Auto Zone Ball Joints

[theholycow]

That's true...you can observe that at Home Depot too. However, in that case it's not sold as store brand and it's not half the price; it's boxed with the same logo and model number and sold for 20% less. So, there are some differences but it could be the same practice.

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by Bubba Bob

Good info! I generally always try to get a suspension part that is difficult to replace from Moog so that I never have to replace it again. I'd be careful though. A retailer as big as Autozone has the advantage of special ordering what they want. Just because Moog makes it doesn't have to mean it's the famous Moog quality.

This thread reminds of the old woman with 550k miles on her Mercury Comet.

http://detnews.com/article/20090628/...on-her-Chariot

I did search out a picture of the Moog ball joint on Rock Auto's site and at least the housing portion of it was identical to the one I bought, right down to the location of the grease fitting. The thing about the ball joints on the '02, is that they are pretty easily changed anyway. Only the bolt that bolts them to the steering knuckle, one through bolt and a nut on a stud that is pressed into the ball joint housing and since I can do the work myself I don't really worry about having to replace them every 100-150K miles.

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by bowtieguy

i've had fewer incidents w/ NAPA parts, but i would not hesitate to use "easy" to install parts w/ Autozone's lifetime guarantee. i've bought water pumps, alternators, egr valves, etc from them, but i simply would not buy a fuel pump, a/c compressor, etc from them.

I've also got a lifetime warranty Auto Zone fuel pump in the '88 Escort. I think it's been changed 2 times since the original one came out of it. I'm guessing the one that's in it now has probably been in it somewhere between 200-250K miles, but I'm thinking about going ahead and dropping the tank when spring gets here and replacing it so it's not as likely to leave me stranded.

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by fowljesse

Yeah, that's good to know. I have an "Autozone" clutch that is actually Exedy. Same deal; If I bought from Exedy, it would cost about 2x as much. Too bad it doesn't have a lifetime warrenty.

My '88 Escort has an Auto Zone Duralast clutch with over 190K miles on it and it's lifetime warranty. You might want to double check on your's because if it's a Duralast brand I'm almost certain it's lifetime warranty.

I remember years ago back in the '60's or 70's that Kelly-Springfield manufactured tires for Montgomery Ward and just placed the Wards name and logo on them. Everything that is sold cheaper from Walmart, Auto Zone, etc isn't a lower grade product. I have a battery in the '88 Escort now that had a 6 year pro rated warranty and it's now almost 7 years old and started the car fine about 2 weeks ago when the temperatures here were down in the lower teens.

[kamesama980]

I once used a set of carquest (don't remember exact brand) mid-grade brake pads. under the branding paint was the outline of "duralast gold" stamped into the backing shim

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by kamesama980

I once used a set of carquest (don't remember exact brand) mid-grade brake pads. under the branding paint was the outline of "duralast gold" stamped into the backing shim

They were probably remanufactured brake pads and were originally Duralast Gold. When you buy remanufactured parts they may be rebuilt from factory original parts or from some aftermarket manufacturer parts. I think I've bought remanufactured parts before that had the original Ford logo on them.

[jmaze]

i just replaced the front wheel bearings on my civic. bought from autozone but said koyo on the part. honda bearings i read are made by koyo. az was $61 honda $81 plus they are special order. it pays to do research and shop around.

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by jmaze

i just replaced the front wheel bearings on my civic. bought from autozone but said koyo on the part. honda bearings i read are made by koyo. az was $61 honda $81 plus they are special order. it pays to do research and shop around.

As I said before they just buy their parts from the supplier that will give them the best deal on the parts. They buy the parts in bulk so they are able to use that to their advantage when negotiating price. This month a part may be made by one manufacturer, next month it may come from another. Probably 90%+ of the parts I've bought for my cars in the past 20 years have come from Auto Zone and I can't remember ever having anything wear out extremely premature.