WHY do I hate Britpart parts?

As the title says Why do I hate Britpart parts.
Well I have purchased a number of replacement parts for my 110 TD5 which have been sold under the name of Britpart.
Most of these parts have failed in what I consider to be too short a time, making then in my opinion not fit for purpose. I have also encountered parts which have failed prior to fitting (was broken in the box).
So now when purchasing parts I do pay a higher price (some parts are considerably higher priced) and get genuine Land Rover parts.
Today I noticed a rumbling from the offside wheel bearing and having time to replace it today I went to my local main dealer to gather all the necessary parts to replace the wheel bearings in both front wheels.
Unfortunately the main dealer did not have all the parts in stock, with the familiar statement I can have them by 10.00 am tomorrow.
The only parts he did not have was the drive flange paper gasket, hub nuts and deciding to replace the oil in the swivel housing with one shot grease the main dealer did not have any grease in stock.
I wanted to do the job today so declined the offer for him to order the missing parts and went to another supplier. This supplier not a main dealer had the parts I required but each was Britpart, thinking not much to go wrong with these parts. After all its only two hub nuts, two paper gaskets and two tubes of grease they should be good to fit (if I ever think that again shoot me).
OK I will get to the point the two nuts were misshapen, the hole in the centre of the gaskets was not the correct size it was small and they would not fit over the spigot on the drive flange and the tube of one shot grease had a hole in it near the cap so that when I started to squeeze the tube, the tube split open spraying grease over the hub not inside the hub.
THATS WHY I HATE BRITPART PARTS.

I have a love/hate relationship with Brit parts. I find some work very well where some others are crap. I went through three BP temperature sender units in less that three years. Fitted one from Bearmach and its been fine for over two/three years.
BP wheel bearings were fitted to the rear of my 110 and they have been fine. Carried me across the Sahara and have done forty thousand miles and still good.
I think the secret is to find out which BP are the good ones. The next problem is the quality is not always consistent. I bought a BP exhaust system which lasted twelve month almost to the day. Replaced it and to my horror when it arrived was another BP; That has been on there now for three years and also survived the Sahara crossing. I have several other incidents like above. They are cheap. At least with a Defender if a part does fail in most cases they are quick and easy to change.

Mike, Your statement "I think the secret is to find out which BP are the good ones. The next problem is the quality is not always consistent" describes Britpart parts perfectly.
The customer should not be the quality control ALL parts should be fit for purpose. If they are going to sell replacement parts they should be reliable in the most cases I have found them to be of very poor quality.
NEVER will I fit any Britpart replacement parts to my vehicle ever again and that will include something without any vehicle reliability issues like a Defender sticker for the front grill.

I see so many threads like this, and just wondered if anyone presses them on their two year warranty?
This is well advertised and I wonder if people were to keep on claiming that this would put them in a position of either do something about the quality or take the financial hammer.

raywin said:

I see so many threads like this, and just wondered if anyone presses them on their two year warranty?
This is well advertised and I wonder if people were to keep on claiming that this would put them in a position of either do something about the quality or take the financial hammer.

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I have returned faulty Britpart parts to my supplier, they said that they would return them to Britpart to be assessed along with the statement "Britpart are very good at replacing the faulty part".
I would have to purchase a another part to complete the job I was doing and get my money refunded when Britpart agree that the part was faulty, I suppose this is so that the supplier will get their money refunded but why should I be out of pocket?
I asked the question do you have to return parts very often to which the supplier said oh yes we are doing it all the time.
So the supplier is willing to stock parts knowing that they are likely to be faulty and Britpart supply many parts that are faulty.
That's why I hate Britpart parts.

There have been loads of threads about how poor some of Brit Parts stuff is buy if your on a tight budget like some are the needs to be the cheaper option out there...

My local supplier, paddock, stocks britpart, and time after time when iam in the que do I see the britparts being handed over to customers and I whince thinking noooooooo.
OK so not all britparts are crap, but how do you know? Too many people have had bad experiences with britpart and its the once bitten twice shy approach.
Trouble is, you need a part, can only get a britpart part, you fit it, it fails, can you find the bloody receipt?
I recently ordered some seals from a reputable supplier rather than paddock to avoid britpart only to open the package to find a blue bag staring at me, I immediately opened the bin and threw em away, knowing that if I fitted them they would fail.
If everyone boycotted britpart they would have to either close or improve, but as there must be hundreds of thousand of parts in circulation, and people still buying em I can't see this happening anytime soon.
Why do people still fit sh1tpart parts when threads keep popping up here and other forums as to how bad they are.
So, don't do it, step away from the blue bag.

