WARNING NEVER EVER Buy Parts From Autozone Or Oreilley Auto Parts in 2022 *Its Getting Worse * Nathan's BMW Workshop Po Box 115 Altenburg Mo 63732 nathan.youtube@yahoo.com
I work in one of those store, honestly a lot of customers don't even know their cars, a lot of shops and mechanics don't even know their parts. Then you deal with the ego of people who think they know more but always get parts mixed up
Fluids are very expensive at autozone. They tell me it’s a supply issue, yet I buy it at Walmart or Amazon at the prices I’m historically use to. Less porches more BMW’s. I can’t even fit in a Porsche at 6’4.
i agree had brake pads the high end ones even the med and low grade all failed me within 3 months had pad material come off went amreican never went back dont trust anything from these stores if its for your car like supplies etc brake clean etc sure brake parts they buy remanned etc from mexico or other stores thjeir battteries fail after 2 years where before it was good til 6 years.. i dont shop there for major parts i go to my dealer
Most of all aftermarket parts are made in foreign countries no matter where you buy them at. Buying online is basically the same way unfortunately I try to buy from that has the best prices. So shop around
I found a good supplier on ebay who deals in used oem BMW parts at a good price. I believe it is a salvage yard but I would rather buy oem at cheap/used than cheap china junk.
You buy what you can afford and if you dont like what is offered as a sale in autozone then you go to another store. I dont see why not buy from there. Unless all there parts fail which they dont. Sometimes you can find cheaper parts elsewhere and sometimes you just dont want to go through the hassle to deal with it and make sure is not a chinese part. So you buy from autozone. I dont think is a bad store. I had bought many parts that had lasterd their normal wear and tear. As for the employee hell they arent mechanics its your job to order the right part and verify before purchase and shipment. Even if your at the store or better yet if you order online. So cant blame the employee that is your mess up.
First off why you buying parts for a porsche from fucking Autozone and what ever the other place is anyways. All the parts are cheap Chinese shit Second Dont you guys have a Euro parts place for that only sell european beanded parts?
This is why I scrounge junk yards and take spare parts I need in the future from freshly crashed cars. Nothing like a new oem bmw part, undamaged, on a totaled car sitting waiting for me :)
This is your best bet a lot of the time. I got a motorrcraft rotor for $15 dollars a few days ago. The cheapest one at either store was close to 100. I’m more confident in that used part than a new one from them from China.
I've been buying Kirkland Signature oil from Costco for all my old rigs that take it. Dirt cheap, good quality, works great! I still buy "need today" parts from O'Reilly's for my domestic vehicles, and pray for the best.
You are absolutely right. I am the sales manager of a Chinese auto parts. We can wholesale to foreign customers or retail to foreign customers. This will save you a lot of money.
Some of the box stores are asking more than the dealer for certain parts. The biggest problem is the quality. The parts never were that great but now they are junk right out of the box, half the time they don't work. They sell junk by saying "lifetime warranty" and they will just keep exchanging it out for another garbage part that won't last. Warranty just means an exchange but you won't get your money back when you eventually have to find an oem part from a junkyard that is 100 times better than the new part you bought. There are a few things like hoses or belts that may be okay to use but that's about it.
@@wildestcowboy2668 Batteries are nice because you can exchange them easily. Only problem is a battery that was about $100 a few years ago is now over $200.
My friend walked into a fcp euro parts store to buy parts for his bmw drift car and they initially told him he had to wait 2 hours in their store to buy and get his parts like wtf
I just bought $300 worth of Boxster maintenance items, end links, and wheel bearings from FCP Euro this past Sunday, and even with their free shipping, the box arrived at my house in STL today (Wednesday). Crazy.
They abit pricey for aftermarket. You are only saving likd a third of the price vs if you buy it at the dealer. Ive compare parts and theres a reason why they are priced different. And imo that extra that u pay is worth it. But it depends if u wanna keep ur car or just use it for a couple of years
Hey Nathan I know this might be a little of topic but I just want to thank you because I drive a 2009 bmw 550i and your vídeo about Fixing P0420 definitely helped me. Keep up the good work and great content.
