Are SKP suspension parts good?

[CarbonToast]

I'm looking at SKP ball joints and bushings to rebuild the front controls arms on my 2015 subaru forester. Normally I would just swap the whole arm but now I own a press and pull kit and could rebuild both arms for less than half the price of 1 control arm.

Are SKP suspension parts any good?

 

[Propflux01]

Just another Chinese variant of aftermarket no-name auto parts.

 

[D60]

Yeah I want to believe they're a slightly better Chinese variant, but I don't have enough experience with them to say that conclusively.

But basically just another re-boxed part

 

[AutoMechanic]

I wouldn’t. I helped someone rebuild their entire suspension with that brand because that’s what they bought and it didn’t even last a year before we had to redo it all.

 

[Kruse]

A couple of weeks ago, my boss wanted me to diagnose his Ford truck on why it had no brakes. I told him he needed a new master cylinder. He told me to get the absolute cheapest one I could find. It happened to be an SKP from RockAuto. I got it, bench bled it, installed it, and he now has good brakes.
There’s just one thing about it that gave me a good chuckle. The original electrical connector on the Ford unit was on the passenger side. The new SKP unit has it on the driver’s side. Which really isn’t a problem except the master cylinder sits very close to an electrical box. So you can only hook up the electrical connector BEFORE you bolt the master cylinder. You can only disconnect the electrical connector AFTER you unbolt the master cylinder and remove it from the mounting.
Now this item isn’t part of the suspension, but if they have that attitude with a brake component, it probably carries over to their other divisions also.

 

[Trav]

I'm looking at SKP ball joints and bushings to rebuild the front controls arms on my 2015 subaru forester. Normally I would just swap the whole arm but now I own a press and pull kit and could rebuild both arms for less than half the price of 1 control arm.

Are SKP suspension parts any good?

These are cheap rubbish and are a nothing more than time waster. Use OE parts but you may have a couple of challenges ahead, getting the ball joint and pinch bolt out, which many times is easier said than done. You will need 2 new pinch bolts and probably a ball joint removal tool.
The new OE control arms come with new ball joints installed but you still need to get the old ones out and depending on where where amount of corrosion may be not too bad or a PITA, the tool does a good job. This is the tool, use it with an impact.

https://www.amazon.com/Astro-Pneumatic-Tool-78620-Subaru/dp/B01JBJFK3C/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=subaru+ball+joint+removal+tool&link_code=qs&qid=1697392306&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-5

This is from a 2012 to give you some idea of how corroded the can get, clean it up well and use plenty of never seize on the new one.
Check the control arm for corrosion before buying any parts.

 

[jtay2024]

Probably another of those companies that rides on the back of a good name by making theirs sound similar. SKP / SKF. One is known to be excellent, the other is some random no name people have hardly heard of.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

If you have the press and really can just replace the bushings without having to buy a whole control arm, get OEM bushings and ball joints.

Aftermarket is only good if you're going to replace the whole control arm. In that case, get Delphi or Suspensia. The whole arm is $65 each for either brand, compared to over $200 for OEM.

 

[GSCJR]

I used SKP when I repaired the front end of my '12 Legacy. I ordered a RF control arm plus and extra ball joint for the left side and two stab. links, all SKP. Someone had returned the control arm because the cotter pin was missing and installation marks were found on the control arm itself, not sure why it was returned. I had no trouble removing the pinch bolts using a torch. The only reason I went with SKP was it all shipped from one warehouse on RA, plus, I wasn't sure about how the rest of the vehicle would turn out (just recently purchased at the time). The hardest part in my case, was the rear vertical bolt, it required a lot of heat and penetrating oil in order to break free without snapping it in the unibody. I ended up cutting the control arm off with the torch in order to get the torch tip closer (heat) to the stubborn area. Eventually, with persistence it all went back together without incident. The stab links are not the greatest, the zerks would not accept grease, so I had to switch them out. It's not over, 3 months later, I was double checking my work and noticed an unsecured pinch bolt, not sure how, I torqued them due to their notoriety. I instructed an apprentice to secure it and he snapped the spindle and pinch bolt, but I took the blame, I should have kept a closer eye. A used spindle, another new ball joint & pinch bolt (not SKP) and over 2 years later, they're still okay. Good luck!

