Spheres bargain

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Baldbazza
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Spheres bargain

Post by Baldbazza »

Just collected some new rear spheres from Euro Car Parts. Thought I'd risk unbranded ones rather than their normal pattern parts, as they're cheaper and I'm a tight git. Turned out to be genuine Citroen spheres at £12.73 + VAT each. :D If you want to try your luck, part number was 620545465. They do 'unbranded' front spheres (620545575) for slightly less.

They did need to order them in (and this was a major branch) so phone first if you want to try your luck.
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Post by AndersDK »

Whats the Citroen part no stamped on ?
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Post by Baldbazza »

AndersDK wrote:Whats the Citroen part no stamped on ?
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Post by Kitch »

Having worked at ECP I know you can play them about a bit.

Technically, if their part number ends in a 5 or G, it should be a genuine branded part, but isn't always.
If it ends in a zero, it is a genuine spec part.....apparently. Its questionable most of the time as brands seem to change around.
Part numbers ending in a 1 are after market parts (again!) only they're listed as them.

Their spheres are normally Alko....nothing wrong with that and the numbers end in 0. There are some old regassed things that are covered by the "1" catagory and the 5's should be geniune like these.
But what the website says again is a different story sometimes! It never listed these spheres as gen. Citroen but they are.
Same goes with many parts which are reduced to clear.

If your front arms are knocking for example, rather than faff around with the bushes like a cheapskate, go and buy the complete arms reduced to clear at £11.99 each :D

And ALWAYS check prices online before visiting an ECP branch. :wink:
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Post by tom »

And buy a pair of track rod ends, as well! £2.53+VAT the pair.
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Post by jeremy »

Al-KO and spheres is a bit of a mystery. AL-KO is a large German? manufacturing company that seems to have started in the trailer chassis and suspension business - in which it is still involved. Under the AL-KO name they used to have a website listing the spheres applications etc - but now it only lists shock absorbers.

So - what has happened to AL-KO spheres? My recollection is that the site wasn't German and may have been Spanish - and I wonder if they have stopped manufacturing them or are still doing so under another name, or have sold the business - or bought them in in the first place?

Do Citroen actually make their own - or do they buy them?
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Post by tom »

Tecnosir? don't they make that cunning in situ recharging valve? I've only ever seen one but they look interesting. Enlighten us Jon.
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Post by Kitch »

tom wrote:And buy a pair of track rod ends, as well! £2.53+VAT the pair.
Ah didn't know about that one! :lol:

The ALKO ones are also sold in a yellow box with a black band around it. Same spheres, different box but I can't remember the name of them.
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Post by jeremy »

I should have added that I have used the AL-KO spheres from Euro car Parts - and they have been excellent.
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Post by MULLEY »

Got mine from www.westroen-spheres.co.uk with a nice 3yr warranty. Father & son outfit in Manchester, did the entire car with the tank & filters cleaned as well.

The car has never handled better. Probably cheaper to do them yourself, but dont have the knowledge or experience & how long do those cheapies last if they arent geniune citroen one's?

Hope someone finds this useful, i think i may have already mentioned them before in a previous thread, so for those of u who dont like duplication, apologies.

If anyone wants to know anything further about my experience of the Manchester Spheres, you can either PM me or i will keep an eye out on this thread & do some replies.

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Post by Baldbazza »

On the broader subject of spheres, I bought a Pleiades sphere removal tool at the CCC national meet. A nice beefy bit of blacksmith's finest! A friendly guy who sold me some LHM (3 litres of Total for £11 :D ) told me it would be the best tool I would ever buy. So far I've changed both front and accumulator, and getting the old ones off was a piece of cake. (Mind you, I plan to do the rears at the weekend and they're incredibly rusty, so stand by for a retraction of this post...).

Total cost of all 5 spheres and the tool was around £125, so I'm well pleased.
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Post by AndersDK »

AL-KO spheres from their outfit in Spain :
http://www.al-ko.es/pdf/turismo/lesferas.pdf
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