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URO & cheap aftermarket parts - Tales of Woe
- Thread starter gerryvz
- Start date
Every now & then (whenever I encounter a "peddlecar" out here in the Hinterlands) I'll drive up next to it, nod at the driver (if they look over), then drop the hammer down & let'm know what a Mercedes was all about.
Good video from GSXR there, too!
Absolute proof that it's not me... I'd never touch M103 parts. Ewwwww!
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Need to keep this thread going.
More good stuff .... read and enjoy !!!
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/...O-brand-parts-all-rubber-parts-junk-stay-away
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w123-e-ce-d-cd-td/2675489-case-uro-parts.html
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=313079
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=71733
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w126-s-se-sec-sel-sd/1608368-uro-flex-disc-warning.html
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r-c107-sl-slc-class/2394505-has-uro-gotten-better.html#post12462321
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum...5-e320-wagon-new-front-flex-disc-failure.html
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum...-part-bad-two-days-flat-headlight-switch.html
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum...market-uro-brand-m103-fan-clutch-bracket.html
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum...-me-down-another-uro-hater-tie-rods-time.html
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/tech-help/366979-uro-parts-utter-s***t.html
More good stuff .... read and enjoy !!!
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/...O-brand-parts-all-rubber-parts-junk-stay-away
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w123-e-ce-d-cd-td/2675489-case-uro-parts.html
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=313079
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=71733
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w126-s-se-sec-sel-sd/1608368-uro-flex-disc-warning.html
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r-c107-sl-slc-class/2394505-has-uro-gotten-better.html#post12462321
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum...5-e320-wagon-new-front-flex-disc-failure.html
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum...-part-bad-two-days-flat-headlight-switch.html
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum...market-uro-brand-m103-fan-clutch-bracket.html
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum...-me-down-another-uro-hater-tie-rods-time.html
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/tech-help/366979-uro-parts-utter-s***t.html
Seems that one of the "moderators" over at TFTSNBN has spammed every single sub-forum on that site with an identical thread-starter post that prompts discussion on whether members think that URO should remain as a forum monetary sponsor. Some of the sub-forums didn't bother to even discuss the matter; in others it prompted quite an active discussion for a few days. Including a few new "tales of woe" and anger from various folks. Others seem to think that URO stuff is just fine and the cheaper the parts they can put on their cars, the better. Heck, for a while there was even a URO sponsor sub-forum there !!!
URO is making a very active effort to become a more active part of the Mercedes forum community, and they are pursuing stronger links and sponsorships with all kinds of Mercedes-related web sites and forums. It seems that they are more serious about producing better parts, though it appears that their products are still principally manufactured in China and other Asian countries with low labor rates and low quality and respect for intellectual property.
URO is making a very active effort to become a more active part of the Mercedes forum community, and they are pursuing stronger links and sponsorships with all kinds of Mercedes-related web sites and forums. It seems that they are more serious about producing better parts, though it appears that their products are still principally manufactured in China and other Asian countries with low labor rates and low quality and respect for intellectual property.
Stay tuned.
What's really sad is that they have OE parts supplier for Jaguar. As I'm discovering to my misfortune, there are some cases where there is no other option.
Negative Batman!
I've ordered genuine idler arm bushing repair kit 129-460-00-19 and, out of curiosity, ordered URO version. $136 for original vs $38 for URO. Besides different nuts and more pleasant, bearing-like spinning of a metal part (if I stick my finger into it and turn) inside the rubber part, they appear identical visually, tactile and size-wise. Thickness of metal cylindrical portion is identical 0.15 inch on both. Perhaps URO is getting better? 
Genuine are on the left side of all photos, URO on the right. In a blind test, I wouldn't be able to tell them apart with out looking at the markings.
Perhaps, when other members will be ordering certain parts, it'd be good to order URO alternative as well to compare
Genuine are on the left side of all photos, URO on the right. In a blind test, I wouldn't be able to tell them apart with out looking at the markings.
Perhaps, when other members will be ordering certain parts, it'd be good to order URO alternative as well to compare
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I've ordered genuine idler arm bushing repair kit 129-460-00-19 and, out of curiosity, ordered URO version. $136 for original vs $38 for URO. Besides different nuts and more pleasant, bearing-like spinning of a metal part (if I stick my finger into it and turn) inside the rubber part, they appear identical visually, tactile and size-wise. Thickness of metal cylindrical portion is identical 0.15 inch on both. Perhaps URO is getting better?
