost 20 years, and has been extended on life support ever since. VBulletin finally and definitively said in 2017 that there would be ZERO further life extensions provided.

That means that the current iteration of PeachParts forum is running on a “frozen” infrastructure that it at minimum 5-6 years old, using software that has received no true development for nearly 20 years.

Sigh.

And y’all thought this forum’s software is bad/old/not modern. I can’t imagine trying to keep 20 year old software running. The security implications and potential to be hacked, alone, would keep me up at night.

 

[gsxr]

OP from Fruitbird started another thread on Ben's Whirled:

Transmission Mount woes OT

OT because this was on my W123 300D. But it does have same or similar transmission mount to the 107. Only transmission I could find, was a URO. Part is 123-240-25-18. Even that I had to buy from USA because no-one had stock in Canada. I initially hand tightened the M8 bolts that attach the...

www.benzworld.org

 

[Jlaa]

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.

FWIW - From the Üro YouTube videos --- these are the guys that drive the culture of Üro and make the decisions on what kinds of products that Üro offers and how much APA Industries is willing to pay for these products.

 

[a777fan]

And y’all thought this forum’s software is bad/old/not modern.

Not to diverge this thread, but... definitely not I. I love the functionality and the clean modern design and the ease of use. I know I threw a 'fit' when you decided to dump tapatalk support, but you were absolutely right, as this experience trumps it in every imaginable way. Can't really think of anything to improve on.

 

[gsxr]

Not to diverge this thread, but... definitely not I. I love the functionality and the clean modern design and the ease of use. I know I threw a 'fit' when you decided to dump tapatalk support, but you were absolutely right, as this experience trumps it in every imaginable way. Can't really think of anything to improve on.

I never thought XenFurry was bad/old/non-modern... but it does have some UI "features" that I find annoying, or non-intuitive. I've gotten used to it though. And I'm sure the back-end code is a lot more solid than the vBooletin stuffs.

 

[asultan]

I never thought XenFurry was bad/old/non-modern... but it does have some UI "features" that I find annoying, or non-intuitive. I've gotten used to it though. And I'm sure the back-end code is a lot more solid than the vBooletin stuffs.

I've always loved this website UI wise... the only thing id really "change" is the fidelity of the banner and its font to Helvetica Neue in Medium Bold

 

[Gatorblue92]

Wow... hadn't been over on Peach Parts in years because it became so toxic and it looks like the inmates are really running the place now.

 

[asultan]

Funniest part of peachparts is the misc. forums — shit is really like 4chan lmao not to get political, but their takes over there are wild

 

[LWB250]

The place (PeachParts) has been a dumpster fire (when there's activity) for years.

Dan

 

[alabbasi]

The place (PeachParts) has been a dumpster fire (when there's activity) for years.

Dan

For the most part, if you stay out of the open discussion section, it's pretty good. I've never seen anyone get banned form the vintage forum and believe me I tried!

 

[gerryvz]

Interesting video … watch from 13:15 onwards to end.

Cheap aftermarket Dorman part on a lame Chevy car.

Highlighted comment: “Dorman is still in business because there is no shortage of people who would rather spend $80 five times than $200 once.”

I think same can be said about URO and its ilk.

 

[gerryvz]

18:25 -- "It has an explanation: 'The Wallet With Wings.' Dorman got us again."

 

[gsxr]

Comments implied the OE/OEM part is NLA... not sure if that's accurate, but if so, there might be limited options for this component?

 

[gerryvz]

“The Dorman logo is the wallet with wings. It shows money flying away.”

 

[gerryvz]

Yet another Banzworld 126 forum "Einstein" tries a URO part (door seal) and tells his tale of woe.....

Rubber Door Seals - aftermarket quality &amp...

My car is experiencing some wind noise at highway speeds and I'm guessing it's the rubber door seals. All 4 door seals seem to be NLA. This company out of Turkey seems to be selling a set of 4 for the SEL. Has anyone ever ordered anything from Bamboli LTD? I emailed them and they told me they...

www.benzworld.org

 

[LWB250]

OMG! If you read that BanzWhirled thread, they said they called ÜRO about the lousy fitment, and the "engineer" told them to cut the seal, that was normal.

For what it's worth when I restored the W111 220SEb a few years ago, I bought several things from a vendor in Turkey, including a $1000 dash pad reproduction. Everything was well done and appeared to be high quality. Granted, time will tell, but I was happy with it, and the fitment was good. I believe I got door seals from them as well, and they were good, too.

And yes, that's a great analogy - Dorman is the domestic ÜRO.

Dan

 

[Stevester 500E]

With the increase of parts going NLA, it might be time to get used to aftermarket parts. It's a hard pill to swallow, but what are you going to do.

I think that is going to be the new norm, but I am guessing maybe the NLA cycle will start at year 10 to 15. Even if the electric car were never to catch on and take over, it makes business sense to sort of coerce people to buy new cars. Coerce via means of making parts NLA.

 

[Gatorblue92]

 

[sheward]

Planned obsolescence. It's been a tool for decades now.

 

[gerryvz]

With the increase of parts going NLA, it might be time to get used to aftermarket parts.

We have been used to aftermarket parts for decades now. But .... QUALITY aftermarket parts.

If you are suggesting we get used to aftermarket parts such as Uro Parts, MTC, Hamburg Technik, Meyle, Febi, and so forth.....YOU are welcome to install those, but none of them will EVER grace my cars.

I would be happy to put used factory parts on my cars 100x over putting any cheap crap on my cars, but I know that's just me. And part of the reason why I have four basement shelf-racks chock full of 20+ years of hoarded parts.

 

[gsxr]

What Gerry said. Aftermarket is not a problem. Garbage aftermarket is.

 

[nocfn]

Gerry, does your cousin dye his hair? I bet there is a kit for that....

 

[Stevester 500E]

Gerry, does your cousin dye his hair? I bet there is a kit for that....

View attachment 180754

I tried to buy that kit, but it NLA.

 

[gerryvz]

That's the @gsxr's uncle, not my cousin. My cousin is located in Florida, his name is Pierre Hedary. He has too much hair to dye at the moment.

 

[pzero]

abs sensors are NLA for my w201. Does anyone know if the w124 ones fit? Only option is URO (price isn't cheap either)

 

[gsxr]

Why not get used W201 sensors from a junkyard? They are relatively rare failures.

 

[gerryvz]

That would be my recommendation, as well. I was able to get a set of the NLA ABS sensors for the W/C126 from a local wrecking yard a couple of years ago, and they were in near-new condition (obviously the originals had been replaced with these factory units).

 

[pzero]

I wish it were that easy. The w201 in the junkyard here are beat pretty bad. Most have the worst aftermarket parts when I go visit. I'll just have to keep looking. I was hoping for some feedback on the uro abs units. Thanks

 

[emerydc8]

eBay?

 

[DLL]

If, same as W124, I'm taking apart a 95 E320 Wagon for parts right now.
BC Canada

 

[pzero]

If, same as W124, I'm taking apart a 95 E320 Wagon for parts right now.
BC Canada

That's what I'm trying to figure out. Apparently, the ones in my w201 are the same as a 560sl