If you are working on high end BMW's and Porsche's you are doing a disservice to the owners of those vehicles by putting AZ and O'Reillys parts on them. Stop being a cheapskate and put OE parts from the dealership on those cars! If that was my Porsche and I found out you put a Duralast slave cylinder on my car, I would be pissed and make you put an OE one on instead!
My Dad started working on Model T's and A's back when, and he always worked on his own cars. He was a very good mechanic. He bought a 1992 Ford F150 brand new and the time came when it needed brakes. He pulled the front wheel bearings for some reason. Maybe he was replacing rotors or just regreasing them, I don't know. But when he saw the bearings were stamped made in Japan he was pissed. There was his new Ford truck with Jaanese parts in it. That woud never do. So he went to the parts store and got a set of Timlen, made in USA bearings. Some years later I bought that truck from him and I was replacing rotors and I decided to replace the wheel bearings. I noticed the made in USA stamp on the old Timkens when I removed them. So I decided to replace them with new Timken bearings. I was talking to someone who knew about this stuff and when I told him I wanted Timkens bearings he told me that Timken bearings were now made in several countries including China. I was shocked. I could find Timken bearings but none were made in USA. I finally did find the USA bearings but I had to order them from a bearing store in Michigan. That was a long time ago so I doubt that you could find Timken bearings made in USA anywhere today.
TRUTH. In the past three years I had bought a brand new water pump, new thermostat sensor, & recently a new alternator. All those duralast all those were bad! I will never by chinese crap again
Duralast is garbage. AutoZone & O'Reilly parts are twice as expensive as RockAuto and the parts are worse quality. NAPA also sucks. I got a set of sway bar links from them and the boots cracked after a few months. I returned them for full refund. I am never buying from any chain parts store ever again. The parts have gone downhill so much in the last 5 yrs. The lack of quality has reached a point to where it's brazen.
I THINK YOU ARE JUST MAD BECAUSE YOU TRUSTED BUD DIDNT VERIFIED BUD. Yes I will agree on the new employees but that's because nobody teaches them thats why i look up my own struf first. Naw you should have verified what you were buying (I always do) specially if it has to be ordered. And yes they are Chinese parts but that's what you will more than likely be buying on Amazon or ebay and my customers need to have their car ASAP and rather go that route than having to wait. Plus whenever that online part fails you are 5 or more days downtime because of warranty procedures vs. take it in to the parts store and swap it out. But it works differently for every shop. My customers don't drive that German garbage (turn down the ones that do have them) and parts are more readily available.
As a former employee of one of the stores you are talking about, I must agree with you on one thing. They hire people now with no automotive experience at all. But in their commercials they say we're all automotive experts. When I first started they actually did hire people that knew about cars. Also within the last couple of years their parts have gone to crap. Raise the prices and lower the quality.
Thanks for telling the truth. Do you still work there and you still tell people that truth keep spreading the fucked up news about O’reillys and AutoZone what a disgrace this country has become just to get your money for all fucking drug addicts without doing drugs.
There’s supposed to be programs to educate the employees, but I’ll tell you personally none of our higher ups in our branch push it or use the educational materials, which is a shame.
You fix euro cars and want big box part stores to carry niche market items? Good luck on that one. Secondly you can go to Walmart and pay less and talk to the lady stocking cat litter about your engine management needs. And if your a badass that knows everything already you better keep it that way as I’m sure your theory’s make you no friends in the parts world.
As a NAPA employee, I appreciate you sir. NAPA filters are made by wix, oil is made by valvoline, batteries are made by deka just as a few examples. 3 very reliable brands.
@@lonewolftech I work as a full time master tech and i always have issues with parts fitting and part quality from Autozone or a oRiley Sometimes have to replace same part again because it failed so quick. But with NAPA thy seem to be pretty close to OE. Very little issues i face. If you want to be precise the OE parts is the best option obviously.
