Beware 1A Auto and TRQ Parts!

[smitherd9]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to alert everyone to some really crappy lower ball joints I purchased through 1A Auto. I know that often, third party parts are not as good as OEM, but for your own safety be very wary of the TRQ ball joints 1A Auto sells individually and as part of a kit.

I purchased this kit:
https://www.1aauto.com/products/i/1ASFK03844

I installed a few of the parts myself but I had the lower ball joints put in by a local shop as I could not get them out myself/didn't have the proper tools. These ball joints lasted less than a year and a half, both of them breaking WHILE driving within about a month apart. When the first one broke, I thought, "maybe that was a bad egg," and was thankful I was only going about 10mph. I got a replacement part for free from 1A Auto, had that one installed and about a month later the ball joint on the opposite side of the car broke while my wife was driving, also thankfully, only going about 5 to 10 mph in a parking lot.

1A Auto offers a lifetime warranty on these parts and did offer to send me another one, but there is no way in **** I'm putting that **** on my car again. I explained all of this to 1A Auto but they refused to budge. They offered a quality check of the parts in their inventory and said they required photos of my original parts as well as the broken TRQ parts they sold me. I obviously have no way of checking what is involved in their quality control process and wouldn't have kept old parts from almost a year and a half ago. Additionally, I attempted to leave a review on their website at the above link warning others of these parts but their reviews are screened before becoming visible on the site. Big surprise, my review has not been posted. These are DEFINITELY not 5* parts (all the reviews are 5*).

After almost killing myself and later my wife, stay away from these parts. I'm now out the cost of installation of these parts multiple times in addition to buying new parts. I've now had both lower ball joints replaced with OEM. Moral of the story: better to spend the money and live.

 

[tommudd]

That is why we always, always say get Moog Greaseable ones they do the best
( 2 different ones depending on what year KJ you have , better than OEM since they are greaseable )
Should of checked in here sooner, we could of saved you some grief

another, .......... cheap is expensive

 

[Reynolds_Live]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to alert everyone to some really crappy lower ball joints I purchased through 1A Auto. I know that often, third party parts are not as good as OEM, but for your own safety be very wary of the TRQ ball joints 1A Auto sells individually and as part of a kit.

I purchased this kit:
https://www.1aauto.com/products/i/1ASFK03844

I installed a few of the parts myself but I had the lower ball joints put in by a local shop as I could not get them out myself/didn't have the proper tools. These ball joints lasted less than a year and a half, both of them breaking WHILE driving within about a month apart. When the first one broke, I thought, "maybe that was a bad egg," and was thankful I was only going about 10mph. I got a replacement part for free from 1A Auto, had that one installed and about a month later the ball joint on the opposite side of the car broke while my wife was driving, also thankfully, only going about 5 to 10 mph in a parking lot.

1A Auto offers a lifetime warranty on these parts and did offer to send me another one, but there is no way in **** I'm putting that **** on my car again. I explained all of this to 1A Auto but they refused to budge. They offered a quality check of the parts in their inventory and said they required photos of my original parts as well as the broken TRQ parts they sold me. I obviously have no way of checking what is involved in their quality control process and wouldn't have kept old parts from almost a year and a half ago. Additionally, I attempted to leave a review on their website at the above link warning others of these parts but their reviews are screened before becoming visible on the site. Big surprise, my review has not been posted. These are DEFINITELY not 5* parts (all the reviews are 5*).

After almost killing myself and later my wife, stay away from these parts. I'm now out the cost of installation of these parts multiple times in addition to buying new parts. I've now had both lower ball joints replaced with OEM. Moral of the story: better to spend the money and live.

Bought two of these a year or so ago (just the joint) and pressed them myself. One of them I had to replace after 6 months. I was suspicious of these because 1aauto next day delivered me a new replacement when I contacted them. So far they are okay but I think after reading this I may just cut my losses and order some MOOGs to replace them.

 

[Johnny O]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to alert everyone to some really crappy lower ball joints I purchased through 1A Auto. I know that often, third party parts are not as good as OEM, but for your own safety be very wary of the TRQ ball joints 1A Auto sells individually and as part of a kit.

I purchased this kit:
https://www.1aauto.com/products/i/1ASFK03844

I installed a few of the parts myself but I had the lower ball joints put in by a local shop as I could not get them out myself/didn't have the proper tools. These ball joints lasted less than a year and a half, both of them breaking WHILE driving within about a month apart. When the first one broke, I thought, "maybe that was a bad egg," and was thankful I was only going about 10mph. I got a replacement part for free from 1A Auto, had that one installed and about a month later the ball joint on the opposite side of the car broke while my wife was driving, also thankfully, only going about 5 to 10 mph in a parking lot.

1A Auto offers a lifetime warranty on these parts and did offer to send me another one, but there is no way in **** I'm putting that **** on my car again. I explained all of this to 1A Auto but they refused to budge. They offered a quality check of the parts in their inventory and said they required photos of my original parts as well as the broken TRQ parts they sold me. I obviously have no way of checking what is involved in their quality control process and wouldn't have kept old parts from almost a year and a half ago. Additionally, I attempted to leave a review on their website at the above link warning others of these parts but their reviews are screened before becoming visible on the site. Big surprise, my review has not been posted. These are DEFINITELY not 5* parts (all the reviews are 5*).

After almost killing myself and later my wife, stay away from these parts. I'm now out the cost of installation of these parts multiple times in addition to buying new parts. I've now had both lower ball joints replaced with OEM. Moral of the story: better to spend the money and live.

I have had very good luck with TRQ parts EXCEPT for the lower ball joints. I agree, they are cr.ap. Only good thing about them as they are cheap and made for good practice (I'm a newbie to such things) so when I put my Moogs in, I had them positioned properly and didn't tear the boots. 1A Auto has excellent customer service, and they hold up to their warranty claims. I kept the pair they sent me to use for emergencies in the field.

 

[tommudd]

customer service to me means nothing when they sell junk parts

 

[Johnny O]

customer service to me means nothing when they sell junk parts

True. At my address the order arrives the next day, and their stuff is so inexpensive, their parts have gotten me through till the good stuff shows up. But you get what you pay for...so I used them as a placeholder to get my by.