Used Car Parts News

Officials in Northern Ireland confirmed that they have seized a batch of brake pads that had been falsely labelled as Renault.

The parts which were found after a tip off were examined and discovered to be held together with glue making them highly dangerous.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment commented that there was “no way” the parts would ever have passed the required braking friction level that would make the roadworthy.

Damien Doherty from the Trading Standards Service said:

"In the past, counterfeit car parts were mainly non-safety items such as window wipers, mud flaps and car interior accessories. Now, counterfeit items such as brake pads, brake shoes, suspension components and steering linkages are readily available on the market.”

Brake pads are crucial to the braking system and any faults or wear in them could have disastrous consequences.

Buyers have been warned to take care when buying parts and to only use reputable dealers such as CarSpareFinder or Car Part Buyer who can search dealer and breakers nationwide to find you the best deal whatever part you need.

Whether it’s Renault parts that you need or any other make the site will search legitimate and carefully chosen dealers without you having to leave your computer screen.

A starter motor, is a high toque electric motor, which starts your car.  It does this by turning the gear on the engine fly wheel.  Before the invention of starter motors, cars were started with a hand crank. 

A video explaining the workings of a starter motor and some repair tips.

A working starter motor is essential in modern cars.   With out one, you won’t be able to start your car.  In older cars, you can jump start them but a lot of modern vehicles aren’t capable of being started that way.  If your looking for a replacement starter motor you could consider using used parts.  They are considerably lower in cost and by recycling a part you are doing a service to the environment.  Finding used parts is easy too, it’s as easy as filing in a form.

Note:  This article is meant as guidance only, consult your manufacturers guide or a professional before performing any maintenance. 

Ferrari continue to improve them already mighty performance by test new exhaust system. 

Although the Ferrari team has been performing well in the recent grand prix they have still been outclassed by Red Bull on most tracks.  This is believed to be down to there engine management system which enables gases flowing through the diffuser even when not on the throttle.  

Ferrari have began to experiment with a similar system in order to catch with their rivals.  The car at German was fitted with a device that kept the pressure constant to feed through the blown diffuser

One of Ferrari’s developments for its car this weekend is a constant exhaust-gas pressure system to feed the blown diffuser.

Alonso in speaking to a Spanish newspaper said:

“We know that red bull are the ones to beat on Saturday, we hope that this Saturday we can make it harder for them”

Although the team is fighting hard many believe the title race is out of there grasp. 

Ferrari won the German Grand prix on Sunday by a clear mile however the win was marred in controversy after the team were penalised for interfering with race results. 

Source: ESPN

Work has started today on the demolition of a North East car park made famous by seventies gangster film Get Carter starring Michael Caine.

The car park in Trinity Square, Gateshead is being taken down piece by piece as civic leader have revealed they want to remodel the the town to rival neighbours Newcastle. Owen Luder, the architect behind the iconic structure said:

“It’s a sad day; Gateshead is losing its front teeth.”

Mr Luder was speaking as he made his final visit to the car park and it’s amazing rooftop box which was designed to accommodate a restaurant and nightclub but never used.

He rejected Gateshead Councils reasoning that the building had become structurally and economically unrepeatable adding:

“The demand I met in the Sixties with a multi-storey car park still exists today, so why knock it down?”

The demolition is expected to take around eight weeks but it will take the same time again to cleat the site of the 34,000 tonnes of concrete rubble let behind.

Discussions have already started regarding the future of the site and it is thought that a £150 million redevelopment contract from the regeneration subsidy of Tesco Spenhill will be successful in developing accommodation and a shopping centre on the site of the car park.

As a child, who was eager to help during the shopping run i would put bags of shopping in the boot of the car.  But there was always on bag that my father insisted on loading himself.   The mystery package almost looked like a pass the parcel present with it being wrapped up in at least three carrier bags.  Then carefully secured with bungees in a special shelf at the side of the boot.  All this attention and care, what was this lethal substance that could cause such a fuss:  the answer was Milk. 

Milk if split in your car will result in a odour so strong that you may well be incapable of completing any journeys in it.  However if you do spill milk in you car, what can you do about it? 

You can try and clean it:  Some people recommend using a bicarbonate solution to scrub the offending surface clean.  This can take time and doesn’t always work but is a pretty sure bet.  Another recommendation is to use odour eaters as they contain charcoal.  Which is a pretty reliable odour absorber. 

If you need to replace you carpets, seats or something alike, then finding spare parts isn’t difficult.  You try used parts too as they will be cheaper and better for the environment,

Oil Cooler Parts:  Know your stuff

An Oil cooler  is a device that cool down the oil in your car.   It is a separate and smaller radiator from the engines main radiator.   The supply of oil is maintained at a constant level at optimal temperature.    The reason this is done is that maintaining the temperature of the oil at an optimum level will prolong the life of the engine or transmission.   The oil cooler also transports oil from the moving parts of the engine/transmission to the oil pan. 