I work For a parts store and you’re right they will hire anyone 🤦♂️ I myself have over 15 years of automotive experience and I’m Only working for a parts store due to a bad accident I was in that left me in a coma for 2 months with multiple disabilities. I’m a manager and can defiant that no one I work with knowsjack shit about cars and if they know anything it’s how to install batteries and wiper blades
Aint to go againts, but its an auto part store not mechanics. They shouldn't know how to. The only thing they should know is how to order the right part, that's it. You should know what part is you needed to order. Or take it to a mechanic and have them tell you. They are just helping you out as much as they can, but is not their job. Its an autoshop store. 😄
walmart batteries arent worth it they dont last long real reason why customers dont get parts they want is cuz they dont look at owners manual or specifications and they always go for the cheapest brand
Double check Walmart prices. They aren’t always the lowest. I bought a cabin air filter at Walmart and saw it a week later at auto zone for $3 cheaper and not on sale, regular price.
@@NathansBMWWorkshop I've noticed the Bosch plugs I've purchased identify, as I recall, "Made in Taiwan". That was some 5-10 years ago when I had my '87 e30 m20 325e. Seems Bosch had started farming out for lower costs.
@@jamesluke7377 I’ve found some with the same 4 digit code for plugs are made in Germany or China. I bought some on eBay after ensuring on the box they were German. They’ve been running strong without issue for 40k since replacement.
Your “oem parts” are all Chinese or Mexican made anyway man hate to brake it to you. You’re “china this china that” bro look it up Bosch deadass has factories all over china lol. And hey man if you wanna be cheap and order a reman that’s your choice. They offer brand new ones. That is more on you my guy for lack of attention to detail. Regardless who’s selling you the part.
Your right Nathan, it's just getting worst. Dam Chinese parts. Just junk....!! I just experienced those issues about two days ago. Piss me off with a passion..darn Chinese junk, dam..!!
As a former parts sales manager, i agree, dont buy autozone brand parts for your bmws, they're overpriced and shitty made and had to do count less warranty swaps because they failed prematurely Whenever I had a customer that wanted the cheapest thing for their bmw I always advised them on the oem options if we had them available. If not I'll tell them to just go to fcp or ecs
Where I am at unless you walk into the store with the part you will 9 out of 10 times get the wrong one or they will say its discontinued or no eta on the part. Parts have been a joke lately to find. I love my job but part hunting drives me insane.
I'll agree with this to a point. I've found that the stores in a bigger city are often staffed with younger folks without knowledge or skill to review and check the parts being ordered. If I have to get a part in town, I'll usually order it online and pick it up in the store to ensure if there's a mess up, it's me. --- My local store in my small town has some pretty good guys. I was looking for some bearings for my F350 this summer, and one of the 'old-timers' took the time to go thru the 3" thick parts books to cross ref the parts, pull the micrometer out of his counter and we probably spent 2 hours in total tracking down the right parts after the 'city kid' ordered the wrong crap 3 times. -- This old-timer is also the resident paint expert in the mix booth, and I'll wait until he's working to get paint mixed, or look for odd-ball parts every time.
I've worked in retail most of my life.I had an interview with local AutoZone 2 years ago.they were funny hire me. I wasn't aware they left messages in my voicemail.I'm used too actual phone calls. They want salespeople. Knowledge of simple stuff,brakes rotors recommend little bottles if stuff counter,aka upsell. If you can sell, your hired. If you know the DM ,manager and no knowledge of carparts..your hired.but that's almost everwhere.its about sales....not quality or quality of carparts.
I've worked in retail most of my life.I had an interview with local AutoZone 2 years ago.they were funny hire me. I wasn't aware they left messages in my voicemail.I'm used too actual phone calls. They want salespeople. Knowledge of simple stuff,brakes rotors recommend little bottles if stuff counter,aka upsell. If you can sell, your hired. If you know the DM ,manager and no knowledge of carparts..your hired.but that's almost everwhere.its about sales....not quality or quality of carparts.
