Genuine Porsche parts or aftermarket? - Page 1 - Porsche General - PistonHeads UK

The front tuning forks on my 981 were replaced two years ago and have since covered 15,000 miles. TRW parts were used, which I’m led to believe are OE, but with the Porsche logo ground off (but I could be misled). One of the bushes has not worn out but instead has failed and separated from the inner sleeve. I don’t know if I’ve just been unlucky or if this is typical of the quality of aftermarket parts. I need to replace it, but should I replace it with the same again, go for Lemforder, or buy a genuine Porsche for over double the cost? With the genuine Porsche part, you get a two-year guarantee, which extends to the labour to change the part if needed. Of course, its unnecessary to spend twice the price on something if a cheaper option made in the same factory is available

Gerber1 said: The front tuning forks on my 981 were replaced two years ago and have since covered 15,000 miles. TRW parts were used, which I’m led to believe are OE, but with the Porsche logo ground off (but I could be misled). One of the bushes has not worn out but instead has failed and separated from the inner sleeve. I don’t know if I’ve just been unlucky or if this is typical of the quality of aftermarket parts. I need to replace it, but should I replace it with the same again, go for Lemforder, or buy a genuine Porsche for over double the cost? With the genuine Porsche part, you get a two-year guarantee, which extends to the labour to change the part if needed. Of course, its unnecessary to spend twice the price on something if a cheaper option made in the same factory is available I have got through plenty of forks over the years on our various 911s - (6 alone on our 16 year old 997) - and never found Porsche parts to last any longer than Meyle, Lemforder or TRW etc.

I'm struggling to get a Porsche warranty on a car with an after-market exhaust part.... so that might be a consideration.

Gerber1 said: The front tuning forks on my 981 were replaced two years ago and have since covered 15,000 miles. TRW parts were used, which I’m led to believe are OE, but with the Porsche logo ground off (but I could be misled). One of the bushes has not worn out but instead has failed and separated from the inner sleeve. I don’t know if I’ve just been unlucky or if this is typical of the quality of aftermarket parts. I need to replace it, but should I replace it with the same again, go for Lemforder, or buy a genuine Porsche for over double the cost? With the genuine Porsche part, you get a two-year guarantee, which extends to the labour to change the part if needed. Of course, its unnecessary to spend twice the price on something if a cheaper option made in the same factory is available A long, long time ago I worked as an engineer at TRW. We would supply Porsche and IAM (independent aftermarket). If you went into a Eurocar Parts or German Swedish and bought something in a TRW box you were getting either: A) a brand new TRW part identical to what we would supply Porsche but car companies insisted on IAM parts having the car company logo removed. They may be additional cosmetic differences. B) a remanufactured part identical to what we would supply Porsche. After a certain amount of time it isn't viable to make new for old vehicles so remanufactured was the supply condition. But the remanufactured had to meet the new part quality/performance/longevity criteria.

Thanks all. NDA said: I'm struggling to get a Porsche warranty on a car with an after-market exhaust part.... so that might be a consideration. On the fork, or "guide" as Porsche calls it, the part number and Porsche stamp are hidden by the plastic wind deflector. I don't think it would be picked up in a 111 check.

Gerber1 said: The front tuning forks on my 981 were replaced two years ago and have since covered 15,000 miles. TRW parts were used, which I’m led to believe are OE, but with the Porsche logo ground off (but I could be misled). One of the bushes has not worn out but instead has failed and separated from the inner sleeve. I don’t know if I’ve just been unlucky or if this is typical of the quality of aftermarket parts. I need to replace it, but should I replace it with the same again, go for Lemforder, or buy a genuine Porsche for over double the cost? With the genuine Porsche part, you get a two-year guarantee, which extends to the labour to change the part if needed. Of course, its unnecessary to spend twice the price on something if a cheaper option made in the same factory is available De-lamination (as opposed to going soft) of the bushes is the norm in that bush/location, not the exception. Lemforder have now opened a manufacturing facility in China, general opinion is the components produced there are inferior to those made in their German production facilities … So either go OE, or if available, use TRW again.

