OPC Part Prices

[Hairyarse]

Went over to OPC Leicester a little while ago to collect my parts. Cracking service, they've been great on the phone and offered me a cuppa the second I walked through the door!

Anyway, not sure if anyone wants to make this a regular thread or not, but either way would thought I'd post up here a copy of the invoice so people know what's available and prices. Basically, the list is for all bushes for the front wishbones and ARB, ball joints and all associated bolts and washers. There's also the tool for adjusting rear camber and toe which is part ending 917.10 and then the two on order are the boot lock grommet and handbrake switch under the handbrake for the warning light.

He gave me 10% discount and will post out the two items on order for me, top bloke[]

Let me know if you want to know any more about these parts. Hope to have them fitted this weekend so can then get the full geo check/adjust sorted[]

Cheers
Andy

 

[Paz]

Glenn and the boys at Leicester OPC are a great bunch.

 

[MarkK]

They are enthusiasts that really love the Marque I have seen 924,944,968,928 plus 70s to current 911s on their ramps they are a main dealer with Specialist service if you know what I mean,the tech that works on my race car has a 964 himself and has owned front engined Pork.
They are a great bunch.Like has been said Glenn in Parts will look after you superbly by post or in person.

 

[Christopher I Ralph]

Hi Andy,

I always thought that bushes were not available for the wishbones from Porsche and that one had to go to one of the specialists for reconditioned units.

I cannot see the bushes listed in PET.

Any extra light that you can throw on this would be helpful.

Many thanks.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

The difficulty with this as a regular thread is that prices can vary hugely over the different models, and also over time. Not so much with service items, but things like trim parts tend to be made in a batch. You might be the last one to get that part at £10 before the years-old stock runs out, and then a new batch is made and the price can go through the roof.

The golden rule with parts is check PC first, then specialists, then general motor factors like GSF, then used specialists, then e-bay. You'll have 5 prices, and be able to weigh up the merits of new against used, or pattern against original.

Sadly, people still tend to think that Porsche will be prohibitively expensive so go elsewhere and pay far more. Porsche make so much effort to support the older cars, that's why we lowly 944 owners are all invited to the Silverstone Experience Centre in May for a mere £10. They really do want to keep the older cars on the road, and build long-term relationships with owners who will probably be going on to other cars within the marque.

 

[Hairyarse]

It was a real, pleasant surprise. Glenn had been excellent on the phone but I thought you could be forgiven for assuming OPC may look down their nose at owners of older, cheaper Porsche like ours. They say, never assume! I certainly look forward to dealing with them again[]

Christopher - the most expensive bush at the top is the rear wishbone one. The others are a mix if all ARB bushes and front wishbone bush. Bare in mind that these are all for square dash 944, 1983 model. The wishbones I'm using are new MK1 Golf ones I already have, they are the same. OPC wanted £75 approx each, you could buy a pair of Golf ones for half that. Not all bushes are the same as Golf though so thought I'd be safe and buy everything elsevfrom Porsche.

The detail is on PET with the wishbones, take another peek but let me know if you need further info[]

Cheers
Andy

 

[Chrishazle]

Had the same this week with sunroof gears for my 968 - Porsche Tonbridge cheaper than other online suppliers, also a pleasure to deal with.

Check you OPC first, especially if you're a PCGB member and are checking with your local OPC.

 

[sawood12]

I always found that Nottingham OPC would knock 15% off without me even asking and bought the vast majority of parts from them. My philosophy was that unless other outlets could beat the OPC prices by at least 10 or 15% then i'd buy from the OPC and there wasn't many occasions at all where other suppliers could beat that. Also look out for the short term sales they sometimes do. I got my steering UJ shaft for £20 in one such sale I happened to catch by pure chance when I needed one - they are now £80, and under similar lucky circumstances I got some new rear discs and pads in a sale for around the price of significantly inferior non OEM parts. It is a shame they don't advertise these sales.

 

[colin944]

I buy parts from Glasgow OPC. Danny in parts dept is always spot on and when you go to pick them up they always have a chat and are interested in what you are doing.Also usually cheaper for parts than anybody else.My 10 year old nephew loves all thing porsche and likes to come to the opc for a run. One time he wanted to get one of the books they have on each model. He asked the receptionist if he could have one and she went away an got him all the sales literature they had ,he was so chuffed you would have thought it was christmas.

 

[andy watson]

Jim & the guys at Colchester OPC are always helpful and give as much discount as they can, apart from a few bargains obtained from Ebay all my replacement parts come from OPC - working on the theory that the original Porsche parts are over 20 years old then the replacements should stand the test of time.

Even had the car serviced there last year and will be getting the belts done at OPC next year when due.

 

[Jonny944CS]

I always thought that bushes were not available for the wishbones from Porsche and that one had to go to one of the specialists for reconditioned units.

I cannot see the bushes listed in PET.

They aren't listed in PET for the 86-on aluminium front wishbones either.

After some guess work I managed to deduce the correct part numbers for both the standard and M030 bushes from an old Porsche price list, rather than PET (I'm sad like that [&o]).

I ordered 4 x M030 bushes for my wisbones at around £6.50 each and they duly arrived and fitted perfectly. When I came to order some more over a year later the price had mysteriously changed to £65.00 each! Not sure if I got lucky and a price error has since been corrected.... I have the numbers somewhere, I'll try and dig them out. Maybe other OPCs will have their decimal place in a more favorable position.