I've worked in retail most of my life.I had an interview with local AutoZone 2 years ago.they were funny hire me. I wasn't aware they left messages in my voicemail.I'm used too actual phone calls. They want salespeople. Knowledge of simple stuff,brakes rotors recommend little bottles if stuff counter,aka upsell. If you can sell, your hired. If you know the DM ,manager and no knowledge of carparts..your hired.but that's almost everwhere.its about sales....not quality or quality of carparts.
I've worked in retail most of my life.I had an interview with local AutoZone 2 years ago.they were funny hire me. I wasn't aware they left messages in my voicemail.I'm used too actual phone calls. They want salespeople. Knowledge of simple stuff,brakes rotors recommend little bottles if stuff counter,aka upsell. If you can sell, your hired. If you know the DM ,manager and no knowledge of carparts..your hired.but that's almost everwhere.its about sales....not quality or quality of carparts.
I have a Pontiac G8 GT and you absolutely need to have an oem GM alternator or the car will basically pull a Biden and shit itself and forget what it was doing. I didn't believe it at first, but I learned the hard way when I needed to replace the alternator.
So, you knock two popular (by location), retail stores for parts. What retail auto parts store do you recommend? I don't consider Walmart a car parts store.
lol thats on u shoud of known im a mechanic of 20 years if u dnt know what ur doing its not our fault lol lol lol looks like u dnt know what ur messsing witrh
I’ve only had one issue at Napa when buying lug nuts. I also found that duralast makes decent parts. Not the best but serviceable parts. Sometimes better than OEM.
I think that I f dealerships would lower their prices a bit on consumable auto parts they would earn more by sales volume, because people would prefer OEM parts even if a little more expensive than aftermarket parts. But their prices are so ridiculously high that they force customers to buy elsewhere.
There are only 2 battery manufacturers that supply every single lead-acid and AGM battery that is sold today. The brand names are irrelevant. Also, you’re making some MASSIVE generalizations here. The AutoZone in my town is staffed with car guys and girls that work on their own stuff and that you see at meets and shows regularly. They will generally go out of their way to help people out when they’re able to. The very few times that I’ve had issues with parts from them, they’ve always made it right and then some. Maybe the ones that you go to just suck.
Scotty kilmer explains it best, AutoZone & O'Reilly was built on retired mechanics/mechanics that weren't able to do that kind of work anymore. Over the years it got so watered down that the person at the counter has never done an oil change. The average diy knows more than them. I have been in both stores myself to where I have over heard conversation to where they have givin false information to customers because they didn't know the information or they will just say idk instead of finding out. I personally have asked them simple questions just to see if they knew, like the difference in regular & voc brake cleaner, they all fail that question.
It's so funny how people assume that their system gives them unlimited information to answer any question. They are not mechanics, they just sell parts. People need to know what they need when they come in. Pretend you are buying parts online and don't have anyone to ask questions to. Also, it's much different than a dealer which only has parts for their own cars and can easily have more knowledge of those parts. A store like autozone sells parts for every type of vehicle so it's just ridiculous to think that they would know everything about every vehicle. Ask me about subarus and Hondas and I'll help you out, you have an American car, sorry, I don't know a thing about American cars. Unfortunately they aren't masters of all while getting paid minimum wage, you want someone that knows about cars then talk to a mechanic that's paid to know and not an auto parts Sales person. I'm a manager of one of these big name stores and the women that work in my store know more about cars than a majority of the men that come in to buy parts... So while you may know your stuff and were just testing someone, there is no reason to expect them to know as much as you since you sound like a mechanic. The best advice I give people is to look it up. You can find pretty much any information you need on RU-vid or elsewhere on the internet. People these days are just lazy and want everything handed to them. Yes, we can scan your car and read the check engine light and relay that information to you but it's up to you to figure things out from there. Our system only gives recommendations.
