Date:         Mon, 17 Jul 2006 15:24:39 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Found a Brake Master Cylinder
Comments: cc: Dustin Jones <jonesboy21@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <7ee3ee250607171059m21aa7bd6s265f19a4ab058dd0@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

> Looks like a good deal, anybody have 
>  any bad experiences with these?
> *http://tinyurl.com/etdqj*
> The brand is Bietrix, its not OEM.


Bietrix is a brand name used on a line of low-priced brake parts, primarily
manufactured in India. At various times they have used packaging that was
(in my opinion) intended to mislead people into thinking they were buying a
name brand (such as a logo that looked a lot like the Bendix logo, or a very
ATE-looking blue box). I have had customers tell me they had bought a Bendix
brake part for their VW, and when I asked them to look again, they said with
some surprise, "oh, you're right, it says Bietrix."  Brake Headquarters, the
U.S. marketer of the brand, went belly-up some time ago, so I'm not sure if
there is any new product being packaged under that name or just old stock in
the pipeline.  I have sold an odd part of theirs here and there, in cases
where there was no other affordable option (i.e. some older aircooled
applications), but it's never been my first (or even second or third) choice
of brands. It's not utter garbage (I've seen much worse), but it's built to
be sold cheap, and is definitely not OEM quality. 

If you don't want to spend $95 for the OEM one, I do have an aftermarket one
for $61 (with listmember discount) that's worth the price difference over
the Bietrix. It comes from an Italian factory that I have had very good luck
with on various brake hydraulics over the years. I'd feel safe using it on
my own Vanagon.

<http://busdepot.com/details.jsp?partnumber=251611021CEC>


- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

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