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Napa brand parts

Stoney

Well-Known Member
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Elmira ny
Alot of you are saying napa parts are good..the local store says there brand is called cardone, or something like that..at any rate they don't actually say napa on them...are they the parts that are good? Or did I miss something...
I'm going to start removing all the dura crap from my truck that's under warranty and returning it to AutoZone..then buy better parts...
If there not the parts your all talking about, then should I just try to get a/c Delco everything even like brake calipers??
 
Napa is worth the gamble when buying if you aren’t sure whiis the better way to think of it.

If you have certain parts that you keep warranty paper fresh for-yeah try getting it returned for something different.
But I wouldn’t spend effort just changing the parts just because it is brand x.
A guy on the hummer forum is outing aC. Delco 60g with under 10k on them (can’t remember exact number he said). And they were bought brick and mortar store, So understand any mass production parts can have issues- even what we know as the best option.

I don’t shop autzone anymore for new parts but there is some of that store i miss. Their point system for discount is the best out there. They get some parts that simply no one else carries until you get to ridiculous prices like my rotors and cv axles (called halfshaft in hummer lingo). Like 25% the cost of nearest competition, and were descent quality.

There are major companies that label stuff in store names. Like wix makes the best oil filter for 6.5, and makes same one but calls it the napa gold. Bendix used to make (might still, idk) many of the Autozone brake parts.

Doorman makes some horrible electrical parts, but make some excellent parts in other areas. And both companies buy from them.

Any parts giving you fits right now?
 
Yeah brake calipers keep leaking around the piston. And causing drag..and they won't release properly, and for some reason the bolts keep coming loose causing the caliper to rattle..I had to change the spindle assembly a couple weeks ago cause the holes the caliper thread in to had wore out to the point there were no more threads in there..so changed spindle and put new calipers and pads on again...had a extra spindle anyhow so no biggie..also changed the bearings while I was at it...
The new caliper has came loose again twice since then...the other night we were swapping the tires and it was loose, and fluid leaking from the piston..the is the third set of calipers I've had on in the past year...
Also gotta change the idler and pitman arm again cause there shot again..and there no more than a year and a half old..
 
Wow, sounds like hummer issues! Haha
Medium Loctite on them bolts, and the proper grease on them sliding spots.

I agree with AK diesel driver, but brakes is one place I say ignore price and get the best. Your buying better odds at not dying.
Yeah, return them. Idk who makes the best calipers now days- I don’t buy rebuilt calipers.

I like moog for steering parts. Idk if 2wd and 4wd uses same idler and pitman- but I would guess some aftermarket high end ones are available for gm trucks. Might be worth looking into if moog is whats failing you or you can’t find them for it.

Remember parts stores are just selling different brand parts like grocery stores sells coke and pepsi. Doing the research is first. Then make sure where you buy is authorized reseller or you might be buying knock offs.
 
NAPA used to be the Gold Standard of aftermarket auto parts with everything they carried Made in America for American vehicles and a good portion of them also made here for foreign vehicles. Like everything over the past forty years, for Corporate Profits' sake, more and more "American Brands" aren't just foreign-made, but are now foreign owned (like your All-American Budweiser beer is owned by the world's largest brewer, InBev, out of Belgium). Confusion is Cardone was a parts store chain of their own until bought out by Advance Auto Parts and assimilated by the Borg. But Cardone parts available now, use the same logo as the now absorbed parts store chain, and can be bought through vendors like Rock Auto. Totally confusing.

My personal bad experience with NAPA occurred six years ago with my 95 Camry. It had about 340,000 miles on it at the time, I had bought it used from a friend of mine's used car lot for a great price earlier that winter. Planning a seven hundred mile round trip spring road trip with it and a couple of friends, and looking at the motor, decided that a "tune up" of the ignition system was called for, plugs, wires, cap and rotor as the wires were looking rather weathered, pulling the cap showed that it and the rotor showed a lot of pitting/deposition on the electrodes and pulling a plug showed they were due for replacement.

