Ordered OEM shoes, got Magneti Marelli's instead...

[mwilson]

I can order directly from my local Ram dealer on line. Placed an order for rear brake pads, caliper pins and rubber boots. Showed no stock on any of it, assumed it would all be in Boston and show up today...

Imagine my surprise when the runner dropped the parts today and there is a glowing yellow Magneti Marelli box in the mix...containing brake pads....

Checked my cart to see what I had ordered...and my order line had been deleted...down bottom was a new line with the MM part number..

Called Dealer and asked for the counterman that finalized the order...got him on the phone and I asked if the parts system or he himself changed the part number.....he did....trying to save me some money.......

I explained in great detail that not all customers want the cheapest offering and that he really, really should ask before doing something like that. My rear pads have 156,000 untouched miles on them, not really sure that I need pads yet but wanted them in hand just in case. With that kind of mileage why in hell would I buy anything else......don't know if it penetrated his little noggin or not....

Just something every day....now I don't have shoes for the weekend....

 

[jgillott]

Mike, I just purchased genuine OEM rear pads for my '07 in early May when I was having those caliper sticking issues. They were in stock and available no less that 2 months ago.

I don't have any feedback on the ones you received, but I haven't heard anything about the OEM's being discontinued or replaced with a different offering.

 

[mwilson]

No, they are available...the OEM pads are five days out....the parts guy just took it upon himself to sub the MM brand and not ask me...

 

[jgillott]

I understand now. Not cool.

 

[Wayne M.]

Betcha he has a directive to push those numbers. Hard.

 

[TFucili]

That's "lazy parts man disease". You get so used to people complaining about the cost of parts, and telling you how cheap they can find it on the internet, so rather than presenting the options, and explaining the difference, you just ASSume everybody is a price-only shopper. It's an easy trap to fall into.

 

[mwilson]

We stand our ground here as much as we can...point out product improvements with the OEM stuff, longevity, warranty advantages, etc...and will push aftermarket if we feel the OEM offering is not worth the extra cost....

The "Chinese" brake drum price war was raging here several years ago, I refused to participate. If a truck drum explodes and the the vehicle hits a School Bus I know I can have Webb Wheel and Drum, Gunite, Motor Wheel, etc. on the phone and here quickly....some offshore holding company with a PO Box??? Not so much....

So I picked a value drum made by Webb, buy them one trailer load at a time. That's what we have for a lower cost offering...that's it. Sell a lot of them without incident and avoided that whole offshore drum drama...

 

[TFucili]

We stand our ground here as much as we can...point out product improvements with the OEM stuff, longevity, warranty advantages, etc...and will push aftermarket if we feel the OEM offering is not worth the extra cost....

The "Chinese" brake drum price war was raging here several years ago, I refused to participate. If a truck drum explodes and the the vehicle hits a School Bus I know I can have Webb Wheel and Drum, Gunite, Motor Wheel, etc. on the phone and here quickly....some offshore holding company with a PO Box??? Not so much....

So I picked a value drum made by Webb, buy them one trailer load at a time. That's what we have for a lower cost offering...that's it. Sell a lot of them without incident and avoided that whole offshore drum drama...

Agree 100%. Not many are willing to put forth the effort, it seems.

 

[Wayne M.]

Mike, you do know that magnetti marelli is a FCA brand? I’m afraid someday Mopar will be absorbed into that. Likewise I could never understand the overlay with Motorcraft/FoMoCo and ACDelco/ GM parts.

 

[TFucili]

Worthless trivia, but FCA is actively trying to spin off Marelli.

 

[Ozymandias]

i love the OEM Pads, still contain asbestos that provides long life and is nice to the discs.
MM for sure has no asbestos in it, it is totally banned in Europe for every use. totally.

 

[MarkEagleUSA]

i love the OEM Pads, still contain asbestos...
...it is totally banned in Europe for every use.

Pretty sure it's banned here as well. I don't think there's any asbestos in today's brake pads/shoes, that's why everything is semi-metallic or ceramic.

 

[Ozymandias]

Pretty sure it's banned here as well. I don't think there's any asbestos in today's brake pads/shoes, that's why everything is semi-metallic or ceramic.

according to wikipedia in the US it is still allowed for special purposes.
to me it is clear that my brake pads contain it because the disc doesn't go down at all, it is nicely polished an last for ever.
I remember that from the time before asbestos was banned for every use. must be 20 years ago.

 

[Wayne M.]

It was the miracle mineral.

 

[Ozymandias]

It was the miracle mineral.

Jep that was it, so useful for so many products.
It is sad that it is so unhealthy.

Third World still uses is in huge amounts. India especially.

 

[mwilson]

OEM pads arrived today, parts guy apparently decided that he really shouldn't substitute anything for those again....

 

[mwilson]

Pulled the left rear wheel Sunday night just to see what was what.....shoes frozen in place, had to take a hammer and punch to get them to move on the slides so I guess it's time to change them out.

Caliper was ok though, guide pins were stuck but pistons are fine.

Not working really helped them last longer though.....

 

[Wayne M.]

Mike, do you handle Meritor? Their major S cam kit (don’t know the number) comes with a non descriptive silver grease cartridge with a white lithium looking grease inside. If you know this stuff, get a acid brush and use it on the slide pins. This stuff is incredible. I use that s*** on everything.

 

[mwilson]

Mike, do you handle Meritor? Their major S cam kit (don’t know the number) comes with a non descriptive silver grease cartridge with a white lithium looking grease inside. If you know this stuff, get a acid brush and use it on the slide pins. This stuff is incredible. I use that s*** on everything.

I'll go pop open a few Meritor S Cam kits and see what's in there. I bought a Permatex product for the brake pins (Green color) but I am not really impressed with it yet....

 

[Wayne M.]

I'll go pop open a few Meritor S Cam kits and see what's in there. I bought a Permatex product for the brake pins (Green color) but I am not really impressed with it yet....

This stuff is so slick, you can’t pick up a wrench.
I found one with a label.