I guess that you lot already know that SKF market aftermarket parts for VAG Vehicles! http://www.vsm.skf.com/en-UK/OnlineCatalogue.aspx Has anyone used their parts? ECP are one of their dealers. Has anyone received parts from ECP that are made by SKF? It seems to me, that if their aftermarket parts are as good as their bearings, they will be the best! They market CV joints. Are they as good as, or better, than GKN/Lobro? Being cynical: Do SKF actually make the parts? Or, are they non-descript parts bought in by SKF and sold under their logo? ps. I once bought three bearings, which were purported to be SKF, and they were actually made by RKS in France. It pi55ed me off cos. these bearings cost about 50,000 in total! For that money I wanted the real Swedish thing, not nasty Frog Spawn!
I`ve seen (in rail applications) SKF-branded bearings that were actually FAG bearings. No real problem since FAG stuff has never proved to be a problem, but did find it odd...
we used to sell their stuff at work, untill we moved to ina and fag stuff, and as far as im aware they make their own parts unless they have a problem in sourcing material then they out source. i've just checked a few bearings and most are skf stamped but there are some snr bearings in their box's as well. the timing belt kits have gates belts in them as they don't make their own belts
That's interesting. Thanks. I like Gates stuff a lot, and it makes me happy to see SKF sourcing from them. IMHO, I believe that Gates are the best bet for aftermarket rubber coolant hoses, that VAG do not supply anymore! I am going to try to find a Mk3 VR6 Top Mount Kit for my son's car: VKDA 35110 T I will be coming over to the UK to fix his car in the near future, so will search for kit before I arrive. EDIT: Found them straight away at ECP: SKF = 29 Lemforders = 10.50 Non-Descript = 9
@Dave Hey Dave, first I want to say that I'm swedish and have a masters degree in mechanical engineering and have been working as an engineer for around 15 years now, mainly within one of Swedens biggest lorry manufacturers, and it warmed my heart that you want the real swedish thing, not nasty frog spawn :-D, quality regarding strength and durability is a matter of honour for us(we use of course SKF bearings in our gearboxes for instance). I can see that its over 12 years ago since you started the thread regarding SKF aftermarket parts so I guess that you have gained a lot of knowledge within the subject since then. I don't own an GTI but was googling for information regarding SKF output shafts to my bmw E46 330xi manufactured in september 2000, I think I might have a worn out output shaft in the rear right of the car. I have even emailed SKF for information regarding strength of their output shaft for this car as I want to compare it to the OE which cost in between 5000-10000 SEK(approximately 360-720 GBP) but SKF couldn't give me any strength data. 1 GBP today is 13,63 SEK. I can get a new output shaft from SKF for less than 2000 SEK and the question is if its any good, or does the price reflect the quality? I just have the original 231 BHP and the OE stuff they say can withstand at least 600 BHP so perhaps its a bit overkill to buy OE parts, what do you think?
