Halfords

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I still use Halfords a lot - tools, rubbing down paper, aresole cans and oil when they have a promotion plus HBOL's for whatever shit I have to work on. I have a trade card and stuff is cheap with that. It's 3 mins from my workshop and convenient.

 

I use ECP for parts, no issues. Halfords have stopped the 'mixed whilst you wait' rattle cans now though.

[reb]

On the note of trade cards, what level of scrutiny is given to why you need it? It'd be handy to have on the occasion friends at work dispatch me to get them bulbs and stuff as they work two jobs so can't get through during the day and obviously need working lights for delivery duty. Would a vistaprint "mobile mechanic" business card and turning up in oily jeans do the trick?

 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[Hendry]

Sometimes though on an old beater it's not worth a visit to the main dealer. When the thermostat went on the Mk3 Mondeo I had, a new Ford one was nearly £120. ECP had one in for £20, pattern part but it worked fine, never missed a beat after that.

 

Aye but thats slightly different, a thermostat is a thermostat, im talking about service parts/kits, timing belt kits, water pumps, brake pads/discs, engine sensors for Vauxhalls which are notorious for not running right with non genuine sensors, same with Renaults and non genuine spark plugs, Your maintenance and consumable items.

 

Also I expect to be flamed for this, and it may well just be part of one of my crazy OCDs, but I always try and replace parts with genuine stuff where I can, that way I know the car is using the correct parts that were factory fitted and of the same quality, they fit better, last longer, dont give any hassle, and I know the cars running the best quality parts it can have. You seldom ever find equivalent non genuine parts that are better than OE, ok you may find equilvalents, or sometimes even the "genuine" part in a plain Valeo/Bosch/TRW or whatever box, then you have all the inferior stuff, by buying non genuine youve no idea how good the quality is sometimes, even if made by a branded name, buying genuine without having to look about loads youve quickly and easily sourced a genuine part. 

 

Plus I tend to replace a lot of things on my cars that are only available as genuine parts or "dealer only parts" so its usually easier for me to go to a dealer or somwhere like Trade Parts Specialists for VW and get it all at the same time, and because youve spent so much usually get a decent discount aswell. 

 

Who the fuck buys parts at the main dealer unless it's impossible to get elsewhere?

 

Not the main dealer, but TPS, which is genuine parts, mainly because they do offer cracking prices, sometimes equivalent of factor prices but aftermarket parts, they generally have everything on the shelf which is a big part of the appeal, you go there you know 99% of the time they are going to have the part so you dont go round everywhere else to find its impossible to get elsewhere and end up there anyway. Anything they dont have which is like hardly ever, they have it in the next day.

 

I just remembered I once bought an air filter from Halfords for an 05 plate Astra 1.8 as i was desperate and it didnt fit properly, was slightly too big that in the airbox it was all "wavy" like itd been creased up to fit in a box it was too small for. 

[Hendry]

On the note of trade cards, what level of scrutiny is given to why you need it? It'd be handy to have on the occasion friends at work dispatch me to get them bulbs and stuff as they work two jobs so can't get through during the day and obviously need working lights for delivery duty. Would a vistaprint "mobile mechanic" business card and turning up in oily jeans do the trick?

 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

Im not 100% on this but usually you need some sort of proof like VAT registration numbers and so on. 

 

http://www.halfords.com/advice/customer-services/trade-card

 

Seems proof of ID and a mobile mechanic business card would do the trick. 

 

I didnt know taxi drivers qualified for a Trade Card, Im going to get my dad to get one, that should be mega handy!

[egg]

Amazingly Arnie Shark are the cheapest dealer on eBay for most OEM Fusion/Mondy parts. A lot of the larger Ford dealers are on there now Rates, Bristol Street I think etc.

[twosmoke300]

Hendry , you do know that a lot of what TPS sells as genuine is quite often their budget ranges or what they call 4 plus . Cheaper alternatives in a vag box . Their pads for example are APEC ones

[Kiltox]

In theory you need paperwork for a trade card, in practise the person at the till is unlikely to give two shits.

[reb]

In theory you need paperwork for a trade card, in practise the person at the till is unlikely to give two shits.

With any luck I can go along to my usual one, where one of the staff will tell you to buy most things at ecp 5 minutes along the road.

 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[mrcitroen]

In theory you need paperwork for a trade card, in practise the person at the till is unlikely to give two shits.

