MadaboutKitcars

Does anyone have first hand experience of the benifits or not between sourcing parts from a BMW Main Stealer or using a quality factors such as GSF.

I need some bits to ready my M20 for transplant into my Cabrio, question is does the BMW branding make a real difference.

for example

BMW - Cambelt £30.00, Tensioner £55.00, Water Pump £77.00

GSF - OEM quality Cambelt inc tensioner £33.00, Water Pump OEM Quality £37.00

Is the price justifiable to go genuine BMW.

I must admit the idea of using the main dealer for critical items like the cam belt and water pump etc... does sort of make sense but its at a real price premium.

Any opinions gratefully received on how others have found the quality of non dealer parts.


John

I've been using GSF parts for years and never had any problems at all.

Simon

For gaskets I would get oem the copies I used were a bit rubbish.

wishbones, bushes, belts etc seem ok from other suppliers. I tended to get most of my stuff from [url]www.Motormec.co.uk[/url] they source either oem or oem quality parts.

Simon/Patrick

Thanks for the response, you confirm my thoughts really, BMW genuine parts would be ideal but like you I have always used OEM quality parts without problems on other cars I run and built.

I think GSF do different quality parts as well so you can choose a higher price part which is described as OEM quality.

I don't really need much to ready the engine for install so I may decide to go for the genuine cam belt and tensioner and get the rest from GSF.

The cars not going to do a lot of miles but if a cambelt lets go on an M20 its an expensive repair.

Cheers


John

I got my water pump and a new thermostat housing from GSF, and they've been fine.

Everything else has come from the main dealer parts desk (I got to know the chaps quite well! ) and Motormec.

Oh - and the oil & fuel filters came from halfrauds.

I have used GSF and KMS with no issues. Most of there parts are good quality German suppliers and often very similar to the OEM.

However, I found very small parts like nuts, bolts, clips etc are all very low prices direct from BMW.

...peter

My experience is the same as Peter's.

Robin

Thanks all for the feedback, I am convinced. So GSF will be getting the business for the main parts I need.

Cheers

John