.
Anything that doesn't have a Britpart label on it.......
Rimmers are excellent for service and next day delivery but a bit pricey. Island 4x4 and LRDirect tell you who supplies the parts rather than just Aftermarket as Rimmers do.
Britpart has awful quality control. Some bits fit and work fine. Some bits wont even fit at all. Other bits fit and work, but for about 43 seconds, before failing. And ofcourse its luck of the draw where you land on that spectrum.
Wether or not i use a britpart component depends on my perceived likelihood of failure, and difficulty of replacing it if it does fail...
When I bought my Classic I had to let it idle for a good 20 seconds before the oil pressure light went out. Changed the oil and filter and it went out immediately. Looking at the Britpart filter I'd taken off and there was no non-return valve so while standing overnight the oil was draining back to the sump. When I bought the SE, the seller told me it had recently had a new water pump and radiator. The pump started to leak after under 2,000 miles and the radiator a couple of hundred miles later. For bits of trim and non-critical parts, they may be OK but I wouldn't use anything that has a bearing in it or is likely to stop the car (or do damage to anything else) when it fails.
OK, so I've just fitted a Britpart AC condenser to mine but it's fairly easy to get out and with a 2 year warranty I may never have to buy another everagain. I'll just need to change them every 18 months.......
The only, knowingly, Britpart I have on mine is the PCRV, as they are the only suppliers it seems. I checked it after collection (yes, Britpart now have a branch here - guess they hope their reputation hasn't travelled 7,000 miles yet) only to find that one of the machine screws holding the two halves together was loose. Backed them both off, used threadlock on them and then fitted. Been on 7 months now and still not leaked. Is this a record?
Had I fitted it without checking, it would have blown the sealing ring out immediately, something that took 21 years to happen on the old one.
After years of LR ownership, if I can avoid them, I do.
Their prices are ridiculously cheap for some things but you can easily see the difference in quality when you look. My indicator side repeaters were cracked and faded so I bought some Britpart ones to put on after it was resprayed. You can see the difference when you put them side by side with the originals but once fitted only a concours judge would spot it. Same for washer nozzles, one of mine was cracked where the pipe attaches and was leaving a puddle of screenwash on one rocker cover. Britpart washer nozzle looks fine but doesn't give two nice jets of water but two garden sprinkler sprays. But for under a fiver what do you expect?
I was speaking to one of the guys there when buying a fan vc.
They do actually differentiate if you know how.
For example
STC1916 is genuine lr.
STC1916P is britpart
STC1916P1 is oem
They differentiate between genuine, aftermarket and OEM but that doesn't guarantee what brand you'll actually receive.
There are several possibilities for Aftermarket (of varying quality) and sometimes multiple OEM options too.
I don't think they specify which brand you'll get because it gives them leeway to send different parts depending on their stock level and what they've been able to buy in cheaply at the time. That's just speculation though.
I phoned them last year to find out what brand I would receive for a bunch of part numbers when I was doing my head gaskets. They refused to tell me so I ordered elsewhere.
Yet they were quite open with me. I was after trw brake carriers and got them.
Anyway, they are handy for me at times as they are reasonably close to pick up parts if in a hurry.