Quite a few years back a friend of mine happened upon some off brand turbo tie rods on eBay. They were $80 a set which was hard to pass up.

The following started to happen about 2 months after installing them. They are shown beside their Lemförder replacements for reference.

It's fairly obvious that the rubber was missing a key element of ozone protection (antiozonates). This is what everyone means when they attempt to steer you away from cheap turbo tie rod alternatives.

These were never in use...

Click to view attachment

Even the new boots that came with the kit were trashed.

Click to view attachment

Lemförder turbo tie rod ends = $40.00 each

New Boots = $10 each

Total cost for El Cheapo kit = $180.00 plus shipping of new parts ($190ish?)

New Lemförder kit, complete $188.00

Great deal...

I second that! Those cheapo ones are complete crap. I had the same exact experience, within 2mo of install they looked as old as the car was Not worth it at all.

I will not be using anything but the Lemforder parts. The old addage of you get what you pay for applies here.

For me the point was that the slightly lower cost of the cheapo parts didn't make sense if I was going to have to perform the installation work a second time. I waited an additional month until I had the extra coin to purchase the Lemforder parts, and only had to do the install once.

Eric

I just finished my suspension upgrade and 5 lug conversion.Just before I put it on the ground I went to readjust the boots on the tie rods that have never been on the ground and the end of the boot fell off in my hand.This thread is about 8 mos too late for me.I hope the ball joints I replaced are not the same quality.

+1 you get what you pay for even a good used set is better.

Getting ready to install the Lemforder rods that Mr. Shea sent me, and am anxious to see if there is a noticeable difference. There have been conflicting stories from the members here on this very topic ~ I have decided to see for myself. To be continued....

Thread revival
I was looking into this recently. This was the thread I needed to make a decision.