[TheLowlander]

I was swapping a 2004-2007 16mm Highlander rear sway bar to replace the 14mm bar on my 2008 RX350 and I needed some replacement 16mm bushings. I ordered "FVP BSK74500" off Rockauto as these shipped in the same cart as a few other items my friends were getting for their cars. I have these same Ramcoa brand (sold under Mevotech on Rockauto) bushings on the Highlander and they are fantastic. They're for my stock sway bar, and I also have a 22mm set of their universal bushings for my custom brackets and Addco 2109 rear sway bar. These are both made in USA parts with nice, quality stiff rubber that provides more performance over the OEM stuff, and hold up well for an affordable price.

Well, I figured I couldn't go wrong getting these Ramcoa parts under another distributor? Right? Wrong!

These ^

What I got instead of these ^ was this...

Crap ^



No part number marking on the bushing whatsoever, cheap, off-brand CRAP mushy rubber bushings that didn't fit very well in the stock sway bar brackets. They had that really terrible oil smell that you see in garbage rubber products. Shame on you FVP for blatantly lying about the products you rebox/resell, and shame on Rockauto for listing this crap for sale. I've had good experiences with Rockauto but this is straight up annoying that I'm stuck with these crappers as it would cost more to ship them back then they're worth. I would steer clear of this brand.

 

[superluig164]

Idk man they look pretty good to me full send or no send amirite

 

[TheLowlander]

Yep, going to be full sending this until I get a larger rear sway bar. So far no clunks but if they’re anything like the Moogies I got for the stock front sway bar, they’ll be dry-rotted and clunking within a year.

 

[superluig164]

Your sway bar might fall off of your car while you drive, if you're not careful

Unless that's your intended outcome

 

[TheLowlander]

Meh, at least the end links will still be holding it on. I know from experience after snapping the factory sway bar brackets with the Addco bar and having it clang down there. Good little noise maker.

At least the lug nuts we got for your 300 were as advertised, lol

 

[superluig164]

Yes, they're actually still a bit shiny under all the salt somehow

 

[retiredat444]

some people that really want them hard get the polyurethane ones. I never have and probably never will. But it's an option.

 

[TheLowlander]

Tried Prothane poly ones for a year and then went to Ramcoa, they were too harsh for a small improvement.

 

[Pvt-Public]

Just because it says made in USA doesn’t mean all that much anymore. And I‘m sure that $3.50 you paid was a devastating set back financially 🤣🤣

 

[TheLowlander]

In this case it does because one part is actual quality and the other is a POS. Also, it’s not about the money, it’s a principle thing. Do you want to get the part you ordered, or do you want to be lied to? I’m sure you know the answer to that

 

[superluig164]

I personally love being lied to and sent shitty parts, it keeps me on my toes

 

[Catanzaro]

Stick with MOOG parts. I used MOOG on the 1999 Lexus ES300 across the board.

The car rides better, but I still get this thumping noise once in a while. Maybe because of the cold. I decided against struts as the amount needed to keep it going is not worth it.

ROCK Auto is great with certain things, but quite honestly their lack of support bothers me. Yes, they do answer e-mails. Plus a lot of times they do not have what you are looking for.

 

[K2Squared]

What did Rock Auto Customer Service have to say about this? Did they offer a replacement/exchange at no cost? I have had excellent experiences with them. What did they say when you contacted them?

 

[Bippy]

I bought a genuine Ford part from RA that was returned by another customer and had some cheap junk inside! Perhaps some clown did a switch and return on you? Contact customer service, they can pull a part from inventory and confirm what is supposed to be inside.

 

[dddd]

Bippy has a point there, maybe someone opened the package and substituted some generic bushings???

Sounds weird, I know, given that it's such a low-cost item.
I could see some "clown" doing this if they were perhaps returning a box of items.

Maybe a temporary production snafu led this company to do a temporary substitution(?). Who knows, maybe one of their molds broke(?), but if that were the case they shot themself in the foot.

 

[TheLowlander]

I will email them, I like that idea. Their automated system was useless though, it won’t even want to hear my side of it, it could be because I’m in Canada and the shipping would be too great to ship it back. eBay’s system will at least let you post a picture for proof then bring you to a real person.

I’m done with MOOG too, I had the same Indian/Chinese bushings shipped for the front sway bar bushings years ago, but at least they were honest about the picture and the location they were made in so that was on me. Their Problem Solvers line is the bare minimum I’d get, but I have had their parts fail on my cars too. Their boots always prematurely fail for me, whether I grease them or not. This is very apparent on their sway bar end links especially. Once I had to retap the threads for one of their grease fittings too. The shame is they seem like good parts, heavy duty parts but there are some things about them that ruin it all for me.

Now I just stick with Delphi parts or Suspensia (same factory as Delphi - actual MFR is Deeza) parts for the past few years with no problems. They’re affordable, they’re always made in the same factory in Turkey, they are completely sealed (no grease fittings to mess with), and they have held up well for me. They’re not as high quality as OEM clearly, but I feel like I won’t have any “surprises” buying these and I have yet to have any. No failures either yet but you guys will be the first to hear about it if I do.

 

[superluig164]

Remember what happened with my Moog ball joint too? Pretty disappointed with them

 

[TheLowlander]

Yep

 

[superluig164]

How long was it? Not even a year