I went to research syncro ball joints and noticed massive price differences.

The cheapest I could find front joints from VW was about $90 each. But I
noticed that our vendor friends had them for about $25. Unfortunately,
there was scant information on who the supplier was of these joints and how
they compare to OEM joints. Importedcarparts.com said its joints were from
Lemforder, but this name is not familiar to me and I am not sure that is a
good thing. Importedcarparts.com also mentions that its lower syncro joints
are made by Febi. Is that good?

PRICES ON UPPERS

Importedcarparts.com Lemforder $32
BusDepot.com $24.95
Bus-Boys.com  Ball Joint, Upper  $23.65

PRICES ON LOWERS

For the syncro lower ball joints, I noticed that while I saw VW joints at
$80, the aftermarket friends had them listed for $12 to $25.

Importedcarparts Febi $23
Bus Depot
        $24.95  251 407 187
        $19.95  251 407 187 OR
Bus Boys B. 251-407-187 Ball Joint, Lower  $12.90

QUESTION

So my question is whether one is safe to order any of these joints willy
nilly and buy by price, or whether there are different manufacturers of the
joints and if so, who is the OEM manufacturer of them.

Ron, if you are reading this, could you comment on the manufacturer of your
joints and what it means OR by the cheaper of your two joints. I tried to
find the key to your part numbers to see what OR meant but was not successful.

If anyone can make any comments about various ball joint manufacturers or
whether to pay up or buy by price it would be appreciated.
_______________________________________________
Derek Drew
CEO & Co-Founder
http://www.ConsumerSearch.com/
New York, NY & Washington DC
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derekdrew@rcn.com
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