Agreed, in most Autozones (and other stores) I have gone into are usually young kids (late teens or early 20s) and I usually feel like they have never even turned a wrench, yet alone have any knowledge working on cars. That being said, I have run into situations where even the store manager did not really know what he was doing. I once tried to rent a slide hammer from Autozone and the manager brings me this small box, barely bigger then my hand. I tell him "there is no way that is a slide hammer", he replies "it says so on the box". I open the case and its an adapter for a pulley. I say "look, I am not going to argue, but that is not a slide hammer, slide hammers are huge" and then I showed him a pic of a slide hammer. I left the store and went to a different Autozone, that at least had it boxes labeled correctly. So its a hit or miss, with most of the time it being a miss.
LOL Absolutely, I went to a Large ACE hardware store yesterday and the 22 yr old children there are friggin CLUELESS stupid. Cant even understand that I ask for a thread cleaner bit. LOL "HU Whats that" LOL, this count is Millennial - WOKE RETARDED STUPID Start to finish. In the same DAY, SAME DAY, Asked for Plasti-gage pkg, The guy on phone at advanced AP store, had NO clue what I was asking. So I described what it is for, checking clearances on engine rebuilding. I Asked if he EVER even rebuilt a car or any engine, LOL LOL LOL, He said NO, LOL, the ppl in businesses are so bankrupt for common sense. Well even back in the early 70's when I had to figure it out ALL by my self, Guys I was around were too bust playing with theirselves rather then figure out life's issues poke their car they drive. Ya this USA is friggin IN desperate need for common sense.
In a pinch Napa, O’Reilly, Advance and Autozone in that order. e.g belts, pulleys, filters and brake pads. I’ve even had instances where the parts had INA or Timken stamped on them. But I don’t buy anything beyond that. I learned the hard way w a thermostat housing that leaked like crazy.
Not 100% true. Spark plugs are fine. Auto Zone sells NGK which is OEM. Would I buy a new complete Honda distributor at Auto Zone? No. China junk. Even if it is discontinued by Honda, rebuild the old one. It all depends on the part. Duralast Gold brake pads are excellent. Duralast Gold batteries are good etc. Just saying~ Often, some of the parts sold at parts stores are made by just a few manufacturers. Honda dealers often "repackage" the same exact parts and stick a Honda label on it! Then mark up the price big time. Made at the same factory!
Late October I needed to change the alternator in my X5...went to O'Reilleys... and so it began a week of disaster. After 2 NEW alternators I finally got a good one that worked. Again, I needed something quick so buying online was not an option.
Sounds like this guy just likes to complain 😂 then wants to complain about the parts at the stores but then has the same concerns about other places he buys 😆
If I had a 959 Porsche and needed work done, I would not take it to a guy that would even consider AutoZone parts for my repair! And I would not use a guy that can't properly pronounce "Porsche". LOL Think about that.
It's true, I just left working at one of the big box companies and they hire people who don't know anything about auto parts at all, it makes for more sales even if it's the wrong part making the customer have to keep coming in. And the parts are all from China and a lot of time the kids don't label or the warehouse just doesn't care enough to look at returns or warrantys, a lot of times the parts don't even match the the part numbers. You're better off with going TRQ if you can wait, plan your repairs and order them ahead of time.
I generally like my local Auto Zone. The guys are decent and try to help. Sometimes, you can get OEM parts cheaper than aftermarket. Overall, it's good to have a local brick and mortar store.
I have been burned several times with aftermarket. The most secure way to get good parts is dealer only. They chinese have flooded the market with garbage everywhere with aftermarket branded and OEM clones. There is no way to win unless going to the dealer.
Dude, what the hell do you expect? You said it yourself, you didn't want to wait to order so you bought garbage from china for your unreliable cars. I stick to my OEM parts for the Yotas in my stable. I'm not defending those stores but they sell cheap parts for cheap cars. That's their bread and butter. You want to drive over priced cars then you ought to get the parts at the dealership. And believe me, I learned this the hard way when I once made a mistake of buying a Land Rover. Never again, it's Toyotas and OEM parts when possible until my dying breath. Buying parts at the local parts store is like buying a McRib sandwich and expecting award winning Bar B Que Ribs.