Pretty much. I am genuinely eligible for a trade card and have one. When I went to get mine I went all prepared with the required info but the assistant never asked fir anything, not even proof of identity.

 

I wonder if the unnoficial line is to give a card to anyone who asks as discounted trade is better than none. I would probably not buy anything without the card anyway. It's handy to have though.

[Kiltox]

Mirrors my experience exactly

[gordonbennet]

Who the fuck buys parts at the main dealer unless it's impossible to get elsewhere?

 

Merc parts are very often only pennies more than pattern, exhausts for example,  the quality is streets apart.

 

Toyota can be worth checking out too, things like shockers and batteries very keenly priced.

 

My Landcruiser had two new batteries from the dealer just before i bought it, i have the receipt somewhere in the history file £140 the pair, you'd be struggling to beat that except for unknown make accessory shop shit guaranteed till you're out of sight.

[Captain Furious]

Who the fuck buys parts at the main dealer unless it's impossible to get elsewhere?

Well that's another problem I have, a lot of parts on the ST220 are main dealer only. However, the last items I've had were

 

Fuel pump - main dealer only

Clutch/flywheel - cheapest Indy was only £100 cheaper (on a £1000 bill) and weren't going to use a genuine flywheel otherwise they'd have been more expensive - got it done at Ford

Exhaust flexi pipe - main dealer only

Discs/pads - would possibly have been slightly cheaper elsewhere but brakes are one component where I genuinely do believe OEM are better.

Service items - Oil £20 for 5 litres and £8 for an oil filter, ECP £40 for oil and £6.50 for filter

Wheel bearing - £23 after discount ECP £48.99 only place cheaper were eBay non brand shite

Aux Belt and Water pump belt - £13 and £7 respectively ECP want £26 and £8

Rear calliper I got from ECP because they're significantly cheaper, it failed within 12 months, got another one from there because it was under warranty but I'll probably suck it up and get genuine next time

 

Not to mention Fords are closer

 

Obviously on some stuff they're gonna be way more expensive, but don't be too quick to count them out

[AlabamaShrimp]

I was asked for my paperwork and it was checked when I got my trade card. I'd taken my car restoration course qualification. Little did they know all that means is I'm now and advanced bodger

 

Tbh Halfords isn't all that bad as they actually have stuff on the shelf. Was at the one in Leeds not so long ago for paint and it was nice to be able to put the colours together to see what was the best match. Staff were really good too.

 

The Internet is a lot cheaper for most stuff but as has been said their tools are nice.

[Hendry]

Hendry , you do know that a lot of what TPS sells as genuine is quite often their budget ranges or what they call 4 plus . Cheaper alternatives in a vag box . Their pads for example are APEC ones

 

Yeah I do, I was well aware of the 4plus and their Quantum ranges, but they offer you both the proper genuine and the 4plus genuine. TBH most stuff I get from TPS is stuff that can only be genuine, like I got a set of wiper blades, proper genuine boxed ones, they dont do 4plus blades for the mk5 Golf platforms. Stuff like interior trim, engine covers, engine cover clips, undertrays, etc. because generally they are cheaper than used stuff on ebay.

 

Theres a shop on ebay does genuine brand new VW parts mega cheap too, Parts Depot, got a new glovebox off them for £19.99 posted, retail was about £85.

 

Generally for mechanical stuff I get this work done by my VAG indy specialist anyway who only ever uses genuine service kits, timing belt kits, Oils, fluids, water pumps, brake calipers, because the OE quality is far superior to aftermarket, some stuff like coil springs and brake pads and discs he will use non genuine but will use stuff thats just as good. It makes more sense for me that way because I would be buying the parts and taking them to him to fit anyway, generally he gets a better discount on the parts so even after his wee cut of profit on the parts its still cheaper than me buying them and giving him them to fit, plus he only charges 45quid inc vat an hour for a better, more experienced service than the main dealers (has certificates and course completion letters and stuff all over his walls dating from 1989 to 2010 from various different VW and Audi dealers, Milton Keynes HQ award letters and so on) so I dont upset him by supplying my own parts. 

[The Moog]

On the note of trade cards, what level of scrutiny is given to why you need it? It'd be handy to have on the occasion friends at work dispatch me to get them bulbs and stuff as they work two jobs so can't get through during the day and obviously need working lights for delivery duty. Would a vistaprint "mobile mechanic" business card and turning up in oily jeans do the trick?

