The below information is to help people whom worry about the use of aftermarket parts on their vehicles.
I worked for 10 years as technical procurement for ADL Blueprint before the merger with Febi Bilstein, this meant i was one of a team inspecting the quality of components sent to us from suppliers, these test would be to destruction and would be compared to those that we carried out on the original parts. Some parts were purchased from the same supplier as the OEM's used and thus did not fall into the requirement to test. I then spent 5 years working for MAN B&W in research and development, before my current employment as a project engineer for a company that overhauls and services large marine and industrial diesel and gas engines.
For information regarding the block exemption ruling regarding aftermarket automotive parts supply, see the following link, NOTE: this is only applicable in Europe and thus in youtube videos comparing products in the US the results will be vastly different due to there being less regulation.
https://www.figiefa.eu/new-automotive-block-exemption-regulation/
The aftermarket suppliers go through the following process to ensure they compete in the market segment as per the OEM rules, (this particular piece is from Febi Bilstein considered to be one of the best in the industry), they will go through many tests (metallurgy, polymer etc) when reverse engineering the product, and many just buy from the same source that the OEM uses. Providing all the correct lab testing has been carried out and the measurements are as per the OE sample there is no need to test the components for 1000's of hours, they have already been tested by the OEM, that said however if an aftermarket supplier has carried out design changes to make the product more durable, then they will have spent the money and time in testing the component for many thousands of hours.
https://www.febi.com/en/brand/quality-management/
OEM's do NOT make everything themselves and they do NOT design everything themselves, though they do advise the initial specs
for example,
- Miba bearings make 90% of the bearings seen in commercial and industrial engines, they also supply these same bearings in the aftermarket.
- Gates make 60% of the belt drive systems found in the european car park, they supply the likes of VW and FORD etc, what they don't make they will purchase from other OEM suppliers and rebrand as there own (they work closely with INA, part of the Schaefler group)
- Mahle produce pistons for many of the worlds OEM's , they also sell many of these pistons on the aftermarket
- same with Bosch
If people say the aftermarket equivalent from the same manufacturer (i.e bosch aftermarket to Bosch OE ) is of lesser quality then they are advising a myth. This is not the case, it is not worth the costs of installing a completely separate production line just to produce an aftermarket component.
In some instances OEM's will even supply you with aftermarket boxed products with there own labels on when they have ran out of the OE branded boxing (see PHOTO)
Oils - You do need to be careful with oils, there is 2x wordings, which sound like they mean the same however they are very different. These are:
"Recommended for" and "Approved for" (or has manufacturer approval)
For an oil to be approved by the manufacture, the oil company must send in a huge sample to be tested, this will be done in a laboratory and on a test cell, i now MTU send the oil out to test mules they have in volatile conditions like mining sites in Africa which they will send the oil to to be field tested for 1000 hours, you will then get a certificate of approval once completed.
To get approval is an extremely expensive and thus only the big oil companies will generally spend to obtain the approval (many of which also help design and blend the specification with the OEM's)
The "recommended for" are usually cheaper oils, and they are not tested, they will be the oil manufactures own advice based on the blend and structure of the oil.
in some instances this is done to enable the oil producer to either keep less product on the shelf, or for the end user to keep less product type, (for 5w30 oil there was about 10 different specs at one time) an example can be seen in the attached Fuchs oil.
Final note: for good quality parts at reasonable prices on cars that are outside of the manufacturers warranty, it pays to use parts from the aftermarket, i would advise to only stick to the well known brands (if you dont know them then research them), if your car is under warranty but you still wish to take advantage of the cost savings of the aftermarket, then stick to the OEM supplier, for example, if you have a vehicle from VW group you will likely have a Mann + Hummel Filter.
sometimes the OEM brands do have reasonable prices, VW's trade parts supply are an example of extremely good value for money (also note that they also re-box aftermarket components for reduced costings, brake pads for example they offer 2x tiers on most models)
I worked for 10 years as technical procurement for ADL Blueprint before the merger with Febi Bilstein, this meant i was one of a team inspecting the quality of components sent to us from suppliers, these test would be to destruction and would be compared to those that we carried out on the original parts. Some parts were purchased from the same supplier as the OEM's used and thus did not fall into the requirement to test. I then spent 5 years working for MAN B&W in research and development, before my current employment as a project engineer for a company that overhauls and services large marine and industrial diesel and gas engines.
For information regarding the block exemption ruling regarding aftermarket automotive parts supply, see the following link, NOTE: this is only applicable in Europe and thus in youtube videos comparing products in the US the results will be vastly different due to there being less regulation.
https://www.figiefa.eu/new-automotive-block-exemption-regulation/
The aftermarket suppliers go through the following process to ensure they compete in the market segment as per the OEM rules, (this particular piece is from Febi Bilstein considered to be one of the best in the industry), they will go through many tests (metallurgy, polymer etc) when reverse engineering the product, and many just buy from the same source that the OEM uses. Providing all the correct lab testing has been carried out and the measurements are as per the OE sample there is no need to test the components for 1000's of hours, they have already been tested by the OEM, that said however if an aftermarket supplier has carried out design changes to make the product more durable, then they will have spent the money and time in testing the component for many thousands of hours.
https://www.febi.com/en/brand/quality-management/
OEM's do NOT make everything themselves and they do NOT design everything themselves, though they do advise the initial specs
for example,
- Miba bearings make 90% of the bearings seen in commercial and industrial engines, they also supply these same bearings in the aftermarket.
- Gates make 60% of the belt drive systems found in the european car park, they supply the likes of VW and FORD etc, what they don't make they will purchase from other OEM suppliers and rebrand as there own (they work closely with INA, part of the Schaefler group)
- Mahle produce pistons for many of the worlds OEM's , they also sell many of these pistons on the aftermarket
- same with Bosch
If people say the aftermarket equivalent from the same manufacturer (i.e bosch aftermarket to Bosch OE ) is of lesser quality then they are advising a myth. This is not the case, it is not worth the costs of installing a completely separate production line just to produce an aftermarket component.
In some instances OEM's will even supply you with aftermarket boxed products with there own labels on when they have ran out of the OE branded boxing (see PHOTO)
Oils - You do need to be careful with oils, there is 2x wordings, which sound like they mean the same however they are very different. These are:
"Recommended for" and "Approved for" (or has manufacturer approval)
For an oil to be approved by the manufacture, the oil company must send in a huge sample to be tested, this will be done in a laboratory and on a test cell, i now MTU send the oil out to test mules they have in volatile conditions like mining sites in Africa which they will send the oil to to be field tested for 1000 hours, you will then get a certificate of approval once completed.
To get approval is an extremely expensive and thus only the big oil companies will generally spend to obtain the approval (many of which also help design and blend the specification with the OEM's)
The "recommended for" are usually cheaper oils, and they are not tested, they will be the oil manufactures own advice based on the blend and structure of the oil.
in some instances this is done to enable the oil producer to either keep less product on the shelf, or for the end user to keep less product type, (for 5w30 oil there was about 10 different specs at one time) an example can be seen in the attached Fuchs oil.
Final note: for good quality parts at reasonable prices on cars that are outside of the manufacturers warranty, it pays to use parts from the aftermarket, i would advise to only stick to the well known brands (if you dont know them then research them), if your car is under warranty but you still wish to take advantage of the cost savings of the aftermarket, then stick to the OEM supplier, for example, if you have a vehicle from VW group you will likely have a Mann + Hummel Filter.
sometimes the OEM brands do have reasonable prices, VW's trade parts supply are an example of extremely good value for money (also note that they also re-box aftermarket components for reduced costings, brake pads for example they offer 2x tiers on most models)