I'm relatively new at fixing cars. Ive put a starter on from autozone. It lasted 4 weeks. I swapped it out, a week later and there's problems. Do you think it's just a junk starter? It was a new durlast both times.
Sorry To Bust this Mans Bubble The Dealership sells "Remanufactured" thats why they want the "core" means "rebuild" The Majority of people that drive those high end cars cannot afford to maintain those vehicles and complain when they have to repair them 25 years of Parts sales + 30 year of Family Garage techs
This is how America is nowadays. Whether it's auto parts, hardware store, clothing store, outdoor clothes, you name it...many times the owner(s) are lucky to get a human being to work there...a body...let alone anyone who knows anything about what they're selling! I've walked into a Verizon store to shop for a phone and there's one person there with a half dozen customers waiting to talk with the salesperson. Customer service has gone to shit.
Bought a brand new dura last gold starter from AutoZone for my BMW X5 5.0 I.... Four months later it left us stranded at a gas station after getting gas over 300 miles away from home on a Sunday after 5:00 PM ....had to do the tow truck thing ......cost a lot of $$$ .😝😝😝😝😝
I have one condition for buying autozone brand parts. Early to mid 2000 ford 2 phase alternators… they are gonna break might as well use that lifetime warranty on their Chinese garbage
Those Porsche clutch hydraulics are an absolute pain. It's very easy to miss the slave location. The cylinder has to be fully home before the bolts can be put in. It's even harder on the automatic adjusting pressure plate cars as the clutch is under tension until it's done its self adjust. And to cap it off bleeding the master is almost impossible. Porsches instructions say to pressure bleed it with a huge volume of fluid. Vacuum and normal manual bleeding do not work at all. On my car I ran out of fluid so I ended up with a pedal that needed to be pumped in the morning. It fixed itself after a few weeks use.
Get to the point already. He orders the wrong part so that's not really a good review and i can't even listen any longer at this point. Are Autozone parts good or not? That's the question.
Sadly; everything you say is true; being that nothing is made in America anymore we are at the mercy of what the market offers; thanks for this video !!!!!!!!!
Honestly it's kinda your fault to you have to tell them to show you the screen so you can make sure they are ordering the right parts because they know nothing about cars it's very rare there is one there that knows anything other than running a computer and they seem to have trouble doing that to
It’s your fault you should know by now that you should look up your own parts and tell them the part number you want. You even admitted that they will hire anyone
i did rock auto for my parts when my 03 Eclipse GTS suspension was shot, dont regret it since i've had bad experiences with autozone and o reilly for brakes, never again.
I worked at an oreilly i had to give out both prices for a reman or new. I tried to push them to get new. If the new was more I would knock the price down for them. If they wanted a reman and it didn't work, I'd tell them to bring it and we will warranty it for them.
I took lifetime warranty brake pads to exchange at AutoZone. The woman made me pay $14 dollars more,for the price of when I bought them,to the price now. What a rip.
When you were looking for your slave cylinder at Autozone why didn’t you order it online and have it shipped to the store? At least you would know for sure you’re getting the right part and it is normally within a day or two delivery. Also it sounds like you like quality. Why didn’t you buy the Sachs slave cylinder made in Germany that AZ sells? Just wondering. You might be in a location that you can’t do that in or something. Agree on help at parts stores. Not like it used to be. But if you do your own research you can have them type in the part number you want and even cross reference if needed. Chinese parts suck too btw.
Got relatives in CT & they talk about the taxes. Then they inquire about taxes in TX (where I live). FCP takes a few days longer to get down here but someone said “patience is a virtue”.
AutoZone sucks I went in there to order a part for my 2006 Dodge Dakota it was a wheel bearing they told me they ordered it and they never did I waited five days and I went there and the guy says well there was no part ordered so they ended up giving me a refund and then when they finally ordered the part they gave me the wrong part and then they refunded me a quarter charge and did not give me all my money back so I had to go in there and speak to the manager and it was nothing but a horrible experience every time I go in there I did not know what the hell he was talking about or doing
