why can't car makerrs standardise car parts?

Consider clutches. surely a clutch serves the same prupose in all car and should only differ in diameter in relation to engine power. So car makers need to dsign the gearbox input shaft to be same diameter and the same number of splines so only 3 or 4 different diameter clutches would be needed.

Spark plugs - two sizes, maye 8 or so temp ratings.

Wheels - one standard PCD and cetral hole for 3,4,5, and 6 dstud mountings.

Brakes - like clutches, are sized according to car wieght/power so again the calipers/discs need to be limit to maye 6 or so sizes.

Oil filters - all use same size thread and then need to be maybe sizes in 2 diameters.
why oh why does ever car manufaturere need to be different

I would have thought it was obvious,

So they can make more money out of us by selling parts that only they make

i guess cuz they are all in compotition and dont wan to work together????

Kinda like saying why are there so many kinda of baked beans.....

John

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Kinda like saying why are there so many kinda of baked beans.....

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AH HA but at least the bean tins are standardized

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Good job women aren't standardized we might all end up with an Ann Widecombe (disticnt feeling of nausea as i've just had me lunch)

Basically becuase its a free market. Manufacturers either make themselves for buy off the shelf from OEMs.

With OEMs competing on style/design/price and having copyright/patents on certain features there will be natural variations.

Designers improve engine designs, have constraints over space e.t.c which sometimes results in new OEM part designs.

The problem these days is as well as advancing design and sharing components accross manfactureres there are special variants and a whole load of old cars still out there.

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Originally posted by 02GF74
why can't car makerrs standardise car parts?

Wheels - one standard PCD and cetral hole for 3,4,5, and 6 dstud mountings.

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Everything will be standard soon - it'll all be VW or Ford before long

If you want to standardise something, why not the turn indicators control? Either on the left or on the right.

If you see my windshield wipers going on a dry day you'll know I'm in the G/Fs car and I'm turning right.

C'mon Brussels, where are you ?

You could standardise so many things if you wanted to but there's no real cost advantage (to the VM) in doing so. So what if you have a 100mm PCD and someone else has 4". You make your 100000 wheels per year and no-one else has the same so swapping would save nothing, so long as all your 4 stud wheels are the same.

I work for a tier 1 supplier and we'd be more than happy to supply the same size parts to everyone. They tell us to make one "this size" and we do. The cost of redesigning the car to fit the part is more than the tooling change to make the part fit the car.

If I were setting up my own car company, I would choose as many standard parts as I could find, but I can do this because I'm starting from scratch, so my hub bearings and steering rack and brake calipers etc would just so happen to be the same as someone elses.

I used to flash the screenwash when I first swapped cars, doesn't it come as a surprise

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Originally posted by StevieB
Everything will be standard soon - it'll all be VW or Ford before long

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