A last contribution from Nick at Andover Norton (I was hoping he'd sign up and wade in himself)
"Thanks for the background. I am always amazed at how much trouble people are
prepared to waste trying to make "improvements" to tried and tested
products. The problem is compounded of course by suppliers of pirate parts
using factory part numbers, and the recipients of such parts may not be
aware that they haven't got the real thing.
The specification of any component is defined within the factory part number
and it therefore follows that the part number will change when significant
changes are made to it - a point made by one of the forum contributors. In
the case of the isolastic washers 06.0578 is the original polyurethane type.
These proved unsatisfactory because of their high wear rate (particularly in
the front mounting, which catches most of the weather) and were replaced by
06.3556. New material = new part number, and so when the centre hole was
enlarged the part number changed again to 06.4748.
Just a couple of final points:
1) Dealers are primarily interested in making a profit. Ask yourself why a
certain dealer recommends his own version of a particular part - is it
really better than the genuine factory item or could it possibly be the case
that it earns him a better return?
2) If it is misinformation that you are looking for there is no better place
to find it than on an internet forum!
All the best, and thanks for your interest,
Nick "
I obviously don't agree with his comments about forums cos I'm here. Sure there's plenty of misinformation but there's also a huge amount of knowledge and experience.