Genuine are on the left side of all photos, URO on the right. In a blind test, I wouldn't be able to tell them apart with out looking at the markings.
Perhaps, when other members will be ordering certain parts, it'd be good to order URO alternative as well to compare
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The main difference is the URO items will spontaneously combust the moment you get on the highway and send your car right into the proverbial group of nuns walking kittens
I have also to add some older picture to the piece of shit gallery from Meyle, URO and Co... Had in my W123 a flex disc set for not even 3000km until I had to change it again since the disc took the word flexing too serious. Under load the metal bushings touched - look at the deformation in the picture. Now to be fair, the car has a bit more torque than a stock ECE 560 (about twice as much) however the original flex discs I put in as an replacement lasting now since about 8000km without even a sign of being overstressed.
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@luckymike is 100% correct. It’s all about the rubber. Smell the Üro rubber and you will smell a difference of faux vs. real rubber.
I did not think of doing a sniff test, but will do one when I'll return home. Haha
I've been here since 2015, so I'm well aware that your stern personality has close to zero tolerance towards BS
In 5 years of owning my car only 1 URO part made it onto my car - one motor mount - and that's via a dishonest shop, during first month of ownership. I was just thinking by self-projecting: if I'd own a business who's product had Soviet reputation for quality, I'd try to improve that product. At least out of business sense, if not out of personal dignity/pride. URO had years now to do this. So when ordering original idler arm bushing kit, I figured I'll order URO part too for comparison, as an experiment. I'm not risking putting URO into my steering, but its tactile and visual aspects surprised me.
You might not want to buy a Harbor Freight parachute but if you haven't been there recently, they've really up their game on their professional line of tools. It's a good indication of a company that's doing something right with their purchasing power.
Check out this impact wrench:
Word is that URO is also significantly "upping" their parts quality game. No joke.
What is the world coming to?
Unlikely
Another failed URO ball joint over on Banzwhirled
URO ball joint at less than 1 year
I have searched the internets for years trying to find the article that Jim Patterson of House of Ghia wrote about the composition of rubber parts, in this case a windshield seal, and how even the slightest alterations to the ratio of virgin rubber to carbon (lampblack) would do little to affect the physical appearance of a seal, but have significant effects on it's longevity. He was sourcing reproduction windshield seals and other parts for Karmann Ghias in China in the late 1990s, and by closely monitoring the manufacturing process to assure high quality was able to make some very good reproduction parts. His knowledge in this area was deep, and he was one of the first people I knew who exposed the practice of making cheap rubber parts that looked good but performed poorly over time.
There's a reason why a part is 25%-35% of the cost of everyone else in the market, and it's not because the supplier is making less profit.
There's a reason why a part is 25%-35% of the cost of everyone else in the market, and it's not because the supplier is making less profit.
I agree with what you say for the most part but I don't think that China is to blame here, which is usually where the talking point leads to. Chinese people in general have a high work ethic and quality is available...at a price.
Many Americans (and it appears Europeans also) make their buying decisions based on the bottom dollar. If you're a company that goes to China to find a factory that can make you the same part that costs $30 to make here for $2 over there. You'll get the best part that your $2 will buy, but you won't get the same part. The companies that find those factories know exactly what they're doing and are relying on consumers to shop on price, hoping that if enough do so, it will drive the quality manufacturers out of market.
In the case of URO and parts for older cars. The strategy has worked well for them and the likes of Lemforder , TRW etc are exiting pretty quickly, leaving them to be the only game in town.
I wasn't calling out China or making it a scapegoat for inferior parts. I have done business in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and have seen many very high quality items in all three places. As you point out, the issue is with the companies who drive the manufacturing to make such dreck. Jim Patterson was a good example of someone who had things manufactured in China that were very high quality, but that's because he specified the level of quality that was required.
I recall being in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and seeing a brand new Cincinnati vertical milling machine being uncrated at a business next to my customer. Over a week's time, this business completely disassembled the Cincinnati mill and was busy fabricating copies of it's parts by the end of the week. And to very high tolerances, as good as the original product. I know this because I inquired as to what they were doing and the business owner was quite excited to show someone what he did. He took me through the place and showed me all of the machine work that was being done, and how careful they were to check fit and finish so it would match or exceed that of the "donor" mill. There was a great deal of money wrapped up in his tooling and gauges, many of which were German.
