Original versus pattern front wings

[CLIPPERBLU]

My apologies if this has been covered before but I'm pretty new to the forum so all advice gratefully received. Just about to purchase 2 new front wings for the mighty 4 door and wondered what the difference is between the original and pattern wings (apart from the price of course!!). Most of the suppliers have the pattern wings at roughly half the cost of the originals but are they half as good or not?. Don't want to 'spoil the ship for a ha'pence of tar' but don't want to waste my hard-earned cash either!. Any views from the experts out there please?

[aupickup]

well it would appear that the heritage ( new genuine ones ) are no better

try and get good second hand original or new old stock

someone had one on here for sale, look through the for sales

[CLIPPERBLU]

Thanks, yeah sadly I missed that wing.

Cheers,

CLIPPER

[jonathon]

At the moment go for the Heritage ones, they are worth the extra. Unless you have a few days to unpick the welds of the pattern ones and panel beat them into shape

[linearaudio]

It astounds me that, if the pattern wings are so bad, that "reputable" suppliers list them.

What is their game?

Who would want to buy a wing that didn't fit??

It surely can't do the suppliers reputation much good to list stuff that is blatantly not fit for purpose

[CLIPPERBLU]

If the pattern wings are that bad maybe I'll just have to raid the piggy bank/wife's housekeeping fund for the extra cash. Oh well, never mind just trying to save some money. Thanks anyway.

[jonathon]

LA, a few months ago I would have said go for the pattern ones, indeed I actually did when this was raised before. But we have just had the need to fit 4 sets of front wings , opting for pattern first but having to replace these due to poor fit as described.
The reason suppliers stock them is because few private customers will return them, because they accept the lower price and might not be too bothered about fit.
I raised the problem about the front panels last year , but there was no recall, although I'm informed that they are now using a jig to fabricate them, (will wonders never cease) but even this operation was performed by a trader and not the manufacturer
There are many products that are poor enough to be' not fit for purpose' but unfortunately ( but correctly are not allowed to mention them).
Best bet is to ask the bodyshops which are good and bad panels rather than the suppliers who really in the famous words 'don't give a damn'

[IaininTenbury]

I'd have said got for the heritage ones, if you can afford it just for the thicckness of the steel. The pattern ones are very thin and some have very sharp edges. The heritage ones look like they'll shrug off a few years of wear and tear, and are harder to dent.
Used both in the past, pattern ones vary - some fit ok others are iffy and from Jonathon's comment it looks like we're going through an iffy patch at the moment. Not had any real problems with heritage ones, other than some being odd around the headlamp rim area, but that was a while back now, maybe I've just been lucky.

[minor_hickup]

Best bet is to ask the bodyshops which are good and bad panels rather than the suppliers who really in the famous words 'don't give a damn'

Or ask the suppliers, then buy the cheap ones against their strong reccomendation, which I think you'll find is the case. The reason most suppliers stock pattern wings is because there is a greater demand for them than heritage wings.

[jonathon]

Well you pays yer money......................................... But I can only offer advice from our and other bodyshop experiences. The pattern wings sell because they are cheap and no other reason, cos the quality of the last batch along with the front panels and bootlid repair sections are truly dreadfull.

[minor_hickup]

Exactly, but despite what many claim on here, most consumers worry mostly about price. When there's a choice I have no sympathy.