I recently purchased a complete front end rebuild kit off ebay for my wifes 2004 e320. New control arms, torsion arms, ball joints, upper control arms...
Everything arrived and looked great. The upper control arms already had the ball joints installed, but i checked the torque before installation and all was good. Installation was simple, used harbor freight ball joint tool and front end service kit to break everything loose. Aligned everything, drives great. 4 days later my wife says "i hear a clunk in the front end". the next day i decided to drive it to work. I left the house on the first application of brakes i heard a hard thunk... immediately returned to the house. Put the car on my 4post lift, jacked her up and removed front wheels..... the upper control arm on drivers side had 1 bolt completely gone, another was 1/2 way out, and the third was very loose!!! upon inspection of the fasteners, i noticed that they were not locknuts, nor was there any threadlock applied to the bolts!!!! if they came loose at all, they were on their way to spin off!!!! checked the other side, all three were very loose and nuts were on their way off!!!!! i pulled the old control arms out of the trash, and removed the fasteners. the factory fasteners were a peened style locknut, very hard to remove.

i felt sick to my stomach. if my wife had drived the car to work, i have no doubt the front steering nuckle would have fallen out of the top control arm and she would have been in a horrible accident.... I called the ebay supplier *&^%^parts usa and told them what happened. the indian woman on the phone didn't understand, and proceeded to send me new control arms. they arrive with loose fasteners and one bolt missing.

I have no trust in these parts... ia sked where they were made and she said "they are euro spec parts" i asked again where they were made... she replies "thats all i can tell you".

Today, i am tearing the whole thing apart again and removing these parts. i have ordered replacements from autohauzaz, at a much higher price, but have been assured of factory replacments.

Never again will i buy anything safety related from ebay suppliers.

 

First rule on any car is don't buy from eBay suppliers, unless you know for a fact that others have successfully used their product in the long term. Learned that lesson falling victim to the key fob scam for the E-class on eBay when I first got my car due to my ignorance and other misinformation. At least eBay is good at forcing merchants to give refunds or holding true to their buyer protection in the worst case scenarios.

If you don't mind me asking:

1) What is the name of the supplier (you should supply this, it isn't slander. I'm guessing you're not in a law suit with them or anything so it shouldn't matter)

2) How much cheaper were they than the spec part from Autohauzaz?

Glad you're alright, welcome to the forums by the way!

 

She didn't want to tell you it was made by 14 year old kids in China.

 

I happen to be 14 and I am very skilled with casting.

 

Deutschepartsusa.... parts were HAMBURG-TECHNIC AUTOTEILE DEUTSCHLAND GmbH

 

Indian made German parts. Yes.

 

German Company
HAMBURG-TECHNIC AUTOTEILE DEUTSCHLAND GmbH
Hagernauer Strasse 59,
65203
Wiesbaden
Germany

Deutschepartsusa.... parts were HAMBURG-TECHNIC AUTOTEILE DEUTSCHLAND GmbH

Deutschepartsusa
North America
Hamburgtech of North America
c/o Eurostar Industries Inc
231 Wilson Ave
Norwalk CT
06854
USA
You possibly recieved parts from the USA site, but persue the matter using the German website info, worth a try. Companies do not like negative advertisement and should react to your issue.
Kudos for looking at the issue right away, its not good when your wife is afraid to drive the car.
Even better if you know a German guy let him do the talking, works well in your favour.
Good Luck

 

Deutschepartsusa
Many negative buyers, easy search to find issues with many different makes of cars. Contact E bay and Pay pal as well as your credit card company for assistance, in different forums customers seem to be treated on a 50/50 basis, some good some others !!!, but in your case it seems to be a safety related issue so E bay and the others should take it more serious.
Stay calm.

 

Anybody can open an office in Germany. Junk is still junk. eBay doesn't support buyers.

 

Wow!

 

eBay Buyer Protection is very good. I have had to use them once before, and I'm guessing if there is a product that almost killed someone on there because it is faulty they will work to rectify the issue.

 

I bought engine mounts for my e320 cdi from Deutschepartsusa my car vibrates pretty bad and the only reason I kept them is because my original mounts separated.