Counterfeit Bearings

Counterfeit Bearings

A news media release 24 August 2007 stated "Counterfeiting activities are the highest in passenger vehicles, with 45% of after-sales market captured by Counterfeiters". That is a shocking amount and unfortunately it’s a topic that a car owner would probably not even have thought about.

We have taken steps into permanently etching our Logo, Part number & Batch number onto a visible face of the Hill Tensioner & Clutch bearing and urge you to choose carefully when purchasing any bearing for your Ferrari (Engine, Gearbox or running gear)

All Hill Engineering Clutch & Tensioner bearings now come in security sealed boxes with tamper evident seals. If you are unsure of the origin of your bearings please email us at tech@hillengineering.co.uk quoting the unique serial number on the packaging of your bearings and we will be able to tell you where these were supplied to.

If you are specifying a Hill Engineering bearing for your service/repair, we suggest asking the shop to return the boxes to you so that you can personally check with us for your own peace of mind

Taken from //www.bearingcode.com/

Defining Bogie & Counterfeit Bearings
Recent news items from bearing agencies have often varied when describing Counterfeit Bearings or bearings without proper identification.

One news report stated "Bogus Bearings" in an attempt to group all potentially inferior Bearings as dangerous & should not be marketed under any circumstances. Although there is merit in this statement a more precise description is perhaps needed when referring to "Bogus" (Bogus simply means Counterfeit).

As there are many types of Bearings not conforming to a "Consumer & Safety" obligation, the following types should not be marketed or installed and this description is known as "BOGIE"

BOGIE BEARINGS

- Re-Badged
- Re-Labeled
- No-Badged
- No-Labeled
- No-Country of Origin
- Modifications not marked
- Counterfeit / Bogus

The reason for making these categories, some of the Worlds leading Bearing Manufacturers are producing millions of bearings without proper identification eg. No Country of Origin, instead using a code such as "A30" meaning Made in China to avoid consumer detection, although not "COUNTERFEIT" definitely "BOGIE".

There are bearing companies who have set themselves up as so-called "Manufacturers" by purchasing old or surplus stock to make a re-badge and re-pack in glossy packets & sold as 1st quality EU/USA product. Then there are companies who purchase from 3rd world countries bearing stock without any identification only to be fitted into a new ID with the intention of selling as 1st quality. The description for this type of "BOGIE" bearing is not clear as to Counterfeit/Bogus or just fraud.

Hill Engineering purchases ALL bearings either direct from the manufacturer or their approved distributor - Under our strict ISO9000 quality assurance procedures all of our bearing purchases, assembly & dispatch records are kept for a minimum of 10 years.

We will guarantee you we use genuine bearings!