Pirate thermostat

[SP33DYV]

AFAIK, the aluminium thermostat housing is only available for the S54.

 

[wikk3d88]

Its been mentioned before, but GW are stocking good quality German made parts for late model BMWs. Just spoke to a GW franchise owner, this is what he had to say Hi

I have no idea how the quality is vs the agent's, as I don't know what make they sell.

All our BMW parts are good German quality makes. I haven't had a comeback on any parts sold at my Vereeniging shop so far. All the parts I have bought for my own car has held up good as well.


Cheers
Nico

 

[AcidBurn]

hmmmmmm:fencelook::flyfun::idea:

another can of worms to get me thinking

 

[SP33DYV]

hmmmmmm:fencelook::flyfun::idea:

another can of worms to get me thinking

Remember what Rick said.

 

[Mohammed01234]

SALES TALK...BUT ITS TRUE,THEY ARE GERMAN BRANDED PARTS BUT WHERE ARE THEY MADE THAT THEY ARE SO CHEAP,CHEAPER THAN A MIDAS OR FEMO PART...MAKES ME WONDER:nonono:

 

[wikk3d88]

SALES TALK...BUT ITS TRUE,THEY ARE GERMAN BRANDED PARTS BUT WHERE ARE THEY MADE THAT THEY ARE SO CHEAP,CHEAPER THAN A MIDAS OR FEMO PART...MAKES ME WONDER:nonono:

Considering that the owner is an ex racing driver, and has fitted these parts to his own personal daily driver (e46 318i) i doubt very much that this is just sales talk. Im just providing the fact so that acidburn can make an informed decision. There is a significant difference between poorly made pirate parts and OEM quality replacement parts.

 

[Iceman007]

SALES TALK...BUT ITS TRUE,THEY ARE GERMAN BRANDED PARTS BUT WHERE ARE THEY MADE THAT THEY ARE SO CHEAP,CHEAPER THAN A MIDAS OR FEMO PART...MAKES ME WONDER:nonono:

Considering that the owner is an ex racing driver, and has fitted these parts to his own personal daily driver (e46 318i) i doubt very much that this is just sales talk. Im just providing the fact so that acidburn can make an informed decision. There is a significant difference between poorly made pirate parts and OEM quality replacement parts.

Remember places like Middas (Parts Incorporated) actually have a 100% markup. when I buy on a nother parts dealer account from Middas I get between 35 to 50% discount from what normal customers are paying and somtimes i can even tweek it more. Is like a clutch kit plus flywheel from the agents for E46 is like 16k. by middas for the same make its 4.5K for the complete set.

Just goes to show the markup some places and agents have. Goldwagen imports directly and cuts out the middle man:thumbs:

 

[kabal]

german quality part =/= made to oem specifications or better.

"german quality" 100% is a sales slogan. I guarentee that make some crap in germany, just like there is some good stuff out of china

 

[AcidBurn]

wow guys im confused now:argh::flyfun:, really dont know which one to choose but i think for what it's worth maybe i should just get the OEM (BMW) one @ R1045:idea:

see my dilemma is that i would like to do the main components in the cooling system i.e. water pump, thermostat, expansion tank and fresh OE coolant.

we all know the above cost dollars hence me trying to save cost but obviously i dont want to compromise on reliability and im sure aftermarket parts cant be all that bad after all they still open and making business so that has to count for something.

so if people think im being penny wise pound foolish, i am not and neither am i rich, i like to try and use my money wisely at the end of the day.

:thumbs::ty:

 

[kabal]

think about it another way, this is not a change every 10/20000km part, but rather every 100000km, its needs to open and close 10's of thousands of times. makes the decision to get the oem engineered part even more appealing

 

[wikk3d88]

The thermostat brand GW sell for BMWs is Wahler...
Which is a German OEM manufacturer

Make of that what you will...

 

[AcidBurn]

after further investigation into this thermostat dilemma i am having i came across this link and it really got me thinking

unless someone here can tell me for sure that they know where BMW is manufacturing there thermostat

thought id share this:thumbs:

after all we are here to learn from each other:idea:

i just feel if for example Wahler is manufacturing the OEM part we wasting alot of dollars that we throwing away to the stealers - #very interesting

thoughts?

