AC Condensors

I would say the brand probably isn't a major issue, it's just a condenser after all, but obviously you need the right product for the car, so it must be shown as a compatible product, otherwise you may have fitting issues.
 
radderfire said:
I would say the brand probably isn't a major issue, it's just a condenser after all, but obviously you need the right product for the car, so it must be shown as a compatible product, otherwise you may have fitting issues.
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Thanks I was told by someone trying to repair my car that he gets a lot of cheap chinese rubbish that leaks.
 
radderfire said:
Well personally I would still be choosing a reputable brand, but the difference between brands would be marginal. I wouldn't buy cheap stuff.
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Same - cheaper brands might be slightly thinner metal (so more susceptible to damage), or have slightly less fins and perform slightly worse (although probably not to a noticeable degree)

What car year/engine is your Civic?
 
Armageus said:
Same - cheaper brands might be slightly thinner metal (so more susceptible to damage), or have slightly less fins and perform slightly worse (although probably not to a noticeable degree)

What car year/engine is your Civic?
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2002 Honda Civic. It's just that the more well known brands don't seem to be available.
 
It's simply a heat exchanger so brand doesn't matter, what matters is the mounting fitment. I bought one for my car not long ago to replace my stock one and the mounting points were ever so slightly out of alignment. It was bought from Autodoc so sending it back was more a mission than it's worth and these things are cheap enough to just put on marketplace anyway and one day maybe someone will buy it off you if it doesn't fit exactly.

My garage ended up ordering a third party one from one of their suppliers and that fit perfectly. Dealer supplied ones will nearly always be more expensive for no good reason. As long as the specs match up then nothing else to be concerned about. Also the fins on these, regardless of price, are fragile, you can literally bend the fins with your fingers on all of them. If a stone gets up there at speed then whatever brand you get, it's toast. So just get one that fits correctly and meets the correct spec.
 
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mrk said:
It's simply a heat exchanger so brand doesn't matter, what matters is the mounting fitment. I bought one for my car not long ago to replace my stock one and the mounting points were ever so slightly out of alignment. It was bought from Autodoc so sending it back was more a mission than it's worth and these things are cheap enough to just put on marketplace anyway and one day maybe someone will buy it off you if it doesn't fit exactly.

My garage ended up ordering a third party one from one of their suppliers and that fit perfectly. Dealer supplied ones will nearly always be more expensive for no good reason. As long as the specs match up then nothing else to be concerned about. Also the fins on these, regardless of price, are fragile, you can literally bend the fins with your fingers on all of them. If a stone gets up there at speed then whatever brand you get, it's toast. So just get one that fits correctly and meets the correct spec.
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Then 2 years later the welds fail and it leaks. Great advice...
 
Where has this "2 years of life only" from cheaper ones come from? Seems it's only here that some have mentioned it. Because at least 2 garages themselves haven't seen any issues other than failure caused by actual damage from stones or bad fitment.

Is there a source for this "2 years"?
 
mrk said:
Where has this "2 years of life only" from cheaper ones come from? Seems it's only here that some have mentioned it. Because at least 2 garages themselves haven't seen any issues other than failure caused by actual damage from stones or bad fitment.

Is there a source for this "2 years"?
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Get this.

I bought a Ridex one 2 years ago cos it was cheap and it failed at the core to endtank due to poor quality weld, this was for a 2013 Mini Countryman Cooper S R60 for context. So i bought a slighter more expensive Denso unit as recommended by the aircon guy who comes and does cars with a hydrogen pressure tests before wasting time refilling. The chap is also an ex Jaguar Powertrain engineer.

Hows that for a source? How you can command that though when the onus of proof is on you its quite bizarre. Put the keyboard down kid.

Why would a garage care anymore than 30 seconds after the customer drives off. Reality is the early failure for such a repair means many people would tend to go to A DIFFERENT garage. Do you do surveys with them or something?
 
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mrk said:
Is there a source for this "2 years"?
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Source: The air con specialist garage that I used last year to have a Condenser replaced on R56.

Offered me a choice of the "cheap" one or I think it was the Mahle that I went for. Price difference was £20 or so, and said that he would always recommend the slightly more expensive brands as he sees less issues overall.
 
pretty sure I used an oem nissens replacing my bmw 3 radiator ... but bmw cooling system & expansion tanks were renown for problems
 
Cyber-Mav said:
I'm after a condenser too. Are brands like frigair, nissens and koyo any good?
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Frigair, Italian, look ok

Home page

shop.frigair.com shop.frigair.com

Nissens, Danish I think, look ok

Nissens

Engine Cooling & climate solutions for the automotive aftermarket & customized cooling solutions for wind, renewable and industrial applications
nissens.com nissens.com

Koyo, Japanese, look ok

After a very brief look at their websites, they all look reasonable.
 
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