 

[edyvw]

Unless you can find OEM, that is product by company that makes it for Subaru, get OE.

 

[CarbonToast]

I used SKP when I repaired the front end of my '12 Legacy. I ordered a RF control arm plus and extra ball joint for the left side and two stab. links, all SKP. Someone had returned the control arm because the cotter pin was missing and installation marks were found on the control arm itself, not sure why it was returned. I had no trouble removing the pinch bolts using a torch. The only reason I went with SKP was it all shipped from one warehouse on RA, plus, I wasn't sure about how the rest of the vehicle would turn out (just recently purchased). The hardest part in my case, was the rear vertical bolt, it required a lot of heat and penetrating oil in order to break free without snapping it in the unibody. I ended up cutting the control arm off with the torch in order to get the torch tip closer (heat) to the stubborn area. Eventually, with persistence it all went back together without incident. The stab links are not the greatest, the zerks would not accept grease, so I had to switch them out. It's not over, 3 months later, I was double checking my work and noticed an unsecured pinch bolt, not sure how, I torqued them due to their notoriety. I instructed an apprentice to secure it and he snapped the spindle and pinch bolt, but I took the blame, I should have kept a closer eye. A used spindle, another new ball joint & pinch bolt (not SKP) and over 2 years later, they're still okay. Good luck!

Thanks this is good to know. I think I will go with at least a OE ball joint.

 

[GSCJR]

Thanks this is good to know. I think I will go with at least a OE ball joint.

I wanted to also mention that I don't drive a lot, the car currently has 275k kms, and purchased it with 260k kms. Furthermore, it hasn't been 2 years just yet since the vehicle went back into service, more like 21 months.

 

[VersatileGuy]

Usually, you get what you pay for with regards to suspension parts. ACDelco used to be the quasi OEM grade but they have disappeared from many parts of the Rockauto catalog. I guess Delphi is the new ACDelco?

SKP are cheapos, so I except a suspension only good enough to pass an inspection but you'll have to do it again in mere months.

 

[VersatileGuy]

I bought a new air intake hose and the SKP Rockauto hose had a hole that was too small for this hard plastic union thing on the hose, the holder for some electrical connector is also different from Toyota OEM. So now I'm stuck waiting for a Dorman and if that fails, then it's a new OEM hose.

 

[D60]

I bought a new air intake hose and the SKP Rockauto hose had a hole that was too small for this hard plastic union thing on the hose, the holder for some electrical connector is also different from Toyota OEM. So now I'm stuck waiting for a Dorman and if that fails, then it's a new OEM hose.

Truly sad if something is worse than Dorman.....I didn't even know that was possible

 

[kschachn]

My opinion is that for suspension components you can gauge quality by the price. What does that tell you about this brand?

 

[VersatileGuy]

Truly sad if something is worse than Dorman.....I didn't even know that was possible

So the Dorman air intake hose arrived(around 50 bucks compared to the $16 after shipping for the SKP). It's actually stiffer(maybe it's been sitting on a shelf or the material is a worse plastic, who knows) than the SKP, but the hole for this union tube is an actual circle compared to the SKP.

If not for the non-circular hole, I'd actually expect the SKP to last longer than the Dorman in terms of flexibility but the SKP is probably unusable because of the ill-fitting hole. At this point, I'm leaning to just going OEM.

 

[GMBoy]

Truly sad if something is worse than Dorman.....I didn't even know that was possible

My exact feelings as Dorman is bottom of the barrel for sure.

 

[CarbonToast]

It's very ironic that I started this thread asking about SKP parts and already ordered Dorman instead of SKP. Now I learn Dorman is even worse!

 

[edyvw]

Truly sad if something is worse than Dorman.....I didn't even know that was possible

i had knocking on steering rack, or thought so. Turns out guy who did something on my car didn’t properly torque one bolt on subframe so it was knocking. Anyway, I am checking that part on steering rack and BMW dealership sells it cheaper than Dorman