Hot stuff:  A typical oil cooler radiator.    

Typically the optimum temperature for oil is around 80 to 95c.   Problems occur when the oil rises above this level due to the changing properties of oil at this temperature.  Oil at this temperature begins to lose its abilities to lubricate, break down and has an inability to cool.  

There’s a large parts market for this part.  Including spares.  car spare finder  greats a great number of requests for  these parts.  With a plethora of suppliers, often the request for a part is acquiesced.

Sunroofs come in many different forms from the ‘crank-open’ method on an older Nissan Micra to the Solar sunroof that is found on the 2010 Toyota Prius, electrically operated and powers the cars ventilation system.

I will be honest one of the things that always slips my mind when looking at a new car is if it has a sunroof or not, but up until the 1970’s cars didn’t really have sunroofs’. You either had the roof up or down.

Only recently when looking at new cars have I also found that they seem to be referring to them as ‘moonroofs’ which seems to be the new term for them. Most modern day varieties are made from a glass panel.

But what I bet you didn’t think was possible is installing a sunroof from scratch, so if you did forget to check and don’t mind getting your car cut up then you can have one fitted as the video below shows.

To tell the difference between a factory installed sunroof and one that has been added later all you need to do is open the sunroof and look at the edge of the opening in the vehicle roof (the hole) and if the painted metal goes down over the edge of the hole then it is factory installed. If it has a black or silver frame overlapping the roof skin then it’s a pretty good chance that your sunroof has been installed after purchase.

Although installing a sunroof after purchase has no detrimental effects on the cars structure and can increase the value on certain models. If you want to install a sunroof on your vehicle or you need a part to repair you current one take a look at CarSpareFinder who will search local dealers to find the best price for you without you having to leave the house.

UK car production figures sharply up compared with previous year.

The number of cars produced in the UK rocketed in June compared with previous figures.  Almost 118, cars rolled off the production line. 

Compared with the figures for the same period last year, production had risen 28.6%.

This is a continuing trend of production increase.  The last eight months have seen increases  in production with the month of May showing the largest increase at 54%(compared with the same period last year). 

Some put the trend and good figure down to investment and technologies.   Paul Everitt, The SMMT’s Chief executive said:

“Continued investment in new products and technology is helping us sustain growth for the sector”

In addition, Other figures show that UK new car sales had risen in June by 10.8% compared with the same period  in the previous year.   

This is welcome news after the automotive industry suffered during the global downturn.    The industry was hit with sales figures which were the lowest seen for 25 years in 2009.  The Government introduced the scrappage scheme in order to boosts sales.  The scheme ended in march this year and the fact that sales figures have continued to rise is seen as encouraging by the industry.

Quote Source:  BBC

Thieves are on a rampage around the country stealing catalytic converters.

Since late May, there has been a spate of thefts of the essential exhaust part.  The crooks, which the police believe to be operating as a gang are cutting the devices off vehicle around the country.  

When speaking to the Oxford Mail, PC Marstin of the West Oxfordshire Auto crime team said:

“Having 23 Stolen in the past seven weeks is a massive percentage increase in terms of catalytic converter thefts.  Someone has the idea and is maximising the opportunity.”   

The Police believe the devices are being exported and sold for the valuable material contained within them. 

What are Catalytic Converters?

Catalytic converters are essentially in simple terms a box in your exhaust system.  Their purpose is to reduce the the toxicity of emissions from you engine.   Inside the ‘box is an environment in which chemical reactions take place.  The result of these reactions is that substances from your engine are converted in to much less toxic substances.  Their job essentially is to make the air a little bit cleaner.   They quite valuable because they contain materials like Platinum. 

brief history:

Catalytic converters have been in use since 1975 where they were fitted to American automobiles in the U.S. market.   They are also used on other types of engines including, trucks, buses, trains and generator sets. 

Car leasing gives you the opportunity to drive a car that you could only dream of owning – whether you can’t afford to buy outright, want to make a good impression to your clients or you just like to change car every few years then leasing could help you.

Leasing a car allows you to have the flexibility to pick up whatever car you require and pay at a monthly rate, for example you can hire an Aston Martin DB9 for around £2000 a month and that includes any repairs and services. Using the Aston as an example if you were to buy one brand new you would be looking at paying out a fee of well over £100,000.

The contracts also allow for regular car changes, depending on contract lengths which is a brilliant opportunity  for people who like the latest models. Businesses also benefit from leasing as certain costs can be tax write offs.

A lot of companies will even include Insurance as part of the monthly fee so it allows you to pay everything in one payment.

So looking at it leasing can be a good option for anyone – the businessman who wants to give a good impression and save the money, the younger person who may not be able to afford their own car straight away, the trendsetter who wants the latest sports car every couple of years. Whatever category you class yourself in you should really take a look at leasing.

Interested in leasing? Take a look Leasebam who will search all dealers local to you and find the best price available.