Aftermarket V Genuine Parts

[MakaveliX]

Is there any benefit with going Genuine from the manufacturer over Aftermarket ( OEM Equivalent ) parts ?
Asking as I'm looking at bushings and wondering if I'm more likely to get a better quality part from the dealership.

From my understanding, most manufacturers make the chassis and engine, then lots of other parts are sourced externally then stamped with their badge ( mazda in my case )

Thanks

The OE equivalents I have here at the moment are FirstLine ( Borg & Beck ) UK company which has been around for years. Not a cheapo chinese thing. Visually, they look identical to the Genuine Mazda part, except the logo obviously.

Edited by MakaveliX on Thursday 16th November 15:35

[Gary C]

MakaveliX said:

Is there any benefit with going Genuine from the manufacturer over Aftermarket ( OEM Equivalent ) parts ?
Asking as I'm looking at bushings and wondering if I'm more likely to get a better quality part from the dealership.

From my understanding, most manufacturers make the chassis and engine, then lots of other parts are sourced externally then stamped with their badge ( mazda in my case )

Thanks

Yes, lots of parts are not made by the OEM and you can get quality parts without going to the dealer

However, there are a LOT of sub standard parts available. Amazon has them by the tonne (Just look up Maxpeedingrods, no, not a joke)) for the way China have flooded the market with very very cheap parts with very questionable quality.

Best thing is to look up a motorfactor in your area. They generally stock OEM quality parts (which may still come from China) from the manufacture and are significantly cheaper (I use EK's in lancaster)

[PositronicRay]

I use OEM parts for something critical and or labour intensive.

Bushings I'd happily go for good quality (Lemforder etc) after market parts. If the spec is the same then ride will be.

Recently I fitted genuine springs, they weren't much more and ride hight is bob on.

[donkmeister]

Lemforder are an OEM supplier aren't they? I seem to recall they supplied the fancy oleo engine mounts on MB cars, for instance.

OEM is usually going to be good enough, and you won't go wrong with them. However, in certain cases there are improved parts available from aftermarket suppliers, especially with enthusiast's cars. However, I dodged a bullet when I didn't buy some new bushes for a Lexus and then later found out people had been having all sorts of problems with them... However for other models of car this bush specialist was regarded as the bee's knees.

So there is no hard and fast rule about which is better, just that OEM will be good enough.

[GroundEffect]

It's something I never got an answer for as a component engineer. Generally when designing parts that are made by a supplier (in very few cases you would buy something and make no changes to it) the OEM would pay and own the tooling for the brand-specific parts of it.

Therefore, I cannot really make a statement on how good "OE-quality" parts are versus actual OEM parts.

I typically buy parts for used/older cars that are non-OEM by looking for reputable suppliers. Bosch, Valeo, Mahle etc. They're unlikely to sell crap parts regardless....but do remember, if it's not the original supplier, they would not have the technical specification for the part...

[tux850]

MakaveliX said:

The OE equivalents I have here at the moment are FirstLine ( Borg & Beck ) UK company which has been around for years. Not a cheapo chinese thing.

Ah, be careful with that particular example though. Whilst the Borg & Beck *brand* has indeed been around for years, pre- and post-2006 they are completely different companies. First Line are very careful - crafty almost - with their wording surrounding that particular brand. I've bought from them though, but more based on balancing up cost savings vs risk, reviews etc, as opposed to reading anything into heritage surrounding the name. I would not be surprised if Borg & Beck branded products are not made in China. Why wouldn't they be? They are well suited and set up to making such products.

Edited by tux850 on Thursday 16th November 23:30

[MakaveliX]

tux850 said:

Ah, be careful with that particular example though. Whilst the Borg & Beck *brand* has indeed been around for years, pre- and post-2006 they are completely different companies. First Line are very careful - crafty almost - with their wording surrounding that particular brand. I've bought from them though, but more based on balancing up cost savings vs risk, reviews etc, as opposed to reading anything into heritage surrounding the name. I would not be surprised if Borg & Beck branded products are not made in China. Why wouldn't they be? They are well suited and set up to making such products.

