I bought a full Meyle set 3 or 4 years ago and had a major battle with the tie rod ends in my garage. I ended up putting it all back together and took it took the guy who does the things I can't (a Rally driver and car builder). He had to take the full struts off the car and get them onto a bench to get the tie rod ends off. If memory serves me correctly he had to use a torch to cut them off. All in all it was 8 hours labour for a professional, so about £400 for the parts and £400 for the work.
Now that all said I just had to replace 2 of the drop links, which have worn after only 3 or 4 years. I had replaced them with OEM parts not long before I bought the full Meyle set so I still had the slightly used parts in my garage to fit. I don't do big miles and would have expected more than 3 or 4 years, but maybe that's about right? Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Winter here in Finland can be harsh and when there's no fluffy snow there can be layers of hard ice that result in quite a rough drive around town.
So that all said, if OEM is going to cost £1000 for a full set then Meyle of Lemforder for £400 ish (as the guys have already said) would be a good choice in my opinion. Buying from Germany doesn't guarantee they are German made parts so be careful. And expect anything from 4 to 8 hours fitting at your garage if you won't be doing it yourself. I'm fairly competent but there was no way those tie rod ends were coming off for me.