A call to the local Toyota stealership to price out a cap and rotor and plug wire set (well past $150) convinced me to buy aftermarket. NAPA's Echlin electrical parts always had the reputation of the best available - as good or better than OEM. So a trip to NAPA for the cap and rotor and a set of plug wires and four new NGK plugs. Long story short, on the way back home, about 150 miles from home while bombing down the Interstate at 75 on cruise control and as we were half way up a hill the engine lost power and the car began slowing, made it to the top of the off-ramp at the top of the hill as the engine completely died. Cranked the engine and it wouldn't even catch. With no knowledge of its past maintenance history, had my buddy crank it over while I pulled the oil fill cap and checked the rocker - yup, moving, so the timing belt hadn't broke. Grabbed a Phillips screwdriver from the toolbox (I always carry one of those small, two-drawer, hinged lid toolboxes with a set of metric combination wrenches, ⅜ drive shallow and deep sockets and extensions, ¼ drive shallow sockets and extensions, ball pein hammer, ⅜ breaker bar, ⅜ Torx bit set, assorted screwdrivers, needlenose pliers and Vice Grips, lineman's pliers, diagonal cutters, 7"&10" Vice Grips, a couple of sizes of Channel Locks, an assortment of weatherproof crimp connectors and crimping tool, a multimeter, an extendable magnetic retrieval tool, and extendable inspection tool and a very bright LED mini-flashlight), pulled a plug wire, stuck the Phillips in, held it close to ground and had my buddy crank it over. No spark. Ok, took off the new distributor cap to see what I could see. Cap looked fine, normal beginning of deposition on metal terminals. Pulled the rotor off and checked it over. Normal beginning of pitting on outer edge of the rotor and wear streak on the center contact.

Flipped the rotor over and whoa! A black carbon dot in the center of the rotor where it slides over the distributor shaft! Checked the end of the distributor shaft and a shiny spot in the center of the shaft. For some reason the electricity was arcing from the center contact, through the dielectric plastic of the rotor body, and then to ground of the distributor shaft! WTF! That was a brand new Echlin rotor with less than 600 miles on it!

Now what? Well, being part packrat, I had tossed the old, but still usable cap and rotor, into the tool box "just in case" when I changed everything out on a hunch. So I grabbed the old rotor and put it on, popped the cap back on and told my buddy to crank it over. It fired right up!

15 minutes down time, we were back on the road and I was a mechanical genius to my buddy and his girlfriend! Uneventful trip back to Lincoln. Went back to the NAPA I got the cap and rotor at with the receipt and both the bad rotor and the cap I had bought, showed the counter man the failed rotor, told him what happened and that I waa running the old set, got my money refunded. Went on eBay and found an OEM new set from a Toyota dealer and bought those for ⅓ less than the local stealership.

My mechanic stopped using Echlin electrical parts and went to OEM only about five years ago because of the failures he was getting new out of the box.
 
i agree with @Will L. NEVER use reman calipers from a parts store or on-line. The only exception would be getting them from a local brake and clutch shop that does their own rebuilding. We have an established shop, that all the racers use, that take your calipers, hone them out, stainless steel sleeve them back to factory, then use new stainless steel pistons and new seals and bellows (if used by OEM). Same with bolt/slider holes, checked for round/diameter and sleeved if neccessary.

Definitely use NEW OEM bolts, not Doorman, or reputable aftermarket brake/bolt supplier (like the kind where the shaft is larger diameter to eliminate the sleeve on that style) if the old bolts are questionable for any reason, like thread wear or corrosion/wear of shaft, a drop of Loctite Medium on the threads on reassembly and definitely a light dab of good, quality, hi-temp moly-based brake grease on all sliding surfaces for caliper and pad.

You shouldn't have any problems going with NEW AC Delco, Raybestos or Bendix calipers and hardware on brakes (pads/rotors your choice, as long as reputable, like SSBC).

For suspension/steering beyond OEM quality for wear/installation, I always go Moog. I have heard that Mevotech's heavy duty series of parts are comparable, but I have no experience with them (yet). If you want OEM quality and construction on a budget, Moog-manufatured "house brand" Quick Steer. Won't have the Moog improvements like a "gusher" wear surface and greaseable and most likely sealed and "lubed-for-life" (til failure), but a quality "cheap" option.
 