Edited by tux850 on Thursday 16th November 23:30

So is there any difference between a first line part and a borg and beck part ? As they were the exact same price on the UK site I buy my parts from.
I went for first line as they seemed quite well established.

Interestingly upon close inspection of the bushing when compared to the genuine ones, they look identical, but the first line part has quite clearly had the mazda logo covered up from the corner of it. Perhaps first line or a similar company actually supply Mazda with the bushings?
Both genuine and aftermarket say >NR< on them which I'd assume means natural rubber or even nitrile rubber.

Thanks

Edited by MakaveliX on Friday 17th November 07:33

[Belle427]

Id leave anything from first line or borg and beck well alone.

[MakaveliX]

Belle427 said:

Id leave anything from first line or borg and beck well alone.

Even for a bushing ? Have you had a bad experience?

[Dynion Araf Uchaf]

this is thread right up my street...

The market place for car parts both OE and aftermarket is changing rapidly almost daily. Ebay are now pushing hard to encourage OEM's to place it's parts product lines into branded stores on their market place. This means that eBay will ultimately get the fitment data for OE parts and then be able to map them across to aftermarket uses TECDOC and other databases. So within 5 years, eBay could become the de facto place to buy parts - obtain the OE part number then search for it on eBay and get all options returned including cheap chinese ste and green parts from recyclers.

As for the difference, often there isn't very much if any. Manufacturers go out to the suppliers with a spec of the part and a price point and the suppliers either take a product off the shelf or build one to meet the requirements. So these suppliers do have the correct specs. What may then happen is that the supplier builds a 'batch of parts' and anything surplus is sold through a different channel and ends up being 'aftermarket'. And it is true that in some cases the difference is that the markings are ground off.

Chinese products buy the part from a legitimate source then copy it, guessing at things like tensile strength.

Also and in the case of Borg and Beck you may not get the full part for your money. This was certainly the case when I replaced the clutch slave cylinder on my daughters Ka, but it was £100 cheaper and it wasn't difficult to fit the missing bits from the car to the cylinder.

Where I have a real problem is the 'performance aftermarket stuff' as I think the vast majority of it is junk.

[MakaveliX]

According to first line their factories are based in the UK, France, Spain and Czech Republic.
This information however may be outdated

[MakaveliX]

wyson said:

Do you not know a Mazda specialist you can speak to, who have experience fitting these parts?

I needed new bushes, for a Golf my indy recommended Febi Bilstein over OE as a good quality replacement. Quite a bit cheaper too. For stuff like bumpstops they recommended going 'genuine', again based on their experience of trying this and that.

Really don't understand what looking up the location of some factories is going to achieve.

Just to show the parts are made in Europe and not cheap Chinese..

Thanks for the suggestion but no, as it is such an obscure part to need replacing ( especially at low mileage ) there isn't much information.

Obviously the other option is going to Mazda for the genuine part but again their stock seems hit and miss, and most the time they don't even bother replying to my emails - so I did my research and went aftermarket instead. ( at least with aftermarket you know the exact dimensions of the part, with Mazda they don't give out part numbers OR anything regarding the specification ( sizing ) etc

Your indy was probably right as I have KYB shocks, Febi drop links, and Tedgum top mounts and had no issues.

Edited by MakaveliX on Friday 17th November 11:46

[Bainbridge]

To me it really does depend on what part is being replaced because sometimes non OEM parts are an improvement on the original, but if the quality of available replacements in doubt I'd go OEM.

[MakaveliX]

Bainbridge said:

To me it really does depend on what part is being replaced because sometimes non OEM parts are an improvement on the original, but if the quality of available replacements in doubt I'd go OEM.

Yeah very good point. When replacing shocks for example I will always go for high end aftermarket such as KYB
These firstline bushes have the mazda logo and part number etched out of it, interestingly enough.... this coincides with what someone said on another thread in regards to the logo being etched off or covered up on certain parts.