He told me that he would be making copies of the mill and shipping them to customers in Indonesia and Thailand. He had orders for 10-15 of them already and expected more. No doubt it would be a high quality machine tool, but with the lower labor and materials cost, much less expensive than the real thing.
He was only one of many businesses in this industrial park that were doing the exact same thing with other products.
Where? It's a unicorn for me. I've been touting the contents of it for years, but I haven't seen a copy since the early 2000s. I just spent another 30 minutes tonight going through the Wayback Machine combing through Jim's old websites.
No I wasn't suggesting that you were. Just addressing the common misconception
So, then, how do we ultimately know what level of quality Miele, Febi and other "real" brands specify if none of us use them? I don't browse other Mercedes forums much, but the stories about catastrophic failures all involved only uro parts.
I think URO is among the most egregious problem children, because a good number (if not a majority) of their products have been proven over the years to be of shoddy quality. Meyle is questionable, but a notch better I think overall. Febi is largely a re-boxer of other companies' products -- and their boxes contain parts ranging from URO type stuff (crap) to legitimate MB OEM parts with the stars ground off. So you just have to go in with Febi knowing what to expect in the box -- you only buy certain parts from them that you know are going to be the real deal. Everything else, you stay away from.
I once had some guy on PeachParts tell me to put my money where my mouth was with regards to my ranting about URO quality -- he insisted up and down that he'd used dozens of URO parts on his 123 and never had a single problem. So I created a thread that recapped and linked to dozens of specific posts all over the major MB forums about specific URO failures. That shut the guy up -- didn't hear much from him about the topic after that. The evidence was so overwhelming and there were so many stories ... and that was only what was posted, and in the world of MBs. There are other European marques with similar slates of stories with regard to URO Parts.
I started a similar thread here (this thread) to talk about the same thing, because at some point I knew the thread(s) about URO on other forums would get deleted, closed or censored. And sure enough, now URO is a major sponsor of PeachParts, and literally within weeks of this happening, and after probably 15+ years of being a member at PeachParts, I was told by the moderators there (privately) that my account was being closed for repeatedly disparaging a sponsor. What happened was that said new "sponsor" -- who had been tracking me for years (I'd seen URO's name on the "visitors" to my profile repeatedly) -- complained the minute they became a sponsor and then the forum owners obliged the sponsor and muzzled me.
Which was fine. They can't muzzle me on my own forum, and as long as statements are backed up by fact, I have ZERO problem talking about the shoddy quality of companies like URO, Hamburg Tech, Trucktek, MTC (Mission Trading Corp.), and so on.
Now do you see why this forum doesn't accept advertising or donations? Because if it did, the advertisers/donors would feel like they could put pressure on me to do what they wanted me to do.
I once had some guy on PeachParts tell me to put my money where my mouth was with regards to my ranting about URO quality -- he insisted up and down that he'd used dozens of URO parts on his 123 and never had a single problem. So I created a thread that recapped and linked to dozens of specific posts all over the major MB forums about specific URO failures. That shut the guy up -- didn't hear much from him about the topic after that. The evidence was so overwhelming and there were so many stories ... and that was only what was posted, and in the world of MBs. There are other European marques with similar slates of stories with regard to URO Parts.
I started a similar thread here (this thread) to talk about the same thing, because at some point I knew the thread(s) about URO on other forums would get deleted, closed or censored. And sure enough, now URO is a major sponsor of PeachParts, and literally within weeks of this happening, and after probably 15+ years of being a member at PeachParts, I was told by the moderators there (privately) that my account was being closed for repeatedly disparaging a sponsor. What happened was that said new "sponsor" -- who had been tracking me for years (I'd seen URO's name on the "visitors" to my profile repeatedly) -- complained the minute they became a sponsor and then the forum owners obliged the sponsor and muzzled me.
Which was fine. They can't muzzle me on my own forum, and as long as statements are backed up by fact, I have ZERO problem talking about the shoddy quality of companies like URO, Hamburg Tech, Trucktek, MTC (Mission Trading Corp.), and so on.
Now do you see why this forum doesn't accept advertising or donations? Because if it did, the advertisers/donors would feel like they could put pressure on me to do what they wanted me to do.
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
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
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