I'm sorry Phil you've lost me, I know what I've posted and why so can you please enlighten me

I guess the answer to your question Mk1_Oz is that there are varying levels of quality and fit, for different levels and lengths of performance, you can go the top shelf gear, or if your budget doesnt permit you can go the more readily available gear. For example you can buy Tierod ends and TCA's to suit Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts at Bursons for a very good price. They are aftermarket parts but still appear to be reasonable quality. You will pay 1/5th the price of the top end gear from Gartrac but its likely they will wear out quicker,not likely in 1/5th of the time but probably quicker. I ran a set of these in my Cortina for 10 years doing everything from cruises to drive days and supersprints...the car did 10000 miles and they are not worn out. They are somewhat looser(reducd preload) in the ball joint but no play and definately not a fail for a rego inspection. Hopefully this helps you make a decision[;^)] Its not all doom and gloom if you dont spend megabucks on your gear

Well how can I put this so people don't get offended as I alot of guys have iether very thin skins or are paranoid and need some medication
The reason I spend the bit extra and buy the genuine Ford supplied TCA's and TRE's and the reason I buy them from Gartrac is the two Ford main dealers I've treid to source them from keep telling me they are obsolete or couldn't even find the numbers and Gartrac have always done the right thing on price the service is beyond reproach and they make me the odd ball bits I sometimes request. Now back to the bits, over hte years I've tried many many different brands of TCA's from QH's, TRW's to Hawks, Jet and even some Cheng Sein's! and the all seem to last around 3 race meetings and then the ominous shaking steering wheel under brakes with it being that bad on occasion that you can't hold on to the wheel (always found it the worst at Qld Raceway).
When I changed back to the genuine Ford arms I got 2 full seasons out of the arms and that was 12 meetings! and only changed them because I was feeling guilty and I still have them as spares!
Now with TRE's when I first put a set on my car at the beginning of 1996 there were no aftermarket knock off's from the MK2 RS green TRE's! So I did like everyone else had to and bought the genuine green's. Now that set were still in the car after my little stunt in to the water barriers and I only replaced the left hand side because I damaged the threads dislodging them from the steering arm! (I have done this before but you can only reclaim a thread so many times) Those TRE's were the original set and have been in the car for 14 seasons!
So if you want to complain and say I'm an elitist because I bag the cheaps stuff then fine I don't care but converting to the genuine stuff has saved me a fair bit of coin because every time you replace a TCA or a TRE theres wheel alignment costs, replacement bushes as they often get damaged getting removed, costs of rebushing steering racks because of damage etc that needs to be factored into the equation before you complain about the price differences

Danny

I have to agree with Danny on this, Gartrac are a great company to deal with and their stuff is top quality. They were able to get hold of some obsolete parts as they found a NOS Ford Mk2 steering grommet for me when no-one else both in Australia or the UK had stocked these for years. They are very forth-coming with information (helped me with information and part numbers for my ZF gearbox), always respond to queries and always shipped gear with the client in mind (ie. minimal costs).
I will always buy genuine Ford stuff where possible as the comparison always show the original Ford stuff is clearly better (TCAs are a perfect example, hold two up together and you will see). At the end of the day it really comes down to what you are doing with the vehicle, I think the QH gear is perfectly fine for a road car as that is what it was designed to do, for gravel/tarmac rallying I would always put my faith in the heavier duty item.
Just my 2 cents
Cheers
Justin

AH a source of my mysterious wobble, track control arms.
I will investigate. What are genuine TCa worth?

I didn't mean to start world war three.

Mk1 Lotus. Dont be offended that I went with alternate spenshun. I listen to all opinions (even those pushing their own barrows!) and then form my own decision based on that information and available budget.

The more questions I ask the more information I have.........

Maybe I will go genuine ford but to save some coin go for non adjustable ones.....I am having to replace more of the front end than I anticipated so even my huge budget is blowing out :(

Am looking into Palmside at the moment.