 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Reb i think you work at a college. If you were to help out* in the motor vehicle department then your college ID is sufficient. It was for me

[Chris2cv]

As some of you may know, I work for a main dealer so can say that I personally regularly buy things from one! From experience, it is often worth giving the dealer a ring as they are not always as dear as you may think, and as some of our customers say - spending an hour making a pattern part fit may cost more than tust fitting the original. Of course, this is not always the case, sometimes Euros and the like will be a lot cheaper, but not always as much as you would think.   My brother worked for a factor until recently and I always got moped and 2cv parts from him where possible, but don't bother with  the Clio. Personally, having used Euros when we need parts for a non franchise older car, I would not bother for my own cars and would rather use the local one man car spares shop..

 

  I haven't been in a Halfords for a year or so, as I have no real need to, but would agree that they seem to be moving further away from people repairing their own cars. I would have to add that I very rarely see anyone maintaining their own cars and my cars (Stepway excluded) are generally by far the oldest wherever I go, generally being surrounded by virtually new lease cars.

 

  On the trade card front, technically I want proof of ID and business details including address and phone number. If you come in looking like a mechanic (greasy hands, scruffy etc) I am not likely to challenge that you work for "joes garage" as long as you can make the effort to give me an address. I am not going to ring them (if they are real) or check, just make a bit of effort. If, as has happened many times over the years, you supposedly work at Halfords but cannot name a single branch, or you "get a discount because you are a dentist" (this has genuinely been suggested) you will not be getting a discount.  Incidentally, no offence to mechanics who are not scruffy or dirty, but most of our genuine traders are!

 

 Finally, we had a customer come in shouting recently that I had stolen his locking wheel nut.. Not my colleagues or my company, me personally! I had never met the man or ever seen his car. It turned out that he had had the car serviced and believed that we had not returned the key. This is very unlikely as my colleagues in the Service Department always replace the key on the passenger seat or glove box as soon as they have finished with it, to save it getting lost. I asked when it was serviced, and he replied October!  In the unlikely case that my colleagues had inadvertently not returned it, the chances of it turning up 10 months later are nil. He then admitted that he had not actually looked for it, but when he went to Halfords (bringing it back on topic!) they supposedly told him that main dealers regularly keep the keys so that their mechanics have a supply!  I am told that there are about 10,000 key combinations, which I doubt, but even if it is say 100, that would still mean wasting at least 10 minutes on every car searching through boxes of keys when we could just ask the owners to put the keys where we can find them - like we and every other garage actually do! 

[fordperv]

I'm about to pop up Halfords to get some fuel pipe but as I can't find any trace of it on their website I'm going to have to go somewhere else.

 

Pointless having a trade card.

Tim if your ever around longton/normacot way I highly recommend Smithsons (They are opposite minimine)

[Felly Magic]

Surprisingly, when I needed a new expansion tank for the Mondeo, John Grose was actually cheaper than an ebay pattern part, work that one out, plus it was in stock, and didn't have to wait for it to be delivered. The best motor factors in Yorkshire has to be ASK in Kippax, Ian & the team have always been shit hot, and prices are pretty good too, Hellfrauds are bike and shit car stereo retailers now

[Chris2cv]

Meant to mention, someone above said about good parts men (or people) knowing part numbers off by heart. My boss could tell you every part number on our 80s models but virtually none on the current as there are just so many options on everything. I could probably guess most oil filters for our models, but the risks are too high for me to wing it, so I am not going to! 

 

  We keep the majority of the stuff that we sell day to day, but really anything beyond that is just money sitting on a shelf, and accountants don't like that! I can't blame Halfords for not keeping everything for all makes when it is not even economical for us to keep everything for one brand! We can normally get most things next day if we haven't got it, and I dare say that they can too.

[Captain Furious]

Not long after I got the ST I had it serviced at an independent, now, nothing against this place, I still go to them for some work and MOT,s and they have always been fair. Anyway they serviced it with NGK plugs, in truth if I'd serviced it myself I'd have used NGK too, but the reason I had it done by them is you have to take the UIM off to do the rear 3 and I didn't fancy it. It came back with a misfire, almost imperceptible except under certain overrun conditions but I noticed it every time I drove it.