We use NAPA for 90% of our parts at work. We have very few issues with their parts. But over the years we have learned what brands to use to avoid issues. No remanufactured parts unless it's a beater. No MOOG.. absolutely junk front end parts. After federal mogul bought moog its just white box parts in a moog box. There are some parts we never go aftermarket on. Alot of electronic parts are better to get at the dealership. Especially on newer diesels.
 
... No MOOG.. absolutely junk front end parts. After federal mogul bought moog its just white box parts in a moog box...
I've had good luck with the Moog "problem solver" line of front end parts.

A good way to shop for what might be available in any given part you might need is to see what Rockauto has listed and what they have in the way of prices. You can always order from them (and use your Truck Stop discount) if you don't need it right away. But spending a few minutes looking at what's available before heading to the parts store is usually helpful. I have a preference for NAPA if I need it now but I still take a look at RA first if there's any doubt in my mind about the part I need.
 
I've had good luck with the Moog "problem solver" line of front end parts.

I have not had good luck with Moog, plenty of our customers have not as well. We refuse to use Moog parts on customers vehicles. Half the time you don't know what your getting in the box. Is it Moog? Is it the same white box tie rod I can buy for $10 under a different brand? You never know what you get anymore. Federal Mogul wanted the Moog name on the box for their horrible front end parts. Napa premium for cars, Mevotech for trucks. I'm set in my ways after turning wrenches for 20 years. One a brand of parts gives me issues a few times I'm done with them. Interstate batteries is on that list as well.
 
Federal mogul is one of the largest manufacturers of suspension parts in the world, including OEM's. I still stand by Moog problem solver parts, but moog's regular line they came out with to be competitive with the "cheap" parts has caused alot of confusion. People think moog is moog not realizing they can have 2 or 3 different lines of parts quality. It has worked for me for my we 0+ years in it. That said, mevotech has started offering some HD suspension parts for the gmt400 line. Somebody posted pics on fakebook a few months back comparing mevotech tie rods to moog problem solver, and the mevotech were considerably beefier.

I do most of my shopping online because parts house parts quality is so hit or miss(more miss than hit).
 
Big difference between OEM and aftermarket parts. Hell half the time the dealership parts are not the same as what came on the vehicle when it was built. The parts put on the vehicle on the assembly line are usually better than anything you can but aftermarket or even at the dealer.

I'm aware the difference in Moog parts. Still cant keep a set of Problem solvers in a super duty with out them getting loose in 6 months to a year. I cant even count how many passenger outer tie rods I've had to warranty for my customers on those truck. Got sick of loosing money with junk parts..... so we stopped installing them.
 
I agree with @THEFERMANATOR about Moog. As I stated above, they have an economy line, Quick Steer, that are "white box" and comparable in price to the "House Brand" crap you get at Advance, Zone and O'R, but are not as beefy as the Moog Problem Solver, nor with the upgrades like a better ball assembly or gusher bearing, greaseable, better casting design, etc., than the "white box" or OEM.

I agree with the comments about Rock Auto for a couple of reasons. One, they separate the parts into categories of Economy (cheap, slap it on and get rolling again, like the kid's school beater), Daily Driver (OEM quality/manufacturer for your go to work keep food on the table vehicle) and Premium (extreme duty/off-road) and the parts are rated by the customers for popularity of ordering. The two downsides are shipping time and shipping charges - with shipping charges often times makes the part more expensive than the identical part on eBay or Amazon with their free shipping. I live in a State that charges sales tax on all on-line purchases so that isn't a factor. If it's a project that I'm planning ahead on, I'll compare on-line prices and usually go RA for Name Brand parts.

If it's a "Need It Now" situation, then the local chain parts store - like when I was doing the rear struts, end links and sway bushings on my daughter's 97 Camry, out of curiosity I popped off a drum to see how the shoes were and wow! About 2mm of lining left! So a run over to buy a set of Duralast premium shoes.
 