Lets get a boycott going then.. something does need to change

Littelwill said:

There have been loads of threads about how poor some of Brit Parts stuff is buy if your on a tight budget like some are the needs to be the cheaper option out there...

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In most cases when doing the job yourself because of a tight budget you end up replacing the Britpart part/s which have failed prematurely much earlier than if you used genuine parts it then costs more plus the inconvenience of doing the job again.
In some instances used genuine parts are a better option and cost effective also look at ex-MOD sellers, although you have to look carefully at this one as some ex-MOD sellers charge similar prices to main dealer prices.

XRIZLAX said:

Why do people still fit sh1tpart parts when threads keep popping up here and other forums as to how bad they are.
So, don't do it, step away from the blue bag.

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Britparts presentation is spot on, advertising is spot on and pricing is very attractive.

List of britparts I found OK'

Exhaust
pedal rubbers

Errrr that's it.

But then I've heard some of their exhausts are crap and pedal rubbers wear out quite quickly.
Yup their advertising etc is very slick, its just their parts are very sh1t.

Just sent back one of their so called wide angle front prop.Fitted it in February. Got it from Adventure 4x4 in Leeds.Bearings collapsed on the rear uj.

Well, my experience is not so.

I have found Britpart stuff to be absolutely fine, although it's all been trim items.

Britpart seat base, mud flaps, air intake grilles, headlamp trim, turrets and rings, radiator grille, seat riser kits, side runners, rear door lock, rear door trim panel, steering wheel (300tdi), windscreen seal, headlight switch all seem fine at a fraction of the LR price.

For example Britpart techno seat base complete £35. LR dealer price £260!

My tuppence worth:

I have used Britpart parts and Bearmach on my 110 Defender and previously on my 90 and s2a.

I currently have BP:
Wheel bearings
Drive flanges (2)
Rear half shaft (n/s salisbury)
Hub seals
Dust caps
Bearing nuts & tabs
Alpine window seal & filler strip
Rear door lock assy
Air/oil filter
Rear shocks
Rear stub axle
Rear prop
All brake calipers
All flexible brake hoses
1 shot ep00 grease
Wiper blades
I'm sure there is more bits..

Bearmach:
Front prop
Rear stub axle
Thermostat
Serpentine belt tensioner
Alpine window seal

So far, failures have been:
1 drive flange (because I hadn't noticed the spline wear on the halfshaft)
2 of the hub dust covers (these were tight and split on fitting. The next 2 I warmed the covers and they fitted ok)

Wheel bearings calipers and everything else is checked on a regular basis and I (touch wood) have not experienced and big failures. I will be comparing Bearmach/BP with each other on the various same parts fitted, but on different sides of the vehicle.

On my 90 I had issues with BP supplied alternator, this was exchanged with no problem.

My 2a had new leaf springs and they were fine. Maybe I've just been lucky, but so far, I've not seen a reason to dislike Britpart?

looks like you will be fitting new Wheel bearings
Drive flanges (2)
Rear half shaft (n/s salisbury)
Hub seals
Dust caps
Bearing nuts & tabs
Alpine window seal & filler strip
Rear door lock assy
Air/oil filter
Rear shocks
Rear stub axle
Rear prop
All brake calipers
All flexible brake hoses
1 shot ep00 grease
Wiper blades
within the next few months then

XRIZLAX said:

looks like you will be fitting new...
...within the next few months then

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Well possibly, but they have done nearly a year already, on and off road driving and ok so far. Ì ve got some BM parts on one side and BP on the other to do a direct comparison.

Fair does, I would say sometimes you get decent stuff, maybe even OE parts, its just the randomness of quality.
For everyone who says there fitted with no problems there are others with horror stories about the same part.
Already on this thread we have heard about good and bad exhausts.
I have heard talk about britpart reviewing the suppliers and quality issues, I just hope its true as paddocks is only five minutes up the road for me.

I bought a few things BP at the beginning, never again. All of it has been consistently awful.

There is virtually nothing britpart on my 90, the only parts are the ones I needed to complete a job and couldn't get anything else. As has been said, trim parts are just about acceptable.

I would never ever trust them on components such as brakes and steering things that if failed could risk someone's life....

But additionally in Dec last year I fitted a Bearmach aux belt. I had to change it yesterday due to it having cracked quite badly....