 

It was one of those faults that if I'd gone back to the garage they would have (probably) driven it and either not noticed it or not believed it was as a result of their service and I'd have had to pay for them to investigate, so I went to Fords and spoke to their guy who is supposedly the 'ST guru'. First thing he asked was what plugs did they use, told him NGK, he said nope, it will run like a dog on those, they don't like anything except genuine Motorcraft and what's more they're different to the 2.5 plugs too

 

Went out the back and procured me 6 of his finest motorcraft plugs, I changed them myself (removing the UIM isn't really that bad) and it cured it immediately. That's kind of where the 'relationship' with Ford began and maybe why I usually get decent discount with them.

[Lankytim]

Tim if your ever around longton/normacot way I highly recommend Smithsons (They are opposite minimine)

 

That's where I went! I bought a pair of battery terminals and when I got home I found they were both earths though. doh!

[Sir Snipes]

As some of you may know, I work for a main dealer so can say that I personally regularly buy things from one! From experience, it is often worth giving the dealer a ring as they are not always as dear as you may think, and as some of our customers say - spending an hour making a pattern part fit may cost more than tust fitting the original. Of course, this is not always the case, sometimes Euros and the like will be a lot cheaper, but not always as much as you would think.   My brother worked for a factor until recently and I always got moped and 2cv parts from him where possible, but don't bother with  the Clio. Personally, having used Euros when we need parts for a non franchise older car, I would not bother for my own cars and would rather use the local one man car spares shop..

 

  I haven't been in a Halfords for a year or so, as I have no real need to, but would agree that they seem to be moving further away from people repairing their own cars. I would have to add that I very rarely see anyone maintaining their own cars and my cars (Stepway excluded) are generally by far the oldest wherever I go, generally being surrounded by virtually new lease cars.

 

  On the trade card front, technically I want proof of ID and business details including address and phone number. If you come in looking like a mechanic (greasy hands, scruffy etc) I am not likely to challenge that you work for "joes garage" as long as you can make the effort to give me an address. I am not going to ring them (if they are real) or check, just make a bit of effort. If, as has happened many times over the years, you supposedly work at Halfords but cannot name a single branch, or you "get a discount because you are a dentist" (this has genuinely been suggested) you will not be getting a discount.  Incidentally, no offence to mechanics who are not scruffy or dirty, but most of our genuine traders are!

 

 Finally, we had a customer come in shouting recently that I had stolen his locking wheel nut.. Not my colleagues or my company, me personally! I had never met the man or ever seen his car. It turned out that he had had the car serviced and believed that we had not returned the key. This is very unlikely as my colleagues in the Service Department always replace the key on the passenger seat or glove box as soon as they have finished with it, to save it getting lost. I asked when it was serviced, and he replied October!  In the unlikely case that my colleagues had inadvertently not returned it, the chances of it turning up 10 months later are nil. He then admitted that he had not actually looked for it, but when he went to Halfords (bringing it back on topic!) they supposedly told him that main dealers regularly keep the keys so that their mechanics have a supply!  I am told that there are about 10,000 key combinations, which I doubt, but even if it is say 100, that would still mean wasting at least 10 minutes on every car searching through boxes of keys when we could just ask the owners to put the keys where we can find them - like we and every other garage actually do! 

 

I've seen the master key set from a Jaguar dealer and IIRC there was about 30 in there.

[reb]

Reb i think you work at a college. If you were to help out* in the motor vehicle department then your college ID is sufficient. It was for me

I used to work at a posh school, could maybe have bluffed that one with my IT Tech card, but they took that off me. I do have an old City And Guilds branded student card, but it's well expired. Interesting to see courier and taxi driver on the list, I'm almost a courier I'd say! Don't know whether to try that or just go for the "I'm a mobile mechanic, honest" route.

 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[Hendry]

As some of you may know, I work for a main dealer so can say that I personally regularly buy things from one! From experience, it is often worth giving the dealer a ring as they are not always as dear as you may think, and as some of our customers say - spending an hour making a pattern part fit may cost more than tust fitting the original. Of course, this is not always the case, sometimes Euros and the like will be a lot cheaper, but not always as much as you would think.   My brother worked for a factor until recently and I always got moped and 2cv parts from him where possible, but don't bother with  the Clio. Personally, having used Euros when we need parts for a non franchise older car, I would not bother for my own cars and would rather use the local one man car spares shop..