@Rockabillyrat Just out of curiosity on those Ford SD'd how long does the OEM/assembly line tie rod ends last? My experience with Ford has been their front end designs are shit from the factory.

I worked as a warranty tech for a replacement window, door and siding company whose owner was all about Ford pickups and had a fleet for installation vehicles with side tool boxes and racks on the bed, some regular cab and some extended, all 2WD. We covered the eastern ⅔ of Nebraska, the western half of Iowa, NW Missouri, northern Kansas and South Dakota up to Sioux Falls, so a lot of miles were put on these trucks, often over a thousand miles a week doing installation work. Doing warranty repair/service work I could put 500 miles on in a day making 2-3 calls, staying over night out in the boonies and working my way back home. 2000 miles in a week wasn't unusual for me.

There was constantly one of his fleet in the shop for one thing or another, mechanical or electrical, being Fix Or Repair Dailies.

As for my truck, 2WD, we could not keep ball joints under it, had to change them out every 6 months or so, same with tie rod ends. The other trucks a little less frequently on their front suspensions. Just a crappy design that was terribly "weak in the knees" for a front end, we won't even go into the constant problems with their OD automatic transmissions once there was over 50,000 miles on them - even with regular fluid changes.

My truck, at 110,000 on it, had the tranny let go in a customer's driveway, put it in Drive, a horrendous grind and slipping as it tried to move itself away, finally got up to speed as it shifted roughly up through the gears to OD and left the small town. Thankfully, highway for the 120 miles home and the shop was off the Interstate, so minimal having to start from a stop. One of the crews had their transmission go out on the way to an install job in Grand Island. Barely made it to the customer's house. Had a local, reputable tranny shop chain (BG&S) come tow it to their shop after unloading all the windows, doors and tools off the truck and BG&S leaving a loaner beater car so the crew could get to their motel and back and put their luggage somewhere. So the three days of doing the customer's house, their transmission was pulled and rebuilt upgraded, like an external tranny cooler added and better steels/clutches.

Anyway, how well does the factory parts you're replacing hold up and for how long? Is it worth the $$$ to buy them from the Ferd Dealer vs Aftermarket?

Also, on those tie rod ends, Moog are greaseable. Were they being greased by the customer at regular intervals, like oil changes, or was it install and forget until they went out and you replaced them again? They are designed to be serviced (greased) regularly to flush out contaminants from wear.
 
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Its depends on the truck and how its used. Our fleet customers that beat the crap out of their trucks its not uncommon to get into front end parts at 70k or even earlier. Same goes for lifted trucks. The roads in NE Ohio come into play too. Pot holes everywhere the closer you get to Cleveland.

Normal grocery getter owners will normally get 100k+ on front end parts.

Fords are notorious for front end parts. I probably do one super duty front end rebuild a week
 
Yeah, I finally had to replace the factory ball joints on my 98 K2500 Burb at 220K, one went bad, so I said screw it, while I'm there I'm doing all four, and outer tie rod ends and idler, bracket and Pitman, too! All Moog, that was back in 2012. Then the tranny let go three years later. Damn!
 
Yeah, the crews beat the shit out of those Company trucks. Check the oil, what's that? Put gas in and go. Not to mention what a load of 23 windows, six doors, a patio door, lumber, trim coil and tools for a five days out on the road to do three houses in small towns out in nowhere with lots of rural highway/gravel road travel, did to those suspensions, too!
 
Hummer/hmmwv pitman and idler arm & upper and lower ball joints (4each) every 75,000miles. I haven’t needed tie rod ends yet at 150k ish. Stock 37x12.50 tires. The guys with 40” or bigger tires eat all that stuff like candy. I am convinced its leverage more than weight because my stock size with the runflats/beadlocks are 160lbs each, way heavier than theirs without the runflats.
I remember my sealed units on the 01 suburban never needed any of for 200,000 miles. I kinda miss that...

BTW when i said moog, i meant problem solver stuff. Twin I beam- yeah i helped friends with fords...smh
 
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