Slippydiff said: De-lamination (as opposed to going soft) of the bushes is the norm in that bush/location, not the exception. Lemforder have now opened a manufacturing facility in China, general opinion is the components produced there are inferior to those made in their German production facilities … So either go OE, or if available, use TRW again. TRW manufacture some parts in China too I think. And where are Porsche arms / bushes made?

Discombobulate said: Slippydiff said: De-lamination (as opposed to going soft) of the bushes is the norm in that bush/location, not the exception. Lemforder have now opened a manufacturing facility in China, general opinion is the components produced there are inferior to those made in their German production facilities … So either go OE, or if available, use TRW again. TRW manufacture some parts in China too I think. And where are Porsche arms / bushes made? https://www.tyrepress.com/2015/04/trw-to-open-three-new-plants-in-china/ It’s not where they are made that matters, it’s how well the QC processes are implemented and adhered to that’s key …

Slippydiff said: https://www.tyrepress.com/2015/04/trw-to-open-thre... It’s not where they are made that matters, it’s how well the QC processes are implemented and adhered to that’s key … Agree, but lots of myth and rumour about anything produced in China being crap which makes me a bit cynical about the benefits of stumping up for "Porsche" bits (also made there). I would need proof of poor quality. My tiny trial of 6 forks on one car (n=1) is that all fork joints/bushes start to fail annoyingly early whoever makes them. So why pay through the nose?

Discombobulate said: Agree, but lots of myth and rumour about anything produced in China being crap which makes me a bit cynical about the benefits of stumping up for "Porsche" bits (also made there). I would need proof of poor quality. My tiny trial of 6 forks on one car (n=1) is that all fork joints/bushes start to fail annoyingly early whoever makes them. So why pay through the nose? Well, I decided on using CTE parts wherever possible on my 996 suspension refurb (and TRW/OE or OE manufacturer where they weren’t ) on the advice of an individual that works solely on suspension installation and set up. All good so far, but I wouldn’t advise others to buy/use them until such time as they’ve been on my car longer and done more miles … The CTE parts are allegedly made in China or Taiwan and were cheaper than the equipment Meyle or Porsche OE parts.

So my new fork arm has arrived, I went for TRW again. A few observations: The packaging says made in Malaysia for those who are interested. The bush is incredibly stiff, so stiff I can only move it by putting a screwdriver through the middle to get some leverage. Strangely, it does not revert to its original location when you stop applying force. I don't know if this is good or bad, but I don't recall other bushes being like this. The arm looks different to the TRW variant I fitted last time and the original ones I removed from the car. Most noticeably, the circular metal head (that surrounds the bush) is noticeably larger. A Porsche tech could now tell it was an aftermarket arm just by looking at it rather than trying to find the Porsche trademark. I paid £115, compared to £250 for the original part. Only time will tell if I made the right decision!

TRW certainly used to manufacture all the arms for Porsche in the 9x6 era and as mentioned you used to be able to get various arms with the Porsche logos ground off. Coffin arms were about £60 a pop. Those were the days. Should have bought a pallet load! These days, it's unclear. Pretty sure TRW changed hands a few years ago. It wouldn't surprise me if the arms Porsche now sells for non-current models are fairly different from the ones fitted to the cars when new. I get the impression that Porsche's quality control on legacy parts is pretty patchy. By way of example, some windscreens supplied through the Porsche network are apparently a very poor fit. In other words, I wouldn't necessarily assume the Porsche supplied part is guaranteed to be the correct spec even if it's probably likely to be closer to right than a random pattern part. Can also concur with above comment re Meyle and CTE. I did a recent total refresh and ended up replacing the brand new Meyle rear coffin arm as the centre bush was too soft and you could feel it deflecting. CTE arms fixed that. Not sure if CTE does a complete set of arms for any given model or only selected items. But where available, CTE would be my pick of the current options based on the coffin arms.

For anyone curious, here is the original 11-year-old Porsche-branded TRW part against the 2024-dated TRW non-genuine version. They have totally different-sized bushings. I'd be interested in knowing what/how is the design reason behind that.