 

  I haven't been in a Halfords for a year or so, as I have no real need to, but would agree that they seem to be moving further away from people repairing their own cars. I would have to add that I very rarely see anyone maintaining their own cars and my cars (Stepway excluded) are generally by far the oldest wherever I go, generally being surrounded by virtually new lease cars.

 

  On the trade card front, technically I want proof of ID and business details including address and phone number. If you come in looking like a mechanic (greasy hands, scruffy etc) I am not likely to challenge that you work for "joes garage" as long as you can make the effort to give me an address. I am not going to ring them (if they are real) or check, just make a bit of effort. If, as has happened many times over the years, you supposedly work at Halfords but cannot name a single branch, or you "get a discount because you are a dentist" (this has genuinely been suggested) you will not be getting a discount.  Incidentally, no offence to mechanics who are not scruffy or dirty, but most of our genuine traders are!

 

 Finally, we had a customer come in shouting recently that I had stolen his locking wheel nut.. Not my colleagues or my company, me personally! I had never met the man or ever seen his car. It turned out that he had had the car serviced and believed that we had not returned the key. This is very unlikely as my colleagues in the Service Department always replace the key on the passenger seat or glove box as soon as they have finished with it, to save it getting lost. I asked when it was serviced, and he replied October!  In the unlikely case that my colleagues had inadvertently not returned it, the chances of it turning up 10 months later are nil. He then admitted that he had not actually looked for it, but when he went to Halfords (bringing it back on topic!) they supposedly told him that main dealers regularly keep the keys so that their mechanics have a supply!  I am told that there are about 10,000 key combinations, which I doubt, but even if it is say 100, that would still mean wasting at least 10 minutes on every car searching through boxes of keys when we could just ask the owners to put the keys where we can find them - like we and every other garage actually do! 

 

My ONLY gripe with main dealers is they take the word of the computer systems too literally at times and say it cant be wrong because it contains the build details of every car.

 

Example: my car had an engine undertray, my dads mate removed it once to do some work on the car, I then noticed it missing, asked my dad what had happened to it, he was surprised it wasnt there and said his pal had mentioned removing it once to do some work and forgetting to refit it, but his pal had had the car since then and he assumed it had been put back on, anyway he asked his pal for it back and itd been binned, so I go down to the local VW dealer, give my reg and chassis number and tell the guy I want an undertray, anyway he comes back and says "i'll need to call you after ive spoken to VW technical, because the EPC is saying theres a choice of 4 on a Jetta, but its also saying that your car being a 2009 with the newer CR TDI engine never came with an undertray, so I cant even by process of elimination figure which one your car should have" so I said "it definitely did have an undertray, I remember it being there, and all the fixings that the torx screws it was mounted with are still there" the parts guy says "maybe been retrofitted, but either way even if the system was saying your car came with one but couldnt tell me which one, I could probably work out which one through deduction, the problem is they are all greyed out when i put your reg in like none are suitable" so anyway he phones back and says hes spoken to VW technical who say the computer is correct, they are greyed out because my car didnt leave the factory with one.

 

Fair play to the guy he says from what I can see 2 are for petrol engines, 2 for diesel engines, I'll email you the part numbers for the diesel ones and you can do some research yourself and come back to me and I can order you one once you know what one you need, you may even find them cheaper, one is around £40 and the other is much dearer at £100.

 

Anyway I mention to my indy VAG specialist garage when in having a service, he gets to the bottom of it quickly, susses which tray it should be, turns out it was £58 and was neither of the 2 the dealers computer said were for diesel models. 

 

I heard even Renault parts catalogues couldnt work out what discs and pads their cars needed because of their tendency to fit different calipers at random on the production line meaning it was trial and error what ones you needed.

 

Vauxhalls EPC lists about 4 different wiper blades per side on the front of a Vectra C as well, all different part numbers but appear to be identical, same size, non aero plain blades too. Absolutely no idea why they produce 4 different ones when they are all identical, well no sorry 3 were and 1 was different because it had a spoiler on the drivers blade.

