Now with Alibaba web site in full swing to the USA, I saw the following china makers of Jaguar air springs and not sure what to make of it, price is certainly low at $180 an air spring given need to buy a quantity of 10. Origionally I was searching for just the goodyear rubber bladders as a DYI possibility (but can't seem to find them as others have also tried) but came accross this.

New Air Shock Absorber Strut for Jaguar Super V8 Vanden Plas XJ8 XJR Front Comfort OE#C2C41349 C2C41347 C2C41349, View air shock absorber strut, - Product Details from Guangzhou Pinnuo Auto Parts Trade Co., Ltd. on Alibaba.com

AIR SUSPENSION SHOCK:C2C41341--Air shock (Guangzhou) Auto Parts Co.,Ltd.

 

OEM quality claimed, but does it support CATS ? I suspect not. Clearly the only way to find out how good these are is to fit a couple and try them out. The pictures show a virtually exact copy from the outside, but what is on the inside we know not. It might force Bilstein to respond pricewise.

 

Can't comment on these parts particularly, but on the whole OEM vs aftermarket / Chinese manufactured parts.

Firstly, working in the construction industry offering parts supply to many multi national companies in that line, I see it all.
I have customers who will only ever buy "OEM" parts and usually at significant prices.

In some cases, not all, I can actually offer the EXACT same part, from EXACTLY the same drawing, even from the EXACT same sub supplier but it's not OEM.....lol

Back on to the Chinese parts scenario.

We looked at purchasing foundry castings some 20 years ago from China, British foundries although offering excellent quality were just too expensive, not to look elsewhere.
The Chinese equivalents at that time were very rough copies, poor finishes, poor quality with fitting issues etc.......extremely cheap but not up to the job.

We've revisited the scenario again in the last year or so and the gap has closed significantly. They are listening and the quality is better, the finish, the fit etc....
To be fair the prices are on the rise although still way cheaper than UK or elsewhere.

The key seems to be quality control, get that right with top quality personnel attached to the contractor to oversee this in all aspects and you can be on to a winner.

I know of several supply professionals in the UK who do exactly this. They identify the product and completely oversee the project working very closely with their Chinese partner from design and sample parts through to finished products

 

Can't comment on these parts particularly, but on the whole OEM vs aftermarket / Chinese manufactured parts.

Firstly, working in the construction industry offering parts supply to many multi national companies in that line, I see it all.
I have customers who will only ever buy "OEM" parts and usually at significant prices.

In some cases, not all, I can actually offer the EXACT same part, from EXACTLY the same drawing, even from the EXACT same sub supplier but it's not OEM.....lol

Back on to the Chinese parts scenario.

We looked at purchasing foundry castings some 20 years ago from China, British foundries although offering excellent quality were just too expensive, not to look elsewhere.
The Chinese equivalents at that time were very rough copies, poor finishes, poor quality with fitting issues etc.......extremely cheap but not up to the job.

We've revisited the scenario again in the last year or so and the gap has closed significantly. They are listening and the quality is better, the finish, the fit etc....
To be fair the prices are on the rise although still way cheaper than UK or elsewhere.

The key seems to be quality control, get that right with top quality personnel attached to the contractor to oversee this in all aspects and you can be on to a winner.

I know of several supply professionals in the UK who do exactly this. They identify the product and completely oversee the project working very closely with their Chinese partner from design and sample parts through to finished products

Funnily enough, I know of some aftermarket suppliers in my field who actually sell on "British" made parts and denounce the cheaper alternatives available as they must be Chinese.

These same companies are actually buying from the Chinese market, bringing them into the UK and branding them as their own and UK made....you'd be surprised.

 

I've also dealt with the entire China vs Others with construction materials and tools (Slings, hooks etc) Generally speaking equally "rated" and sized components made in china performed significantly lower than their USA rated counterparts. This has gotten better over the years. Now when it comes to processes that require state of the art facilities to build...Such as rubber air bag bladders I'd be suspect. I've experienced many products made of synthetics and rubbers prematurely fail. Add to that some precise shock valving....Now the part may be good to get your car back on the road but likely not up to par. Even when I've had importers deal directly with companies to manufacture the quality has always fallen short.

 

I would be willing to buy two of them--pre-paid--if anyone would like to get together and order the 10 min requirement. When your talking 1000 dollars per or 1000 per set after market stateside, to get ten for the price of one, what can you loose.
What to remember is that China is a big market buyer of top of the line cars, so they have plenty cars and I'm sure their Chinese customers would look at shoddy work for these cars as very bad business. Check around your home and see how many "Made in China" products you have, astounding!

 

Only about 85000 X350's were made. I wonder how worthwhile it is for a company to make this kind of special equipment. Unless they make the real deal too of course...

Guus

 

Just look at your iphone.

Costs about $5 labour to Apple and they clear $260'ish gross at wholesale.

++

 

There are several China suppliers now claiming OEM quality, some say new and some say Rebuilt.

Unlike the Arnott brand, these look just like OEM with even the metal casing around the air bladder. Question here is weather the China air shocks support the CATS system? At a price point of $100-200 each compared to Jaguar Bilstein or Arnott much higher pricing, it may be very worth while to investigate this and try one out if you are having a shock leak issue.


Front Comfort Shock list on Alibaba (cut an paste these into your browser to see these web pages):
http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/c2c41339-car-shock-absorber-spring.html

Front Comfort Shock Seller in China for $100-200 each, minimum order is a quantity of just ONE:
http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/JAGUAR-XJR-XJ6-XJ8-Front-Air_60091006505.html


OEM Air Spring part numbers to look up China supplier on Alibaba:
Air spring and damper

FRONT - Bilstein List Price - One $819.00 or two $1,435.12 plus TAX

Comfort air suspension
To VIN (G35210) - C2C41347
From VIN (G35211) To VIN (G49700) - C2C41349
From VIN (G49701) - C2C41339

Sport air suspension
To VIN (G49700) - C2C41352
From VIN (G49701) - C2C41354



REAR - Bilstein List Price One $797.40 or two $1,435.12 plus TAX

Comfort air suspension
To VIN (G35210) - C2C41340
From VIN (G35211) To VIN (G49700) - C2C41341
From VIN (G49701) - C2C41343

Sport air suspension
To VIN (G49700) - C2C41346 - Part Superseded from C2C41344
From VIN (G49701) - C2C41346

 

Until these are tested/proven I'm not game. I know enough people catch flak for going to coil suspension, but after being stranded in cold weather far from home I'd be very wary about going with something that didn't have a form of known reliability record. Mine will be held up with good old coiled metal very soon. I've never had a coil spring catastrophically fail and strand me. I've had them go weak and sag, but that's over many miles.

 

Looks like there is some potential here. Maybe they supply Jaguar now and are spinning them off.