GSF vs VW parts

[Jim Bowen 1]

what is the difference, as everything i've bought so far has been from vw dealers and its cost a small fortune.

 

do people buy stuff from GSF, i always tend not to get the cheap and cheerful option.

 

for example i need discs and pads for my 288mm upgrade, and they sell the hoses i need, would the discs and pads from them be much different to the vw ones?

[zak 0]

I buy most things from vw like, seals, gaskets, bearings, bushes etc. But for brakes gsf should be ok. I fitted 288's a few weeks back and bought brembo disks and pagid pads from gsf and they have been fine.

[Jim Bowen 1]

do you happen to know the number for the bits on the gsf site, there seems to be loads of choices, what are the brembo ones?

[mattosmond 0]

3corsameal, i have gsf brembos on my gti at the minute, they are very good indeed, but i guess you cant go wrong with a good brand

 

BUT

 

i have found gsf sell very poor parts, i have had 3 water pumps for my mk3 gti, then a dealer one and it's fantastic (the gsf ones kept on ripping all the belts off and eventually burst my radiator). 3 sets of rear wheel bearings, this last set seem fine, but wait and see...

 

One plus point for them is their customer service.. On all of the above parts I have only paid for 1 item and they have covered all labour and parts on the repairs without ay pushing...

 

imho I would buy dealer parts now if i can afford them, they simply are just better parts..

[Jim 2]

The only thing i'd buy from GSF now is brand name parts - ie Brembo, etc.

 

All of their pattern parts suck frankly. Three that immediately spring to mind are the radiator that stripped the thread when we attempted to screw in the radiator thermostat, the expansion tank bottle that wouldn't actually allow connection of the level sensor as the plug was mis-shapen somehow, and the wheel bearings I had fitted to my car a YEAR ago that are already making horrible noises and need changing.

 

Just pants.

[Yandards 0]

Most of the GSF is rubbish hence why it is cheap.

 

I have been experimenting by fitting Febi bits along with Sachs dampers (suppliers of dampers to VW) on the other halfs daily driver, the MK 2 Golf. It all fits up quite well but I wont know how it wears over time compared to the VAG stuff for a while. Quality is ok and at least it is German made most of the time.

 

Decent supplier of bits at a good price is AV Spares down in London.

 

Linkage:here

[Sonicriot13 0]

Most of the GSF is rubbish hence why it is cheap.

 

I have been experimenting by fitting Febi bits along with Sachs dampers (suppliers of dampers to VW) on the other halfs daily driver, the MK 2 Golf. It all fits up quite well but I wont know how it wears over time compared to the VAG stuff for a while. Quality is ok and at least it is German made most of the time.

 

Decent supplier of bits at a good price is AV Spares down in London.

 

Linkage:here

 

Yeah, AVS are wicked. I get most of my parts from there if they have what I'm looking for. Quality has been very good IMO.

[jonnyboyo 0]

Has anyone had experience with GSF's filters? Reason being i have on order the round black plastic cased filter that sits on top of the rocker cover on an 8v MK2 GTi. I think its a crank case breather. I mean, it wasn't cheap from GSF at £40, so i am hoping it is a German part or of good quality.

[Jay2 0]

If you think GSF are bad then don't make the mistake and try Eurocarparts! :shock:

[skinnyman9000 0]

Im about to buy some bits for my rear brake setup. Im needing discs, pads and possibly calipers. Would i bet better off buying branded items as opposed to the GSF branded stuff?

[davidwort 0]

Im about to buy some bits for my rear brake setup. Im needing discs, pads and possibly calipers. Would i bet better off buying branded items as opposed to the GSF branded stuff?

 

I've never had any trouble with the OEM/Quality parts GSF supply, it's the cheaper pattern parts they do that can be rubbish.

My first problem was a mk1 headlight, gave practicaly no beam pattern, but Hella one, (from GSF) was perfect @ 21 quid at the time

Since then I've bought loads of distributor caps, bearings, plug leads, brake parts and filters and never had any trouble - just look for the names like FEBI, bilstein, bosch, valeo etc. and preferably find a sales asssitant that knows the VW parts well.

GSF rear (BQ - best quality) disks should be fine, but their bearings have a bad rep recently (you need these for new rear disks really) they used to do SKF bearings and these have been fine for me for years, but I'm not sure they stock them anymore.