Your opinion: OE or aftermarket parts?

Depends on the varying of cost.

Servicing stuff I usually go for OE parts as there's little price difference, but other things such as brake components etc I'll go to the motor factors or go uprated depending on the car.
 
Sin_Chase said:
A mix.

Some OE parts are cheaper and just as good as after-market counterparts. Some after-market are cheaper and just as good or more pricey but warrant it for being better.

Sometimes OE is just not available, for example you cannot buy S2000 suspension bushings alone.
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Ditto for the Teg.

Paid £14 per balll joint rather than about £60, dampers and springs are £700ish whereas adjustable coilovers (MeisterR) were £500.

Cambelt and waterpump though was OEM all the way.

I have OEM RTA bushes to retain the active rear toe on the car, but the rest are superlex poly. They are easy to install and a damn good price too.
 
For me it depends on the car and how much main dealer history I want with it. On my current car I bought it with full history and I want to keep it that way for when I come to sell it so only denuine parts get used

Previous cars I have not bothered and just used ADL Blueprint parts which have been fine and cheaper
 
Depends on the part ofc. In example my car is a 1997 Prelude which shares most of its mechanical parts with the 1991 car, last MOT I needed a new CV joint which Honda wanted well over £100 for so I got one off ebay for £25. This horrified some of my friends but at the end of the day its a friggin CV joint, the technology was designed in the 1920's and this one is for a nearly 20 year old car design, how bad does a company have to be to screw it up?

Im assuming you mean the MG ZS here? Well im not trying to insult you or your car here (hell its worth more than mine) but as you may or not know the MG ZS was based on the Rover 45 which was in turn based on the Honda Domani (which went on sale in 1992). Wither or not its worth going for OM parts or not will depend on the part in question as like my car some of your parts will be from a nearly 20 year old car design. OFC parts unique to the ZS may warrant OE purchases.

NB: don't buy OE brake pads/discs you can always get better ones cheaper after market.
 
On my Focus I have an aftermarket exhaust system (for the most part; standard downpipe and it's 2nd Hand, so even cheaper), but a standard system from ford would cost over double the price of the aftermarket system, lol.
 
-westy- said:
Just motor factory parts for me - all the parts are made to the same tolerances and standards, so I don't see why they'd be any different/worse.
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Not true at all, OE ball joints on my car lasted 13 years, Pattern part lasted 6 months, another OE is still looking new after 18 months.

ubersonic said:
NB: don't buy OE brake pads/discs you can always get better ones cheaper after market.
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Depends on the car IMHO, OEM on most cars are very good and not all marques charge the earth.

I rate mazda OEM pads higher than green stuff and they are less.
 
Very rarely OE. If the part works and it cost me less money that through the dealer then it's a win in my book, even if I don't have a lovely "Lexus" invoice receipt to put into my paperwork.

Always buy my oil filters (and most other service bits) genuine though.
 
In the case of well developed cars it has to be OE all the time, the manufacturers spend a lot of money developing their cars including parts. However, a ZS is a Rover so probably lacked development anyway so aftermarket parts probably better :).

Also, depends what the original poster means but aftermarket parts. Some parts are very similar just a different manufacturer than the original parts. But if you're talking aftermarket parts as in performance improving part I would rather stick with OEM.

One experience of mine. I had a 1987 BMW. The exhaust lasted some 90k miles and some 17 years. In fact it was still okay but back box was going. I replaced the lot with a stainless steel exhaust with a good name but was quite cheap (just over 1/3rd cost of what BMW wanted for an entire system £450 - BMW wanted £1200). Within a year and <20k miles the thing was a rattly POS. And when I first bought it, it didn't even fit properly anyway and had to be re-adjusted. ANd things like aftermarket air filters (cotton gauze/foam) do let more rubbish into the engine and soak up more hot air also in the case of those silly cones you can get.

I would say when fitting aftermarket parts fit more expensive parts than OEM as they're likely to be better quality than cheap non-OEM parts, which is obvious really as like always "you get what you pay for"
 
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OE all the way
The taxi gets nothing but genuine vauxhall parts but being on trade helps as does the 90 day account at Vaux


Price example genuine discs and pads all round £106 that's front and rears

Not as dear as people expect it's proven parts and I like gm logos
 
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