 

Same with tail lights, we had a Vectra "Energy" special edition, had SRI smoked tail lights as a standard feature, one got cracked, gave the guy the reg, he said it would need to be ordered in, it came in, went to pick it up, opened box and it was a clear indicator version from a "luxury" one like a Design/Elite, said to the guy this is wrong, so he says "its not the amber indicator version like on the Club model is it, this is what the computer said was the correct one for the car" i said no even the amber one is the wrong one, its the smoked SRI one, low and behold there was a choice of 3 and the computer had the ones fitted to our car wrong, then it turns out the had the SRI smoked one in stock, had the computer had the right one down I wouldnt have had to make 2 trips in to the dealer, AND the SRI one was cheaper than what id been charged for the other one and he had to refund me. 

 

Not long after I got the ST I had it serviced at an independent, now, nothing against this place, I still go to them for some work and MOT,s and they have always been fair. Anyway they serviced it with NGK plugs, in truth if I'd serviced it myself I'd have used NGK too, but the reason I had it done by them is you have to take the UIM off to do the rear 3 and I didn't fancy it. It came back with a misfire, almost imperceptible except under certain overrun conditions but I noticed it every time I drove it.

 

It was one of those faults that if I'd gone back to the garage they would have (probably) driven it and either not noticed it or not believed it was as a result of their service and I'd have had to pay for them to investigate, so I went to Fords and spoke to their guy who is supposedly the 'ST guru'. First thing he asked was what plugs did they use, told him NGK, he said nope, it will run like a dog on those, they don't like anything except genuine Motorcraft and what's more they're different to the 2.5 plugs too

 

Went out the back and procured me 6 of his finest motorcraft plugs, I changed them myself (removing the UIM isn't really that bad) and it cured it immediately. That's kind of where the 'relationship' with Ford began and maybe why I usually get decent discount with them.

 

Yep, thats exactly why I mentioned how its sometimes just far easier to fit genuine stuff, because you know its going to be right without trying a few different makes and chancing that its going to be good. 

[twosmoke300]

Like Honda plugs that are actually ngk?

 

The only cars that are THAT critical on plug choice are ones with knock / phase detection built into the coil packs ( Saab and psa petrol stuff are examples I immediately think of - because they couldn't be arsed fitting cam / knock sensors to make their engines meet the 2001 Euro levels )

[Cavcraft]

Didn't know that. My commuting bike is a Boardman Comp mountain bike. Without wanting to tempt fate as I have a 15 mile ride home to do tonight, its fantastically well built. I have ridden it several thousand miles over the last two years with absolutely no upkeep other than a liberal application of oil every now and then. All my other bikes grenade themselves for one reason or another on a regular basis.

 

For proper cyclists I am probably like those people who buy a car and never change the oil in 70,000 miles but the Boardman must be the cycling equivalent of a Toyota. 

 

I keep thinking it must be due a service soon but I keep thinking if I take it in, it might not work as well once the spanner monkeys have been at it so will carry on until such a time that it becomes rubbish to ride for whatever reason.

 

I realise that its just a frame with lots of other manufacturers parts on but everything seems to last considerably longer on this bike than anything else I own, possibly as the frame etc has been designed for the parts, not sure? Great bikes anyhow.

 

They are brilliant bikes.

 

 

Halfords locally use CES for parts, and the latter are usually the better ones to deal with. They seem to have an almost unending stock of stuff in their warehouse/s and can surprise you with random requests for random parts off random cars at the ready.

[Captain Furious]

What do you mean?...

[sierraman]

I'll have a bath in some Castrol tonight then...

 

Ford can be cheap for oil, Formula F is only about £16, it's not worth using ECP at that price, it's the right stuff for the job.

 

Other problem is stuff like a wing mirror, you can get a good pattern one on eBay for £20. I did once get a painted NOS Genuine Ford electric mirror for a Fiesta for £15 once on eBay though.

 

You've just got to shop about that's the moral of the story.

[sierraman]

Like Honda plugs that are actually ngk?

 

The only cars that are THAT critical on plug choice are ones with knock / phase detection built into the coil packs ( Saab and psa petrol stuff are examples I immediately think of - because they couldn't be arsed fitting cam / knock sensors to make their engines meet the 2001 Euro levels )

For my Mondeo the motorcraft plugs are only a tenner. Nothing runs as smoothly as when they've The real ones on. If they were £70 a set though I wouldn't bother... I'd use the next best from ECP

[twosmoke300]

Main dealer does often surprise for parts but always remember that the Ford/Honda / Renault etc etc dont make most of the bits they sell . Ngk plugs , Valeo window regs , castrol oil etc etc . Most of which are available much cheaper on the aftermarket .