VJS

This message is just a warning to people that want to buy Audi Control Arms sets on eBay. Most of the control arms on eBay that seem low priced are made in Taiwan or China.

I'm placing this here because there seems to be a lot of misrepresentation going on at eBay and eBay doesn't seem to care. They are more concerned with getting their cut then anything else.

Some vendors are better than others and will come out and state that their arms are Chinese copies of a German makers arms, only if asked. There are no vendors that come right out and state this. Most say these are OE or OEM arms. Trust me on eBay OEM means nothing. Others ignore you when you ask them who the manufacturer is. One actually uses a picture of a Meyle set and sells you what they call a TRW/BAW set. There is no entity called TRW/BAW. The best I can gather is that a copy of TRW arms is being made by BAW Sheng Mhau of Taiwan and that is what they are selling. Be very carefull that this is what you want. The BAW Sheng Mhau design that is being sold on eBay is copied after the really old arms from 1996.

For example the picture on the listing shows Meyle arms with the integrated buffer stop (that's a small rubber bumper on the top rear arms) the BAW arms don't have this.

Also, the arms are referred to as being made by TRW/BAW of Europe. That is a complete lie.

Ebay is a major corporation now and I really can't believe the auctions they allow. If you know where to look there is blatant copyright infringment, counterfeiting, illegal copying, and lying on auction postings.

--Vic

April

Perhaps if AW as a whole decided to snow Ebay with emails about this, it might get their attention.

Of course you should document things (emails making those claims, and pictures of the actual product) and show us, so we're all on the same bandwagon. It will take persistance to rouse AW, but in the end, you could have 80,000 users behind you :-)

LuvnhatemyA6

Caveat emptor

skiracer

Here:<ul><li><a href="http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZwwwQ5faudicentralQ5fcom">http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZwwwQ5faudicentralQ5fcom</a</li></ul>

LuvnhatemyA6

The other strange thing is that their feedback is private - wonder what they've got to hide?

Ritz

The materials and processes used prior to and/or during ISO certification often bear little resemblance to the materials/processes used on the product that eventually floods the targeted foreign market. Given the complete lack of transparency in their legal system, the culprits merely need to grease the relevant authorities and can continue their operations with impunity. It's for that reason that I don't allow ANY parts of Chinese origin to go into my or any of my customers' vehicles.

In a way, they have become more capitalist than we have, except there is not even the pretense of regulatory oversight to protect consumers (or investors).

In short, run away.

Cheers,

Ritz

with no feedback.

April

Yup. Don't buy anything unless you can personally verify quality.

JimR

Thought you'd be interested in that x-post, ski.

VJS

I can post a link to a website (which I haven't produced yet) showing actual pictures of the real BAW Sheng Mhau arms. Let me know if you're interested and I'll get off my a$$ and produce a web page.

Maybe someone here who has more knowledge of this type of product can tell if they look good or not. Although I would say it's difficult to tell from a picture or even if it's your hand the quality of a control arm. The four main points are, the integrity of the metal, the design/quality of the ball joint, the design/quality of the bushing and the geometry of the arm (i.e. is it correct). All these things are impossible to discern from a picture or from handling and looking at it.

I'll be the first to report back that these arms are great if they work out. I just don't like the pack of lies that auction on eBay presents.
Probably if you listed in the auction that these were genuine BAW Sheng Mhau arms produced in Taiwan nobody would buy them.

--Vic