OEM Vs After Market Parts ?

[patricklprice]

You see the dealership push allot of OEM products and Im sure its money motivated on their part and also for warranty purposes but after the warranty expires does it really matter if you get an after market part? In general Im talking about the "Plug & Play" parts as in 0-2 sensors, Idle air-control, EGR Throttle positioning sensor etc... These parts take less than 5 min to change and are half as much when compared to the fatory ones. Some say the after markets are better quality and or that their the very same part. Your thoughts?

[Daox]

I always go with aftermarket parts. They're fine 99% of the time. The OEMs don't manufacturer most of their own parts, so chances are you may be getting an "OEM" part anyway.

On the rare occasion I do go with OEM its usually a part that I simply can't find from a parts store.

[2010AveoLT]

actually, its the Aftermarket Collision Repair parts you want to avoid; as they are not made to the same tolerences as the OEM Parts (I know this because at my Collision Repair School, we acted like a REAL Body Shop: we repaired Students', Faculty, and Staffs' ACTUAL Cars, and the Aftermarket parts we used at the Customer's Discretion did not fit quite right, and we had to MAKE them Fit.)

[patricklprice]

Thats always been the case on after market quarter panels and beams but electrical sensors are allot more forgiving. One would think that a factory OEM part on an older vehicle thats still mass produced fitting other models too would come down in price but they dont.

actually, its the Aftermarket Collision Repair parts you want to avoid; as they are not made to the same tolerences as the OEM Parts (I know this because at my Collision Repair School, we acted like a REAL Body Shop: we repaired Students', Faculty, and Staffs' ACTUAL Cars, and the Aftermarket parts we used at the Customer's Discretion did not fit quite right, and we had to MAKE them Fit.)

[patricklprice]

I asked a shop owner that rebuilds engines if he still honors a warranty for his engines if the OEM sensors are replaced with after market ones and he said yes and he said that after market parts are just as good as OEM. This tells me that if a Engine Over-Haul shop is willing to do this then so should GM in honoring warranties. Like I said in a previous post, these parts have been mass produced, perfected, tested by the public and fit many models so why the high prices.

[grego]

it can depend on the vehicle if you want to use non OEM parts for the sensors. If we were talking about my 94 Jeep Grand Cherokee, I would strongly disagree with you about non Mopar sensors since I have read too many stories of people buying a new non Mopar sensor and from the factory it didn't meet spec. But that is in a car that has little fault tolerance to how the voltage of a sensor works.

In the aveo it can be different you will need more opinion of people around here to know how it reacts to different sensors.

As far as parts go I don't blame people for using different parts and they can often be as good or better than factory ones

[petrified.rabbit]

i agree with grego, VW is also an example where many aftermarket sensors just will not cut it. There are sensors out there that or not OEM dealer that will work, but the ones from advance, pepboys etc don't work and are often within a few dollars of oem anyhow.

the aftermarket crash parts. If it is CAPA certified, they better fit.OR you send it back.

aftermarket is still a % game. direct plug and play tends to be much less savings than one would think, and often the warranty of the part is not worth the savings. If you are out of warranty do what you want, but if you find your replacing that aftermarket sensor every 5-10k miles. go back to oem, or figure out what the real problem is.

[2010AveoLT]

it can depend on the vehicle if you want to use non OEM parts for the sensors. If we were talking about my 94 Jeep Grand Cherokee, I would strongly disagree with you about non Mopar sensors since I have read too many stories of people buying a new non Mopar sensor and from the factory it didn't meet spec. But that is in a car that has little fault tolerance to how the voltage of a sensor works.

In the aveo it can be different you will need more opinion of people around here to know how it reacts to different sensors.

As far as parts go I don't blame people for using different parts and they can often be as good or better than factory ones

and I 200% agree with that mindset; I had to replace the Upstream Oxygen Sensor in my 98 Plymouth Breeze with the $80 one from the Dealer because the PCM Freaked out when I put an aftermarket Bosch one on. (I then drew the conclusion that my Plymouth HATED ANYTHING Made by Bosch, so I tried to stick to the OEM parts.) Mopar Automatic Transmissions are also HYPER Sensitive to the Quality and type of Fluid put in to them: to put it bluntly, if we tried to put our T-IV ATF in it or the Dexron VI that all the other GM Products use in a Chrysler Automatic, you would be spending $2K on a new Transmission.

[JusteR]

For the cloud car NGK or nippondenso is prb better than bosch... and use champion plugs. I digress... I am trying an aftermarket MAP in my Aveo (speed density/manual transmission) fuel trim is +4 total at idle and BARO is 1-2inhg off. I am going to exchange it in another month or so, and then ck voltage drops before I finally go with the dealer one. pm me if you want to know the brand.

[2010AveoLT]

For the cloud car NGK or nippondenso is prb better than bosch... and use champion plugs. I digress... I am trying an aftermarket MAP in my Aveo (speed density/manual transmission) fuel trim is +4 total at idle and BARO is 1-2inhg off. I am going to exchange it in another month or so, and then ck voltage drops before I finally go with the dealer one. pm me if you want to know the brand.

FWIW, I used NOTHING but the Stock Champion RC9YCs in my Cloud, because those plugs were DESIGNED for that Engine.