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1809272


State: New Jersey
Will Ship: Continental US Only
Price: 50
BRAND NEW OEM Thermostat Kit with Housing and Seal, 97 Degrees C
MADE BY: WAHLER-OEM BRAND
FITS: M52 & M54 MOTORS
basically any non-m e46 And E39
Asking $50 shipped.
Cheapest online go for $65 plus shipping
Paypal: [email protected]

 

[SP33DYV]

I've just checked, the OEM thermostat is actually a BEHR. If you can get a BEHR, than that should be fine.

Both my old ones lying in my garage has got both BMW and BEHR branding on them.

 

[kabal]

btw, is the thermostat really that expensive?

Thermostat - 115 313 182 74 - R431

that was from SMG. granted for the e46 M3, but still

 

[AdiS]

The lowest dealer price from this thread was around R1000. I have to say, I don't really think a potential R200-R400 price delta warrants this amount of analysis. Sure, maybe if we were looking at R1000-R2000. But for at this price point I would just spend the R1k and know that you have genuine quality.

 

[wikk3d88]

The lowest dealer price from this thread was around R1000. I have to say, I don't really think a potential R200-R400 price delta warrants this amount of analysis. Sure, maybe if we were looking at R1000-R2000. But for at this price point I would just spend the R1k and know that you have genuine quality.

He cant get it for R1k in CT...

R1220 Agents vs R630 for Wahler from GW... That R600 difference is significant enough to warrant some investigation hey.

 

[AdiS]

The lowest dealer price from this thread was around R1000. I have to say, I don't really think a potential R200-R400 price delta warrants this amount of analysis. Sure, maybe if we were looking at R1000-R2000. But for at this price point I would just spend the R1k and know that you have genuine quality.

He cant get it for R1k in CT...

R1220 Agents vs R630 for Wahler from GW... That R600 difference is significant enough to warrant some investigation hey.

Hey

According to post #18 he can get the part for r1045 froM SMG which means there's a maximum potential saving of R415.

My comment probably seems a bit hypocritical given that I'm normally the first one to over analyze anything. However with something with such fundamental importance as the cooling system I tend to feel that if you can get the genuine part for what appears a fair price, then I would do it.

I fully support research and investigation, I guess I just feel we're splitting hairs here.

 

[tyu333]

The Behr one from Beemos which has the BMW logo rubbed off is R700.

 

[SP33DYV]

The Behr one from Beemos which has the BMW logo rubbed off is R700.

Yes, but they're in Pretoria. The OP is in Cape Town.

 

[AcidBurn]

btw, is the thermostat really that expensive?

Thermostat - 115 313 182 74 - R431

that was from SMG. granted for the e46 M3, but still

yes it is that expensive as you can see i done my homework

the M3 one is different

interesting to see a M car's parts are cheaper but hey thats only one part :roflol:

---

I've just checked, the OEM thermostat is actually a BEHR. If you can get a BEHR, than that should be fine.

Both my old ones lying in my garage has got both BMW and BEHR branding on them.

See now this is interesting, why must i go pay a silly stealers price when i can get one from a midas etc at a cheaper price.

This is my main reason im still on about this damn thermostat hehehe even if its not such a big price difference just the fact that there is i aint happy with it lol. Call me cheap if you like i dont care its my money.

Thanks for your help

---

The other thing that is bothering me is why is the OE parts so problematic the always failing/breaking/cracking i mean if they are of sh*ty quality why would one want to replace your old or broken one with another OE part just doesnt make sense to me guys.

Was actually sitting and thinking about this over the weekend and i think it is really relevant and something to question, we might think that OE is the best when infact it clearly shows its not.

On another forum i was reading a guy tested an OE thermostat versus a pirate/aftermarket thermostat and he noticed that at the open position the aftermarket thermo opened alot wider then the OE and this got me thinking of the cracking expansion tank, what if this is the cause of the cracking expansion tank, its a great possibility as water isnt flowing quick or efficient enough through the system causing the expansion tank to expand more then what it should.

What you guys think of my theory or am i just smoking my socks