Consumer review: Radiator from www.partstrain.com
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Joined: Apr 2005
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From: NJ, USA
Consumer review: Radiator from www.partstrain.com
Just thought to share a review with everyone who is looking around for parts. I was trying to find some feedback on this site to see whether or not it was worth it to purchase from them and I found nothing... hence why I am writing a review.
I ordered a radiator for my 94 H22 engine/SI body because my old one was leaking. So with some people saying they had luck with $100 radiators on ebay i figured i would go with a relatively cheap retail site to be on the safer side.
Well the radiator came in pretty well packaged, but there were alot of bent fins on both sides of the radiator. It looked like this was mostly from storage and handling because I could see a circle of bent fins in the shape of return tube in about the same location as I would expect if these things were stacked on top of each other or possibly leaning on each other. Still, there were alot of bent fins that seem to have no pattern to them which makes me think they dont take good care of hanlding these when they ship them out. I would say at least 15% - 25% of the fins were bent. Compare this to my old one which only had 5% - 10% of the fins bent! Well I guess its the difference in metal. Speaking of which, the new one has plastic top and bottom where my old one had metal all over. I guess this helps reduce weight and oxidization.
Fitment in the car was quite poor. My old one didn't budge at all. This new one shakes up and down and back and forth (more up and down motion however). This might cause a problem on bumps and at the very least at more rattling to my car... which I already have enough of. One of the tubes at the bottom came very close to the cross beam, it might be touching against it which could be the cause of the fitment problems. Removing it didn't really help much so I dunno if its the true cause.
Overall, if you are in a money crunch and can't shell out an extra $140 for a radiator from Majestic or many more dollars for a Koyo, its a tolerable replacement. I still have to pick up a cap and bleed the system so I will update if I run into any more problems.
CONCLUSION
PROS: Cheap, slightly lighter
CONS: Arrived in poor condition, poor fit
Notes: It has a plastic top and base, only the tubes and the fins are metal... I dunno which is better. I hear metal is better because you can replace the tubes which I guess is cheaper than getting a new one? At the same time, the plastic won't oxidize which is part of the problem I had on my old metal one.
I ordered a radiator for my 94 H22 engine/SI body because my old one was leaking. So with some people saying they had luck with $100 radiators on ebay i figured i would go with a relatively cheap retail site to be on the safer side.
Well the radiator came in pretty well packaged, but there were alot of bent fins on both sides of the radiator. It looked like this was mostly from storage and handling because I could see a circle of bent fins in the shape of return tube in about the same location as I would expect if these things were stacked on top of each other or possibly leaning on each other. Still, there were alot of bent fins that seem to have no pattern to them which makes me think they dont take good care of hanlding these when they ship them out. I would say at least 15% - 25% of the fins were bent. Compare this to my old one which only had 5% - 10% of the fins bent! Well I guess its the difference in metal. Speaking of which, the new one has plastic top and bottom where my old one had metal all over. I guess this helps reduce weight and oxidization.
Fitment in the car was quite poor. My old one didn't budge at all. This new one shakes up and down and back and forth (more up and down motion however). This might cause a problem on bumps and at the very least at more rattling to my car... which I already have enough of. One of the tubes at the bottom came very close to the cross beam, it might be touching against it which could be the cause of the fitment problems. Removing it didn't really help much so I dunno if its the true cause.
Overall, if you are in a money crunch and can't shell out an extra $140 for a radiator from Majestic or many more dollars for a Koyo, its a tolerable replacement. I still have to pick up a cap and bleed the system so I will update if I run into any more problems.
CONCLUSION
PROS: Cheap, slightly lighter
CONS: Arrived in poor condition, poor fit
Notes: It has a plastic top and base, only the tubes and the fins are metal... I dunno which is better. I hear metal is better because you can replace the tubes which I guess is cheaper than getting a new one? At the same time, the plastic won't oxidize which is part of the problem I had on my old metal one.
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