Do you use Genuine Parts?

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Do you use Genuine Parts?

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Quick survey / discussion thread for all of the Fiat Forum users here..

Do you use Genuine Parts when you repair your Fiat?

- all the time?
- some of the time?
- never?

Why do you / don't you use Genuine Parts?

- the cost?
- the hassle?
- not worth the price?
or maybe you do, for..
- the quality
- the warranty

Which brands do you prefer and why?

Do you get your parts from Fiat or aftermarket sources?

Bonus Question: If you know a bit about (or use) Magneti Marelli what'd your opinion on that brand? It is the cross between Fiat and aftermarket parts I think

Feel free to discuss! :D

I use genuine as much as I can afford, but have settled for the likes of Bosch for the fuel pump and Suplex for coil springs. Mostly due to cost, but when I come into some more money and these parts are up for renewal I'd go for genuine again! Wondering as well if any of you have any compelling reasons to not go genuine :)
 
it depends what parts....
folklore has it that suspension parts especially are of LOW quality.. from the factory.. so little point of refitting the same "junk" at main dealer prices.

RUBBER parts,
rubbber degrades over time, it's not unheard of to pay 2016 prices for something actually MADE in 2000, and there fore will be half collapsed through perishing..,

safety critical parts, steering / brakes:
any decent brand,
or buying from established vendors/ factors SHOULD be safe enough

some parts essentially HAVE to be FIAT only.. but worth approaching companies that specialise in genuine parts supply,
like shop4parts, etc. to see what is available.

Charlie
 
I never buy genuine parts once out of warranty.

The cost of genuine parts can be completely ridiculous, as an example our mini needed new brake pads and mini wanted nearly £90 for a set where as quality after market parts were £30 so a third of the cost for exactly the same thing!

Your fiat is mostly made from parts made by magneti Marelli as it is part of the FCA group so most of the electrics on your car is made by them and often batteries and other parts like brakes and suspension parts. You will also find the stamp on ferraris Maserati and alfa Romeo

When it comes to parts, the manufacturers will just rebrand anything that meets their design spec and buy it from these companies. So Bosch parts are often found in fuel injection systems and stop start systems. Blaupunkt make radios and other in car technology as do grundig, Ferrari are a little more up market and use pioneer to make their in car tech.
 
Your fiat is mostly made from parts made by magneti Marelli as it is part of the FCA group so most of the electrics on your car is made by them and often batteries and other parts like brakes and suspension parts. You will also find the stamp on ferraris Maserati and alfa Romeo

ta, forgot about the Marelli side of it, :eek:

is that the "SHIELD EMBLEM" or is that another Common supplier.. ??

never quite figured that out:confused:
 
The "shield" emblem is the Fiat genuine parts logo. You might see it next to the actual manufacturer's logo .. for instance "Valeo" with the FCA parts logo next to it... but usually if it has the FCA logo, it won't have the manufacturer's logo.

Aftermarket parts (e.g. "Valeo") won't have the FCA logo on, even if that part only fits a FCA vehicle.

I try to buy the best compromise (price vs quality vs criticality). Fiat parts seem to last over 10 years... (not including consumables or semi-consumables) by which time the car is pretty much worth "£hundreds" rather than "£thousands".

When it needs new dampers.. I'll go for some that are 1/3 the price of OE. Even if they only last half as long - the car will be 15+ years old ad scrap by then.

When it needs a new oil filter, water pump etc. I buy the best OEM I can afford. They won't be on the car forever and just have to meet their service life.

When the beast needs a new sensor, I tend to buy Fiat or good OEM (NGK, Bosch, Marelli etc.).. since they work perfectly whereas my experience with "no-name" brands is that they don't always work properly (e.g. pattern lambda's, MAFs etc.).

Clutch... Valeo since the biggest ball-ache is labour not the extra £20 a Valeo costs compared to an Oochi-Coo-Chi and I don't want to fix it again later, any time soon.

Ralf S.
 
I use genuine parts as long as I have warranty, afterwards I'll switch back to the brands I've always used on previous cars: NGK plugs, TRW brakes, Bilstein suspension... Although now I'll probably have to shop at MM instead of Bosch for sensors and stuff.
I hope the MM throttle body Volvo used isn't a reference to the quality of all MM parts, as my Doblo is loaded with them!
 
I try to buy the best quality parts I can find - sometimes those will be the genuine Fiat ones, but not always. For example, my Stilo currently has...

  • Genuine air filter, pollen filter, oil filter
  • Genuine (Tutela) gear oil
  • Redline engine oil
  • Tarox 112 brake pads
  • NGK iridium spark plugs
  • Meyle drop links
  • Koni shock absorbers
  • Heyner hybrid wiper blades
  • Marelli ignition coils, sensors
  • Bosch battery
Quality parts often fit better, work better, last longer and turn out to be better value and generally less hassle. This is not the same as being a 'brand victim': I'm not hung up on having genuine parts or particular brands - I just want the best I can get for each component.
 
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