Also, the other reason for using a reconditioned Hartech type alu wishbone is for the quality of the replacement ball joints they use. I tried a re-build kit from the US and the quality was poor.

 

[rcsalmons]

"Big Black" (928GTS) calipers £234 + vat each from Exeter OPC far cheaper than anywhere.

Rich

 

[Northern924]

My first experience with Newcastle OPC was 11 years when I had my first 924, and every since I've always been impressed with the service and attitude to the older models.
Never understood why anyone would buy service parts from PorscheShop who buy direct from and then charge you more than your OPC would for the exact same part!!

Perfect example 477.411.053:
From OPC - £2.75 + VAT (which is only 5p up on what I paid last May)

Same bushing from the Porscheshop - £8.88 + VAT (and yes thats each!!!)

 

[zcacogp]

Hate to piss on the OPC-lovefest-bonfire, but they are not universally either friendly or helpful. They can be excellent, but they can also be outrageously expensive. They quoted me over £40 for CV joint boots (yes, boots - I triple-checked this with them.) Max Schenker at Frazerpart did the whole joint (i.e. joint, boot and grease, plus washers, clips and other riff-raff) for less than that.

And I was jolly glad I was sitting on a nice stable chair when I got a quote for a full clutch from them. More than 50% of the value of my car (and I tend to over-value my lovely S2.) I ended up paying less than a quarter of that from Max at Frazerpart.

And the parts department at OPC Stratford (walking distance of my house) is far from friendly. A small door hidden down a dirty alley 'round the back of the service department where you can routinely expect to be kept waiting for more than 20 minutes to be served, and I have never, ever been offered so much as a glass of water there, let alone a cup of tea.

(NOTE: I am not associated with Frazerpart - I just happened to use him in both of the situations mentioned above. In fairness the OPC have done me fairly well on things like sunroof gears and ARB brackets recently.)


Oli.

 

[Northern924]

Glad you did add your thoughts Oli, it does show that it differs from Dealership to Dealership, and I totally agree there are some things that I would never buy from my OPC or even dare ask them for a price for!
But I do have to say that I've never even been into the Parts room at Newasctle and always get a coffee and buscuit []

 

[sawood12]

I don't think anyone is saying the OPC will be best the price for everything, especially for consumable items like clutches and brakes where the volumes are attractive for aftermarket suppliers, but they are always worth trying before instead of automatically dismissing them. They were not competative for the A/C radiator, which I ended up buying from Unit 11 (£350 vs £115) - afterall if no-one used them then they would stop supporting the 944 and for the non-consumable items which they can't compete with the supply will dry up and there are not that many alternative outlets for non-consumable parts, so respect the fact these cars are still supported by the OEM for about 90% of the parts on the car unlike most other non-German manufacturers. Spare a thought for those with classic Lancia's who spend their weekends scouring scrapyards and breakers for whatever battered, tatty and moth-eaten scrap parts they can find and paying through the teeth for them.

The Big Blacks are very cheap because they still have stocks from the original 1980's production run. The original production stocks of Big Reds (essentially the same caliper) ran out some time ago and Porsche had to commission another production run and the cost of the caliper doubled. So if you want Big Reds, buy Big Blacks and paint them!

There was a guy in Germany recently who bought a brand new 1970's classic BMW 5 series - built by BMW from brand new parts from stock. It is amazing that you can buy a brand new 40yr old car from the manufacturer. I dread to think how much it cost him though, but i'd love to win the lottery and walk into an OPC to see if it were possible to order a brand new 944 Turbo!

 

[homesea]

I'm with Oli on this one, Sheffield quoted me £76 for a rotor arm!

People like ECP/GSF charge a lot less for the same kit.
I've also found specialists like Promax very competative, they dont keep you on hold and know what parts your talking about.

 

[zcacogp]

OPC's can be cheap - and surprisingly so. I'm not saying they are universally expensive, but whether they are 20% cheaper than the opposition or 200% more expensive seems to be a lottery ...

McNulters has the right advice (maybe that's why they made him register secretary!) - "The golden rule with parts is check PC first, then specialists, then general motor factors like GSF, then used specialists, then e-bay. You'll have 5 prices, and be able to weigh up the merits of new against used, or pattern against original. " OK, it'll take you an hour on the 'phone/computer, but this is pretty much the method I use when buying parts.


Oli.

 

[pixie*porsche]

What are all you lot saying to the OPCs to get these cheap prices? Everytime I ring them for parts they seem to be the most expensive, have nothing in stock and have to order it from Germany!

As for "lowly" 944s, don't talk the model down, they are every bit as good as any other Porsche. In my opinion I now have the best Porsche I've owned and I've had 3x 944 (counting this one), 2x 911s (both SCs, one coupe, one targa) and a Boxster S.

 

[Northern924]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp

McNulters has the right advice (maybe that's why they made him register secretary!) - "The golden rule with parts is check PC first, then specialists, then general motor factors like GSF, then used specialists, then e-bay. You'll have 5 prices, and be able to weigh up the merits of new against used, or pattern against original. " OK, it'll take you an hour on the 'phone/computer, but this is pretty much the method I use when buying parts.

Oli.

Agree with this 100%, always phone around, my support for the OPC is for more marquee specifics like hoses, trim pieces etc. Admittedly they never carries these kind of parts as stock, and for limited sales they genetrate I'm not surprised, but I've never had to wait more than 48 hours for anything from them.
Rest of it I always end up buying from either GSF or ECP, or even local motor factors depending on who is the cheapest []