Ware, East Hertfordshire
A little bit of a rant and a little bit of a watch out, all in one.
I don’t know what the experience has been for other members but I have a 100% failure rate of all Febi Bilstein parts I’ve bought for my Z4.
When I bought the 30i back in 2024, I purchased a pair of Febi VANOS solenoids, as I knew they were a problematic item and people pretty much treat them as a serviceable item. I didn’t have history of them being changed, so I thought it best to swap them out as a preventative measure. They were fine for about a year and a half and 4k miles, before I started to experience some low RPM jolts and hiccups. I’ve held onto all parts I’ve swapped out on the car, so swapped the unbranded original items that came with the car back in. All was well again.
Next was a MAF sensor that I bought for trying out a different intake setup. I didn’t want to destroy the OEM Continental unit and wanted to preserve it with the airbox. Whilst playing with setups, I kept having driveability issues that I put down to general MAF sensitivity and issues with the intake setup I was trying to design. I put the OEM airbox back on and thought nothing of it, whilst setting the Febi MAF aside.
Now, whilst I had the VANOS solenoid issue, I swapped the MAF over to the Febi unit, as the issues were manifesting themselves as similar to the drivability issues I had with my intake experiments. I managed to identify the VANOS solenoid issue independently but when I started the car up from cold with the Febi MAF, the running was absolutely horrible; spluttering, struggling to find idle and bouncing between 1,100 RPM and 600 RPM. I put the Continental MAF back in and everything was perfect again. The Febi MAF had effectively failed to operate from day 1 but the circumstances surrounding the poor behaviour were linked to other variables. It is only now that combined the OEM intake can I see that it is faulty.
I know people say stick with Siemens/VDO/Continental but you see so much of a push for Febi and their “OE matching quality” statements. Whilst I don’t expect components to be identical to OEM, I don’t expect a 100% failure rate. I expected better from no name Chinese parts but I guess that’s all Febi really supply when it comes down to it; repackaged parts from unknown origins, re-stamped.
So, practice what many preach and stick with OEM. It costs a little more but at least you shouldn’t have these kinds of experiences. The car is running full OEM sensors now, refreshed with new OEM parts where necessary.
I don’t know what the experience has been for other members but I have a 100% failure rate of all Febi Bilstein parts I’ve bought for my Z4.
When I bought the 30i back in 2024, I purchased a pair of Febi VANOS solenoids, as I knew they were a problematic item and people pretty much treat them as a serviceable item. I didn’t have history of them being changed, so I thought it best to swap them out as a preventative measure. They were fine for about a year and a half and 4k miles, before I started to experience some low RPM jolts and hiccups. I’ve held onto all parts I’ve swapped out on the car, so swapped the unbranded original items that came with the car back in. All was well again.
Next was a MAF sensor that I bought for trying out a different intake setup. I didn’t want to destroy the OEM Continental unit and wanted to preserve it with the airbox. Whilst playing with setups, I kept having driveability issues that I put down to general MAF sensitivity and issues with the intake setup I was trying to design. I put the OEM airbox back on and thought nothing of it, whilst setting the Febi MAF aside.
Now, whilst I had the VANOS solenoid issue, I swapped the MAF over to the Febi unit, as the issues were manifesting themselves as similar to the drivability issues I had with my intake experiments. I managed to identify the VANOS solenoid issue independently but when I started the car up from cold with the Febi MAF, the running was absolutely horrible; spluttering, struggling to find idle and bouncing between 1,100 RPM and 600 RPM. I put the Continental MAF back in and everything was perfect again. The Febi MAF had effectively failed to operate from day 1 but the circumstances surrounding the poor behaviour were linked to other variables. It is only now that combined the OEM intake can I see that it is faulty.
I know people say stick with Siemens/VDO/Continental but you see so much of a push for Febi and their “OE matching quality” statements. Whilst I don’t expect components to be identical to OEM, I don’t expect a 100% failure rate. I expected better from no name Chinese parts but I guess that’s all Febi really supply when it comes down to it; repackaged parts from unknown origins, re-stamped.
So, practice what many preach and stick with OEM. It costs a little more but at least you shouldn’t have these kinds of experiences. The car is running full OEM sensors now, refreshed with new OEM parts where necessary.
Scottish Borders