Member Since: 16 Aug 2016
Location: South Northants/Oxfordshire
Posts: 216
Heated Clock Spring - "FAKE" ??
Evening all!
I decided to bite the bullet and buy all necessary parts for the heated steering wheel retrofit.
That damn wheel is freezing in winter along with the condensation, enough's enough!
Got a new Nappa Heated steering wheel from Totalparts, Switch pack from the bay, Loom for power from Martin (disco3 shop) and Genuine LR clock spring also from the bay..
I've seen a few members have bought said clock spring on the bay, best price appears to be with two sellers at £105 and £109. They also use the same photograph of item, both based in the same town and have very similar usernames????
Anyway I ordered one and when it arrived I smelled a Rat!
Generic Box, only Land Rover thing here is the part number's correct
So clock spring has "Land Rover" in moulding, but the moulding itself is a little ripply and those wire colours are lairy!
The moulding quality is pretty good but is a little warped around the connector sockets and the spring connector clip at the side is a bit monkey metal-ish..
On my example there was a rectangular glue residue over the Land Rover marking, this is evident on another forum member's purchase. Did a little searching on the web and found these..
Hmm, what's that 2015 rectangular sticker doing there?...oh and we have a match for the bright lairy coloured wires.
The last photo is from the same website but shows the rectangular sticker removed and a Land Rover stamp has appeared.... The last three photos also originate from two Chinese Wholesale manufacturers advertising "cheap Land Rover clock spring" can be bought in large quantities and will come in a generic cardboard box with correct LR part number attached...
I returned my bay purchase, seller said as far as they were aware parts were genuine but don't come in original LR packaging (why?..)and has amended listing to suggest this. It appears seller has a lot of these and has been advertising them for several years.
I bought a clock spring from Land Rover and the quality is as you'd expect and the wires are the correct colour
Maybe I'm wrong, but these are my findings and if I buy something claiming to be "genuine" that's what I expect to receive...
Sure there are aftermarket versions at good prices and warranties but thought some of you fellow members might like to be enlightened....
12th Apr 2017 2:06 am
Farmer Chalk
Member Since: 07 Mar 2013
Location: Independent Republic of Kentishshire.
Posts: 4190
Particularly concerning as i believe one of those is also the airbag firing connection.....??
12th Apr 2017 10:56 am
TinTapper
Member Since: 16 Aug 2016
Location: South Northants/Oxfordshire
Posts: 216
A very valid point!
I know the Land Rover ones and other parts such as indicator/wiper stalks are all made in China but what the quality control is like on the "other" versions is anyone's guess. I'm sure people have used these without any problems but if it comes to the 'crunch' as it were, you want to know the airbag is going to trigger!
To be fair the airbag connectors used appear to be identical to LR ones.
I have no idea on the functionality of these aftermarket items, you get what you pay for I guess??
12th Apr 2017 11:33 am
countrywide
Member Since: 16 Sep 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 6019
There is a warning about fake airbags on Land Rover topix as well. It warns dealers to be vigilant about it.
12th Apr 2017 11:49 am
TinTapper
Member Since: 16 Aug 2016
Location: South Northants/Oxfordshire
Posts: 216
Yikes, don't want to be messing with one of those... It might inflate into a blow up dolly bird
I'll stick with the real thing including Genuine parts where this area is concerned
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