Guides

Practical writing about identifying, matching and buying replacement parts. No sales copy, no filler. Each guide answers a question that comes up when somebody is standing over a vehicle with a part in their hand and needs to know what to do next.

These are written for owners doing their own work, for workshops checking a detail before ordering, and for anyone who has been given a part number and wants to be sure it is the right one.

What is coming

The library is being built, and we would rather publish a guide that is right than fill a page with titles. These are the categories we are writing into, in roughly the order they are being worked on.

Identifying the right part. Reading part numbers and their markings, working out what a component is when you have never seen one before, and telling apart parts that look identical.

Fitment and vehicle data. Generations and facelift breaks, build dates and chassis breaks, options and specification variants, and handed parts.

Choosing and buying. Comparing the two price tiers on specific kinds of component, judging when a repair is worth doing, and what to check before you place an order.

Symptoms and diagnosis. Starting from what the vehicle is doing rather than from a part name, so you can work towards the component that is actually at fault before spending money.

Fitting and aftercare. What a job typically involves, which tasks belong in a workshop, what has to be replaced at the same time, and what needs coding, calibration or bedding in afterwards.

Delivery, returns and paperwork. Lead times, import charges, what to check when a parcel arrives, and how returns and the warranty work in practice.

If there is a guide you want that is not here, tell us through the contact page and we will write it. Requests from people doing the work are the best guide to what is missing.

Need an answer now rather than a guide

• Have the factory number: use the OE number search.
• Do not have the number: start with the vehicle finder.
• Neither, or something is unclear: send us the details through the quote form. We answer within 24 hours, usually within a few hours.