Kragen, AutoZone and the rest are for buying oil on sale, and not much else.

NAPA stores are often independently owned and operated. Staff quality will vary as a result of how good the owner is. My local NAPA is excellent. The AutoZone is a vast wasteland of pimply faced kids who can’t find the hood release on their 12 year old Saturn with the giant wing on the back.

If you’re driving an older, collector type car, buy your parts from a brand specialist. Lots of the parts supplied for older cars come from places like Russia, Brazil and 3rd world countries. They may be able to make the part fit, but it’s not made of the same quality materials. I’ve seen control arm bushings fail in a year and ball joints that only last 6 months. Brand specialists will sell ONLY parts for a particular brand of car and will be familiar with the suppliers and know what parts are good and what aren’t. They may not match the discounters in price, but there is usually a reason (and greed isn’t necessarily it).

I used the Wal-Mart oil for awhile in my own vehicles, feeling that oil is oil is oil. But running it in my track car, I found that the Wal-Mart oil would generate noisy lifters and lower oil pressures much faster than good ol’ Castrol. It’s fine oil for running in your beater or something you plan on trading in a few years, but not if you are trying to get 200,000 out of something.

Like Wal-Mart, AutoZone et al have driven the local, knowledgable parts store out of business. We as a country are so obsessed with saving a buck that quality of components and service have taken a back seat. Once it’s gone, it’s hard to recapture.

By the way, I’ve always believed in changing the oil when the engine is stone cold. I think quickie lube places can be fine but even with an oil change, I’ve either chosen to do it myself or gone to an independent shop that can more easily handle the process.

The owner’s manual and/or shop manual for every car that I’ve owned has always recommended change the oil after the engine is warm. I usually just put the catch basin under the oil pan, unscrew the plug, take off the oil cap up top, and walk away to do something else for 30 minutes or so while the engine thoroughly drains.

As far as quickie lube places, I don’t trust them. The people that work at them are by necessity (low pay) very low skilled workers. There are the exceptions, but they are exceptions. Quickie Lube places are also notorious for the hard sell of “full service” packages, transmission flushes, and blinker fluid changes ;-). My limited experience with them was seeing the cheapo oil filter they used on my wife’s car the last time she used one. The thing was at least 1 inch shorter than the Wix filter I bought at the friendly local auto parts store (flaps). After looking at the size of the filters for the regular 5.0 and the V6 engines for the ‘95 Mustang, it was obvious that they had used the oil filter for the regular 5.0 not the high output 5.0 that came in the Cobra, about a $2 difference in price at the parts store. Besides, changing your oil also gives you a chance to look at the suspension, hoses, and cv boots while your at it. Of course, it also gives you a chance to bond with your car.

For a beloved Jetta GLI of mine, I tried some NAPA struts. They were the most terrible mis-match in terms of ride and handling I’ve ever seen. Disgusting. They were returned immediately.

The auto parts store experience stinks.

I refuse to shop at AutoZone. No matter the time of day and day of the week, you can count on waiting in line for at least 15 minutes. Kudos to the person at AZ’s home office who figured out how to make a trip to the DMV seem like a welcomed experience.

NAPA has all the charm of a warehouse located in a third world country. The employees appear as helpful too.

Advance is the best of the bunch for buying fluids (i.e., oil, washer, brake, etc.). Of course, that is like saying you are King of the Dung Beetles; all of you are still standing in a pile of excrement.

As to parts, I rely on H and A Honda. The shipping fees are less than the tax rate, and the OEM parts are cheaper than my local Honda dealer.

Does anyone have experience or comments about using Amazon?

TVRboy, the $6.99 change is one you do yourself. A lot of the discount auto parts stores will sell you five quarts of oil and a filter for anywhere between $6.99 and $11.99 during the course of the year. They always use name brand oils that surpass current API or ILSAC standards.

By the way, I’ve always believed in changing the oil when the engine is stone cold. I think quickie lube places can be fine but even with an oil change, I’ve either chosen to do it myself or gone to an independent shop that can more easily handle the process.

By the way, Wal-Mart actually uses the cheapo recycled oil for their basic Supertech oil change. Supposedly it’s API certified but I’m not a fan of the overall thinness and cheapness of that oil at all. I just can’t see how it works as well as most other API certified brands if you keep it in there for 5k.

One other thing… what the heck is the deal with Mobil 1? It used to be the ultimate oil out there but even they are finagling their way down the quality scale thanks to the new standards as to what a ‘full synthetic’ really is.

AndyD what do you drive?

Eric, what you’re saying is all too true. The best deals are usually for those who are closest to the action. I once bought a nine year old Subaru Impreza for $25 (no that’s not a typo) and sold it to a rally coordinator for Subaru for $1575. If I weren’t a habitual trader at this point, I would have loved to have kept it going just to see how many miles I could have got out of it. It only need a new battery, a shiftlock release, and a new paint job (prior owner had removed all the paint right up to the primer). 50,000 miles and one 3000+ road trip from Atlanta, and the thing is apparently still purring like a kitten.

The bottom line is, when you get an oil change, ALWAYS use the recommended viscosity and ALWAYS use top quality oils with an API SM and/or ILSAC GF-4 rating. Yes, you will pay more for good oil, probably 25 dollars or more at a quick lube. In my shop I get yelled at by plenty of people who want me to give them a twelve dollar oil change. They all have cars that blow white smoke and sound like diesels.

Let me be even more emphatic about it. If you want a ‘keeper’ car to run beautiful over the years, the enthusiast sites offer bar none the best ‘parts’ information source anywhere. Period

There are worthwhile sites that are specific to a given part as well. Radiator.com is one of my favorites. I usually save about 50%, get the radiator delivered to my door, and I’ve never had a bad one yet. They even install it if you’re not ready for that type of work.

