I hear you and can only offer this:

TRW and most other "replacement part" manufacturers build a product that satisfy a price point and a level of acceptable wear/quality control. Different manufacturers have different thresholds.

A few salient points about what anyone should be looking at when selecting a replacement part for any component or vehicle:

Is brand XXX a OE supplier? (Yes=good)
Do they supply the exact part you considering buying to BMW? (Yes=good)
What region of the world is that part manufactured in?

Case in point: E46 M3 valve cover gaskets. Most websites show Elring as a OE Part. Only somewhat true and somewhat misleading. The Valve cover gasket for the E46 M3 was only made by a company; Bruss. Although Elring does make many of the gaskets for the BMW line and the E46 M3, they DID NOT produce the VC gasket AND supply it to BMW for assembly.

When I go about vetting a replacement part (happens every week for me) there is a criteria that must be met.

They must produce that exact part for the auto manufacturer.
I must have a good history with the brand.
Is there a warranty? Not the warranty that a vendor (such as FCP) offers, but the producer of the part. That usually signals a quality product.

In your case, TRW does indeed produce many parts for BMW currently. However I am NOT aware of anything that they produce for the E46 chassis. Not brake pads or steering components.
That would be Jurid or ATE for brake pads and Lemforder for most of the steering bits.

TRW does make many steering parts for most of the "F" chassis cars and I have had very good luck with them. Tantamount to a Lemforder in a E46.
In the beginning I was a bit skeptical about the TRW parts for the newer cars, but now I have had a good history, albeit this is with the newer chassis cars. As they DO PRODUCE that part for BMW.

Sorry to hear of your issues.

As always; Caveat Emptor.

 

Hard to beat Meyle HD FCABs. Priced reasonably with stellar performance and even better longevity.

I put 120K+ hard miles on a set and they still were in good shape when I fully overhauled the front suspension (went with another set of Meyle HDs for that project).

As for TRW, I've never come across anything positive with the brand (across several platforms). Sounds like a quality variance between what they provide for factory production vs. post-production.

 

As for TRW, I've never come across anything positive with the brand (across several platforms).

Interesting you say that. My other car is a Land Rover Discovery 4 (LR4), and TRW are regarded in that circle as OEM quality parts for things like Bushes and brake pads. Amazing the variance across different makes.

 

All very odd. TRW are a ZF brand these days, so from the same stable as Lemforder, Sachs, Boge. Can't argue with the experience of others but the TRW stuff on my car is doing fine.

After the ZF takeover, TRW is even became an OEM supplier to BMW and is used on the E9x and later

 

The most strict criterion, as MrMCar says is probably if the brand actually provided the exact part on the assembly line of the car when it was made. Although, as with meyle hd, there are exceptions about the quality.
Trw I think makes the master brake cylinder on the e46 , I'm not entirely sure though.

 

The most strict criterion, as MrMCar says is probably if the brand actually provided the exact part on the assembly line of the car when it was made. Although, as with meyle hd, there are exceptions about the quality.

But ZF did supply parts to BMW when the E46 was made, under their Lemforder, Sachs and Bose labels. TRW is now just another label for parts made by the same company.

Trw I think makes the master brake cylinder on the e46 , I'm not entirely sure though.

I don't know but I would suspect that they didn't. ZF didn't acquire them until after the E46 ceased production.

 

@MrMCar : Good post. About ATE brakes I would like to add something: ATE is indeed OEM supplier for BMW brake parts, BUT they have a different line for aftermarket and OEM BMW. Therefore if you order ATE brake rotors for your BMW, you will get different rotors than if you would have ordered them through BMW. This info came from a mechanic I know which worked at the BMW dealer for 30+ years and has visited the BMW assembly factory. The difference in rotors is, iirc, the hardening process. They do it to a more precise level for OEM rotors.

 

ZF did indeed take over TRW products, but only recently. correcy me if I'm wrong

 

2015

 

You shouldn’t really expect an OE quality part from an OEM that didn’t ever manufacture the part in question for OE installation. It’s like complaining about *** track rods not being OE quality.
Yes, they may be part of the same company, but TRW probably repackages something made at one of the ZF factories, which may or may not be sold under other ZF brands. I’d imagine there are different QC standards applied depending on which brand it is sold under. if In doubt just get OE

 

You shouldn’t really expect an OE quality part from an OEM that didn’t ever manufacture the part in question for OE installation. It’s like complaining about *** track rods not being OE quality.
Yes, they may be part of the same company, but TRW probably repackages something made at one of the ZF factories, which may or may not be sold under other ZF brands. I’d imagine there are different QC standards applied depending on which brand it is sold under. if In doubt just get OE

This is what I don't get. ZF did make the part for OE installation. You're assuming they keep their CAD files a secret from part of their own company?

I'm assuming that their parts are made on the same production line and from the same files. Just like ZF do with Sachs and Boge. Admittedly that's based on having compared just one part Lemforder to TRW, but that's one part more than people saying otherwise have compared.

