I thought I wanted the best quality upper control arm for my 1991 Honda Accord, so I shop around for Moog. Priced between $130 to over $200. （list nos. K9816 and K9819, left and right ).

When I found a reliable supplier, Rock Auto, I placed the order. The boxes came with the Moog sticker, and the correct Moog part nos. But upon opening the box and the plastic wrapper, both parts have "Three Five", "Made in Japan" all over. That;s the Sankei factory, which made very high quality parts for auto makers all over the world.

When I went back to the web and look at all the enlarged photos of these two Moog control arms, I can see the "Three Five" round stamp on the control arms frames, which is telling me that Moog is actually shipping out the entire assembly made by Sankei.

Other than the shipping box with the Moog sticker, the only other tell tale sign of this possibly is made for Moog is a green piece of paper inside the plastic bag labeled AXXK9815. (K9815 is Moog's part no. ). The other information is 51450-SM4-023, is Honda OEM no. for the left control arm.

Why am I saying all this.. well, unless Sankei put special effort, better materials, better quality control to make these control arms for Moog, why am I paying between $30 to $100 more for Moog, I could have order Sankei parts. (available from many on line stores too.)

$30 to $100 can buy meal a meal, a massage, or a movie with my girlfriend...etc. etc. and the parts are just as good and top quality

Hope to hear some comments about this.

thanks

 

I would like to add to this.. I got soem upper control arms for my 90 accord from Rock auto. When I opened the box I found the right side was a sankei 555 and the other had BAW stamped on the ball joint with MK24 0052. The left side of it said SM-L. The bag had a number 63-2605104. I looked it up online and found BAW is made in taiwan. Im still debating on if I should send it back and hold out for the sankei part.

 

Did you specifically ask for these brand names, or just pick the least expensive choice off the order list?

I guess it all depends on if one is in a hurry to repair the car when deciding whether to go thru the hassle to ship back the part and ask for something else.

However, I think that sometimes a part factory establishes different manufacturing procedures for different brands. For some brand, they put in better quality components than others, depending on what their customer specifies. Of course it will be very difficult to find out. But I know Sankei is a reputable manufacturer and they do not want to be traced back to making a bad quality part.

 

TAS Auto + OEM replacement = call it done? That's all I did for my 97 Accord. The only issue I noted was the nuts were not treated so I reused OEM ones (otherwise probably would have rusted) the arms themselves are fine.

And there are tons of companies that rebrand other's and resell. My assumption is Moog does this (never heard of the brand though) and I've never heard of Sankei either. They could just be from any manufacturer then Moog checks them for consistency before sending them out.

 

What you dont understand about aftermarket brands is that Moog makes different qualities of parts. They will make a premium (MOOG) and then also make cheaper alternatives. Moog ball joints suck anyway. national bearings is the exact same way.
Rock Auto is a joke anyway.

Should have went to tasauto.com and bought oem parts.

 

Holy Moses, Who's never heard of MOOG? Dude why would you pay so much for control arms for a 91? Are these front upper control arms? If your replacing your C arms you probably need other parts too. Just go to Ebay and get a kit. I got one and the parts look really good. Cheap new parts are better than old worn parts. Before I bought the kit I took my car to have the front suspension checked at a tire/alignment shop. The "kid" told me I only needed one inner tie rod, but while changing my rotors I found everthing to be loose/worn. "nuke the site from orbit that's the only way to be sure"

 

hate to bring back an old thread but i found this to be very informative and thanks to the advice of muffinman i think im going to go with the TAS upper control arms.

my only question is do they come with the ball joint as well? i would like to buy everything in one shot.

 

Way to bring back an old thread, but I have used MOOG many times and never once had an issue... I like rock auto and use it for my company but you have to usally buy alot for it to trully be worth it.