Scottish Elises

Have just read the part numbers sticky and was wondering if anybody has experienced problems with ball joints they have bought to replace worn ones.
Suppose the same question could stand for wheel bearings.
I thought that if you bought the likes of QH ball joints they would be of half decent quality and would fit. Which they appeared to be and did indeed fit when I changed all 8 on mine. (Bought from tadts £13 ea)
Was just curious about the comments made by YvoTuk as these seem to be as cheap as you get.
Thoughts anybody

I have replaced 2 on mine with another 2 to fit soon. no probs so far.

I've replaced quite a few on mine but have had some issues with the supply chain.

Some of the QH ones I've have are splined from top to bottom, they don't fit. The one's splined half way up are fine though.


Mac

mac wrote:I've replaced quite a few on mine but have had some issues with the supply chain.

Some of the QH ones I've have are splined from top to bottom, they don't fit. The one's splined half way up are fine though.


Mac

Mac, I measured the QH ones in your garage that were open when I was up to see Steve's car out of interest as I'd heard of variance in quality a few times. I can't remember te sizes off the top of my head, but trhe OD of the splines varied quite a bit, at least 10 thou IIRC, they were also visibly of differing designs.

Mine look like this, I just happen to have one on my desk. The spline is 41.6mm (1.638" woody)

and as I have a set of wishbones too
they measure 41mm (1.614" woody)

Those QH ones are the correct fit - but you get other ones (the ones that woody measured) with the same part code but have splines all the way up.

For some unexplained reason I don't keep the correct ones in the garage

Mac

I had 6 ouot of 8 ball joints the wrong size, real PITA, sealed QH boxes too.

I have 6 proper joints at home if you are really stuck, I would change them but I haven't got the tooling yet and I cba to get it...

mac wrote:Those QH ones are the correct fit - but you get other ones (the ones that woody measured) with the same part code but have splines all the way up.

For some unexplained reason I don't keep the correct ones in the garage

Mac

Ah You keep them on the car?

Thanks for interpeting for the old fashioned/aircraft institutionalised Nizzy

Nope - I've got them on the kitchen table

We were changing one over the weekend and discovered that the OD of the ones we had were 43mm not 41mm. Luckily I had some 41mm spares so we could still do the job, but a PITA nevertheless.

No doubt the tadts.co.uk parts are the right ones - would be a bit wank if they weren't considering they're for the Elise

Cheers,
Robin

My front ones are needing replaced. As a few have splits in the rubber. I even have a little stiffness in the steering. Fingers crossed that is the problem. I will be changing the track rod ends, as the rubber is also perished in them. I would prefer to have it all done before Donnington. Any recommendations to anyone local in fife, who could carry out the job without any hassle?