BMW Parts Opinons

[cabrioman]

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

[Simon]

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

Simon

[Patrick]

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 www.Motormec.co.uk they source either oem or oem quality parts.

[cabrioman]

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

[GreatOldOne]

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.

[peterux]

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

[MartinClan]

My experience is the same as Peter's.

Robin

[cabrioman]

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

Cheers

John