Prefered Parts Suppliers

[hqhzvans]

There is Cools auto trim they seem to do a good job

Cools did my HZ seats/door cards and also have my HQ seats/door cards ready to put in does a great job!

[Valencia]

Yeah i know quite a few people that used Cools and they were happy speaks for itself really

[No van man]

That's great news, I hadn't heard of Cool's before, i'll give them a bell.
Gaz

[SLR_dave]

Dont trust a word Pedders say all the items they stock is junk stay with rubber it was good enuf for 30 years so another 30 wont hurt with rubber and much better ride than nolathane

Yean, I did wonder a bit at the time about what Pedders said about rubber (considering I had a set of NOS rubber Holden bushes), but I decided on modern materials, I think in fairness, it probably depends on the particular Pedders outlet. When I gave Pedders my control arms, they were a perfect set of four chosen out of about 8 sets I had available at the time. I had sprayed them up in gleaming high gloss black (four coats of Wattyl Rust kill with sanding in between coats so they looked pretty good). When I called to see if they were ready the operator at Pedders said they were, nearly, then "ummed" a bit and eventually said, "actually mate, whats the paint?" He explained they would need to keep em for a bit to fix the scuff marks they'd made in it!

They were gonna do this free of charge - but of course I had expected them to mess the paint up, and assured them of this and that it was totally ok with me, I had half a can of paint left and of course expected to have to touch em up after they were put in the press. They went into a bit more convo to make sure I was ok with this, and they were really prepared to fix it up for me (to be honest I prefer to do it myself) When I picked them up, they had only scuffed the paint in a few small places, not even through to the metal or anything. I have to say they knew it was for an original Sandman, and they were prepared to do their bit (more than I expected) to get it right for me, - even if they did convince me to go nolathane. Anyway, that branch (Belconnen ACT) were pretty good for me. Its pretty rare a suspension shop offers to repaint the scratches they made on your control arms!

But as I reflected afterward, yes I do agree Valencia, 30 years is enough surely, I cant see that there would have been a problem using the rubber at all. (the extra cost for me was under 100 bucks though). I will use Pedders again, but I think its a good idea to ensure they know you are a discerning customer, talk to the operator who will actually do the job etc.

[Dr Terry]

As with any franchise, it's the operator or the mechanic themselves who determines the quality of the work.

I know that there are many bad Pedders outlets, but I'm sure that there are good ones too.

I find it's often better to talk to the guy who is actually doing the work (if possible). This is easier to do if the business is a smaller one.

I could write a book on my experiences at new car dealerships (of all brands). Generally speaking, the bigger the dealership, the bigger the rip-off.

Dr Terry

[thatotherguy]

I buy a lot of parts from our local Autopro and have recently bought McKay rubber bushes and some ball joints with castellated nuts from them,but like Dr Terry says it all depends on who owns the franchise. I recently took the HQ in for a wheel alignment and they let me drive it on the hoist and let me stay in the workshop while they did it.I was standing there talking to the boss when the young lad doing the alignment called him over with a worried look on his face,his problem was he was trying to undo the locking nuts without scratching the paint on the tie rods,great to see someone taking care with my car,when they had finished they said take it for a drive and make sure it's ok,I hadn't paid them and could have just driven off