Certain makes tend not to do well with discount auto parts. Volkswagen is probably the best example. I had a German fellow at one of the auctions who told me that nearly a quarter of his repairs consisted of removing defective parts store replacement parts with OEM equipment.

Finally, one noteworthy source for determining whether it’s better to go to the junkyard or not is cartalk.com . They have a special section dedicated to it and I can personally attest to the accuracy of many of their findings. If you do that and go to car-part.com, you’ll likely save hundreds off the repair costs of your vehicle.

Hope this helps…

The BMW place where I worked also owned a Lexus store (stuff for my then-wife’s SC300) and an Acura store (parts for my ‘88 Integra). Because we had a common owner, I got the company dealer-cost-plus-10% employee discount. Plus they were right across the street, so it was easy to pick stuff up at lunch or after work.

Oil was even a better deal. BMW shipped their warranty-mandated 5W-30 synthetic in quart bottles, so after filling the cars, we’d let the residue drain into leftover coolant bottles. Each “dead” quart yielded about 1/4-oz of oil. But when that dead quart is one of 7-8 per oil change, and one does 5-6 oil changes per day for 5 days per week…it adds up.

For about 3 years, I *never* had to buy oil for any of my cars.

YES! I avoid mail-in rebates–more because of the hassle than anything. They do that because they know half the people aren’t going to mail in for the rebate, or, if they don’t mail the rebate the first time someone mails in for it, the person will forget about it. Life’s too short.

Just kidding!!!

Half the time I wonder 3 months later if I even got the rebate. I don’t have time or the motivation to track those %&#@%@ things and that is why there are things such as rebates. I’m sure there is a sizable number of people who buy for the rebate and never submit all the ^$&*@^@ paperwork!

If they want my money then they need to have it as an instant rebate where I get the cash back at the register.

Rebates are, to me, a scam. It relys on the consumer to forget to claim their rebate with a reasonable certainty that the consumer will indeed fail to do their part.

“In the today’s world of car parts, there’s no such thing as a free quart of synthetic oil.”

jthorner:

True, but I bought twelve quarts of Valvoline Synpower yesterday for $.99 each after rebate which is as good a deal as you will find now.

The key word being “after rebate.” Mail In Rebate offers carry their own costs; not necessarily monetary:

1. You must wait. Sometimes for 6 to 8 weeks or more.

2. You must give them your name and address. Yes, they need that to write you a check. But they WANT that so that…

3. They send you junk mail.

For anybody like myself who has done as much as possible to stay OFF of mailing lists, MIR offers are out of the question.

Therefore, for my own peace of mind, privacy, and partially decluttered sanity, I shop for the best price not including MIR offers.

I wonder, does anybody else feel this way?

Recently I bought a radiator with a 12 month warranty from AutoHausAz. At 13 months it started leaking. The OEM that went out lasted 8 years and 140K miles. I could have gotten one of those for a reasonable price from an online OEM.

Recently I ordered rear shocks, rear bearing seals, rear parking brake cables and a couple of other little things from a local FLAPS franchise store mentioned in the original article. The patient has 152K miles on it, original parts worn out – rusty too. After waiting a couple of days the parking brake cables that came were wrong. Started putting it together and something else was wrong. Couple more days waiting from a different store. Anyhow when it was all said and done 1stVWparts.com could have sold me all the right parts at very nearly the same prices and it would be OEM parts!

Well the OEM stuff lasted 10 years and 152K miles – why not. In the end I used their parking brake cables. I have used them before. Should have started there instead of ending there.

FWIW our local Honda dealer sold me front brake pads for about $5 less than the FLAPS. Anti-freeze was about the same too. Sway bar links were cheaper than NAPA who at the time I checked were the only FLAPS that had the right parts for my Honda. Again the OEM parts lasted a huge amount of miles so their quality is fine with me.

I worked at AdvanceAuto for about 6months in the evenings. Saw alot of the cheapest parts come back for warranty claims. False economy buying that cheap stuff. I certainly don’t want to do repairs twice. And the batteries – they were all the same, just different warranties and stickers.

Get anything electrical you buy in those places tested before you head out the door. At the time alot of the alternators and ignition modules were DOA right off the shelf.

Found a couple IDENTICAL items at NAPA for alot more. I’ll pay a little more to have knowledgable parts counter guys and certainly a little more for quality but in these cases it was $10 more for a $10 Chinese aux fuse panel and $5 more of a white box muffler (i.e. generic brand, prob imported).

If you are a real penny pincher on oil, I guess BITOG could steer you to the best deals. Of course, you’ll have to wade through the old fart barber shop ambiance, but it may be worth it.

“The moon belongs to ev’ryone -
The best things in life are free.
The stars belong to ev’ryone -
They gleam there for you and me.
The flowers in Spring,
The robins that sing,
The sunbeams that shine,
They’re yours, they’re mine.
And love belongs to ev’ryone -
The best things in life are free.”

Hmm…OK, I admit car parts aren’t on his list.

I live in a small town, so end up buying tools and parts either online, or from my local NAPA. The latter is easy and the folks behind the counter are friendly and knowledgeable. The former can be more difficult, especially when buying for a modern car. It is however a lifesaver when dealing with vintage car parts. What used to be a limited market of swap-meets is now a global 7/24 shopping center. It is easier to find parts for my 40 year old Jaguar than my 6 year old VW… go figure.

–chuck
http://chuck.goolsbee.org

Since I only go there for oils/filters/wipers/Dorman crap/etc I quickly earn a $20 credit, which I use for specialty tools that I’ll rarely use. (but make me feel cool for needing them)Its a pretty good deal.

The chains are only good for cheap oil and consumables.