Maybe you're right, maybe I'm right, maybe their product line has a mixture so we can both be a bit right Unless someone knows a ZF insider, who's able to say definitively? But the key point I wanted to make is they're ZF, not some reboxer of crap like Febi.

 

And how much old stock, on old machines, old employees and old step by step processes and QC.
This takes a long time to implement/change.

 

This is a valid point. If they had stocks from before the 2015 takeover still then they wouldn't throw them out, I don't suppose. Six years is a long time to have unsold inventory for though, isn't it? (I don't know, maybe it's normal). Do we even know if they made E46 parts before the takeover? But you're right, we shouldn't rule out some of their range being unsold parts from before 2015 without knowing.

 

There's a LOT more than meets the eye in the parts procurement game. I know several buyers for a few European suppliers.

Take the above as an example only, but completely plausible:

ZF wants to acquire TRW. It happens and now they phase in production line machinery, QC methods, retrain personnel. In the meantime they have about 3 months of supply on hand in 5 containers.
They decide to get rid of the old stock. (?)
Two or three larger parts houses could buy such at a VERY discounted rate. They would have supply for a year or more, depending on the volume they sell.

You get stuck with a obsolete and old part some 2 years later.

IDK if this is what happened to the OP?
However the above DOES happen.
I've been at this for a long time.

 

Does someone recommend TRW brand? I bought some dampers for my e46 sedan, but I was told bilstein or monroe are the best ones

someone could give me any idea about TRW

 

Does someone recommend TRW brand? I bought some dampers for my e46 sedan, but I was told bilstein or monroe are the best ones

someone could give me any idea about TRW

really? Did you not read the opening post?

 

Search on here to see opinions.

Search results for query: ”TRW”

www.e46fanatics.com

 

How long ago did you buy them? If you change your mind now you probably have a limited time to return them if you decide to go another route.

For what it's worth, for my 2004 325i I went with OEM Sachs shocks, but the current equivalent of what would have come on the performance package (ZHP).

Rears:

BMW Shock Absorber - Sachs 290-816

BMW Shock Absorber - Sachs 290-816

www.fcpeuro.com

Fronts

BMW Strut Assembly - Sachs 317-541

BMW Strut Assembly - Sachs 317-541

www.fcpeuro.com

BMW Strut Assembly - Sachs 317-542

BMW Strut Assembly - Sachs 317-542

www.fcpeuro.com

 

How long ago did you buy them?

I just bought them, I was wondering if they are worth enough

 

I've used TRW parts on other vehicles, I think they are good, as long as it fits properly I wouldn't hesitate to use them.

 

TRW is simply a name, a brand, and cannot be trusted to indicate quality.
You can find some TRW parts of high quality and others are cheap chinese made junk.

 

Just kicking an old thread, with my experience of TRW parts for a VW.

2 Front control arm ball joints, 7000 miles, 1.5 years - both had splits in the boots, found on an MOT.

2 Tie rod ends, both showing signs of deterioration in the rubber boots for the ball joints - 4000 miles.

So yeah, TRW are complete and utter garbage...at least for anything with rubber in it. Total junk. They used to be reasonable quality but in the last few years seem to be banging out utter junk. Stick with Lemforder.

 

Don, myself, and many others on here have pointed out that the name on the box alone can no longer be trusted to indicate the quality of a part. Many brands that previously had trusted names have “sold out” and slapped their name on shitty replacement parts. We are now at the point where we have to be very careful about every part, to identify the quality. Was it an OE part for BMW? Where was it manufactured? Who manufactured it? What materials were used? And so on.

No blanket statement can be made about TRW, Bosch, Lemforder, or any other name brand. It’s up to us to be ever vigilent vetting each specific part and sharing the information freely.

 

Working on a VW Sharan 7M as we speak. These cars have known things that fail every now and then such as CV boots, sway bar endlinks, ...
Just found a worn endlink. Owner claims this one was replaced not that long ago. So I wanted to know what brand it was. Take a wild guess, gentlemen ...

 

Not to beat a dead horse, but the old wisdom that good brands make good parts is now total hogwash. And having the CAD drawings doesn't mean you will make quality parts.

OE or genuine (or high-end aftermarket like Garageistic) for almost all parts, and absolutely if there is a plug. Obviously, this doesn't apply if you are doing poly bushings and the like. Would be happy to go into detail.

There was a time when you could say "Bosch didn't make the original part for the car, but they have a reputation for quality." That was before Bosch started outsourcing and eventually selling branded business units to China. Now even Bosch OE stuff is absolute garbage. This is hard for folks who have worked on cars for decades to get their head around.

 

Agreed. About Bosch ... They were (and still are) OEM for VW brakes. Yet if you bought Bosch aftermarket brakes for the exact same cars, you would receive lower quality products (proven).

 

I think post #32 above needs to be fully understood. Brand names are nearly irrelevant now.