Rockauto wholesaler close outs / word of advice (Page 1/1)
Kitskaboodle APR 17, 11:47 AM
I bought some “wholesaler close out” front struts for my Reatta about 6 months ago and just this last weekend I got around to installing them. Well, at least I started to. If I’m not mistaken, you only get a 30 day warranty on wholesaler close out parts. Anyways, the struts I bought were Monroe OE Spectrum (aka Sensatracs) These come from Monroe in a locked down position. To unlock, you turn the top shaft counterclockwise until they pop/extend up. Well, one of them would not extend properly. In fact, you could tell it was binding a little. I put some Teflon oil on the shaft, pushed it all the way back down but it would still stop about 1/3 of the way going back up. 🙁

There is no way I can return these as it way past 30 days. If I had known one of them would be defective, I would have verified their up and down “action” as soon as they arrived. The only real good news is that I got them quite cheaply.
Ok, so my advice is to maybe reconsider not getting nitrogen powered struts that are years old (how many years I don’t know) on wholesaler close out. Obviously, some car parts are still perfectly fine sitting in a warehouse for years but for struts, it might be wiser to buy “fresher” stock. And B) Dont assume your new strut is 100% ok, good to install. Push it up and down a few times before you assemble your strut assembly.
Kit
Patrick APR 19, 07:03 PM

quote
Originally posted by Kitskaboodle:

Ok, so my advice is to maybe reconsider not getting nitrogen powered struts that are years old (how many years I don’t know) on wholesaler close out. Obviously, some car parts are still perfectly fine sitting in a warehouse for years but for struts, it might be wiser to buy “fresher” stock. And B) Dont assume your new strut is 100% ok, good to install. Push it up and down a few times before you assemble your strut assembly.



IMO, the heading of this thread is unfortunately a little misleading. This sounds to me like much more of an old stock issue (from anywhere) rather than a specific RockAuto issue.

Kit, please check your PMs.
82-T/A [At Work] APR 22, 12:15 PM
This is good advice. Personally, I've had a lot of really good luck with close-out parts (I'll get into that in a minute), but your sound logic also applies to anything where "age" is a degenerating factor in parts. This includes things like rubber O-rings and other things which can degrade over time. Like, I purchased one of the very last "Made in America" FelPro Iron Duke head gasket sets from a close-out there. Most of the gaskets are perfect. The problem of course is that the O-Rings for the valves are "less than great" ... they were starting to degrade and didn't feel as pliable as some of the others out there.

But on the positive side... most replacement parts for our cars are now made in China. Which as Ogre will tell you, sucks. What is positive though, is that the close-out products are usually for left-over NOS and US-made parts which are still fantastic. Like... random example. A "made in America" Melling oil pump shaft bushing for $2.18. Rather than re-use the original (which was still usable), or get a new replacement from China for $6.80, I went with the close-out Made in America one. I did this on everything from TRW ball joints to hardware, to pistons, to whatever. You can get made in America (or at least Made in Taiwan) parts much cheaper, and better than the new replacement parts.


But yeah, anything where age is a problem... like shocks and rubber parts... I'd steer clear of.
maryjane APR 22, 01:07 PM

I'm as good once as I once was...
Patrick APR 22, 07:00 PM

quote
Originally posted by maryjane:


I'm as good once as I once was...



Don... at my first full-time job when I was just 17 years of age, my foreman (old WW2 vet) used to get a kick out of stating the following...

"I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was."

Back then, I never really understood what he meant... but now that I'm currently older than what my boss was at that time, I completely understand!

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 04-22-2024).]

Kitskaboodle APR 22, 08:43 PM
Patrick, I only used Rockauto as an example of buying old stock car parts but it could apply to any auto parts company. Most do not have “wholesaler Closeout” (aka NOS) so I used them as my example. Was not slamming Rockauto at all. I simply used them as a reference point. As for quality, I did choose Sensatracs (Monroe) but despite that, they had degraded by sitting in a warehouse for who knows how many years.
My point was only to consider not buying very old car parts (regardless of cost) that are susceptible to degrading while sitting on a shelf. Most struts are nitrogen pressurized so this type of car part is very capable of losing pressure over time. Maybe like a fire extinguisher or carbonated beer?
Kit
Patrick APR 22, 09:58 PM

quote
Originally posted by Kitskaboodle:

Was not slamming Rockauto at all. I simply used them as a reference point.



Kit... yes, that was obvious after reading your post. It was just the heading of the thread that seemed to imply that this was a RockAuto issue.
Kitskaboodle APR 24, 04:38 PM
Update: I just got my new struts (this time from Amazon) and they are noticeably better. Meaning, when I unlocked them they came up a little faster and of course they didn’t stick at all, unlike the ones I got from Rockauto. (these type of struts come in a locked down position)
Lesson learned….., Kit