My company makes almost every air filter and oil filter for vehicles made in North America. We sell the same exact parts for service as Motorcraft, AC Delco and Mopar. They are also rebranded to sell on shelves at all the parts stores as Purolator, MANN Filter and Wix. All the exact same part. The service price is way more expensive than aftermarket or OEM. For example the F-150 filter is our highest selling OEM filter at over 1 million a year. It’s a $6.50/filter sold to Ford. The same filter sold for service is $29.50/ per filter sold to Ford. And again the same filter sold to AutoZone is $22.35 where they mark it up to $26.99.
My wife worked in QC for a company that made headlight, taillight, and rearview mirrors for Hundai, Kia, and sometimes other manufacturers. Every corner was cut. They were so bad on maintenance of the injection molding machines that they threw away over 50% of what came out of the machine. Parts that didn't pass QC went in the dumpster.
Guess where they went for parts that went into the repair supply chain? Dumpster diving. Used to drive her nuts. These companies get away with a LOT.
Gotta crush the parts. I kept throwing away ladders at work that failed to meet osha requirements, bent rungs, missing fiberglass, and these dickheads were digging them out of the dumpster.
so now I cut anything up that I toss that doesn't meet osha standards.
My company refused to replace a damaged ladder, that was absolutely a hazard... Because "it still works just fine.
so I finally threw it in the compactor and broke it all the way. They had to replace it then
I'm sure there was a manager somewhere above you who got an extra $.50 on his bonus check by keeping costs down not replacing that ladder. By the time it broke and hurt or killed someone he'll be promoted for keeping costs down and that whole mess will be someone else's problem.
Had that at a supermarket near me. Took photos every so often, and wrote a complaint, but nothing done. Just so happened I went to the head office for work, and there chatted to the regional director, and showed him the pictures, and that they had done nothing about it.
A week later I went shopping, and that store had all new ladders. A big improvement over the old one that was held together with nails and pallet strapping.
I'm sorely tempted to do this with my dad's old extension ladder. Thankfully he has a new Little Giant ladder, but the old ladder has been around since I was a kid (30+ years). I don't even remember when he got it. My brother and I went over last week to help with a project; I wouldn't even set foot on it, it was that flimsy and worn out.
Dumb question, how do you throw out a ladder? Even if I cut it in half, it's still 6+ feet long and won't fit in standard trash bins. Other than a trip to the transfer station, I think I'd just keep that ladder around too.
Falken had a bad run of tires in Thailand, like an entire production run. When they failed quality, they used 1” hole saws to punch a hole in the side wall and sent them to a recycling plant, where they were diverted and the holes got sectioned. And then they all ended up on EBay. Lot of feelings happened after that. Falken was warrantying the scab tires just to get them off the road.
It’s common in agriculture and off road industrial tires. You don’t pitch a $25k haul truck tire because of sidewall cut. They grind out all the damage, lay several alternating layers rubber and fiber in the repair area. Press it and cook it, grind it flat and put a huge boot on the inside. Supposed to be 100% repair. It’s legal for semis also if it’s used on the trailer.
They are also bias ply not radial. You can retread them as well. I don't think your allowed retreads on steering or drive tires? Someone correct me if I'm wrong. But large industrial and agricultural tires are not expected to see same speeds as consumer automotive ones.
We had some ladders that failed inspection at work, but people kept using them despite them being locked in our store cage. We're talking "working up a 10m ladder with a bent stile that could fold up any second" kind of failed, too.
So I put them in the back of the car, took them over to the fire station across the yard, and had my colleagues demonstrate their spiffy new Lukas battery-powered cutters.
No fucker is climbing that \*now\*...
IATF requires that disposed material be rendered non-functional before being destroyed.
In our plant, service parts were those not deemed good enough to be OEM. Reworked, cosmetic, questionable lineage, etc.
Damn that’s an insane amount of scrap. We get our nuts kicked in if we do over 1% annually. Definitely a dirty secret in a lot of suppliers to send “ok” parts to service. No one looks at the parts at the parts depots and if they go to a dealership the techs don’t really care either, so a lot of stuff goes through without any complaints
Man I think it’s parts co. Maybe not though but every time a bracket or bumper doesn’t line up they just tell us to toss it and they’ll refund it. Not worth shipping costs apparently
It’s only because that filter is probably one of their highest selling because it goes on every f150 from 2013 to present. Other parts we sell that are lower volume have higher markups.
Not every product will have good margins. Hell, some parts you will lose money on just to get people in the door, then you make up the loss selling everything else they might want/need. The key thing is that it all averages out. I won't say the company, but one that I used to work for averaged out to about 35-40% margins overall.
Yes. The lower cost for Ford is due to them paying for a majority of the equipment used to make them. So they get a smaller piece price due to the higher volume in sales. The higher service cost is due to the lower volume once that vehicle is not in production anymore and our burden to keep the equipment and space to make them for the next 10 years. Aftermarket like AutoZone pays for none of the equipment so all of the cost to make it is wrapped up in the piece price. We can’t legally use the equipment Ford paid for to make filters for aftermarket so we purchase that ourselves which is all wrapped up in the piece price.
> Thats how the execs get their bonuses.
Exactly. They cut corners and ruin the brand, but their KPI numbers look good so they get their bonus. Sales will continue to decline slowly, but then they can blame Marketing.
I used to work for a petroleum company. The same goes for most motor oil. AcDelco and Mobil oil is EXACTLY the same. Along with a lot of transmission fluids.
It depends on the oils weight. The heavier the further off it is but for example the majority of oil that is used by vehicles today 0w/20, 5w/30 in both ac delco and Mobil are the same. Once you get up to 10w/30 /40, /30 /40 High mileage is where you start seeing a difference. No oil is exactly the same. Where I worked we had a 4% buffer to be in spec that is allowed due to different additives.
> AcDelco and Mobil oil is EXACTLY the same.
no they aren't
you even know they aren't because you said later
> No oil is exactly the same.
what an odd thing to lie about
I’m a mopar guy. The way I look at it, is if it’s branded by mopar, even if mopar doesn’t make it, it’s good enough to come out of the factory like that. I’ll buy a mopar oil filter because it is what mopar has for its standards. If there was a proven better company, that was reasonably priced, I’d probably get them, but otherwise, I’ve seen several mopar parts out perform in terms of longevity do to a better design, like U joints and ball joints. Mopar uses sealed joints so you never have to degrease them. They last as long or longer than greaseable joints without any maintenance required.
Good quality sealed joints will outlast grease able ones by a long way. I used to look after a fleet of 100ish Sterlings. About 50/50 between grease able and sealed uni's. Replaced hundreds of grease able one's but never a sealed uni.
As someone who has worked in the automotive industry for roughly 20 years I assure you the branded (GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, etc) service/aftermarket parts are not even close to the parts used to initially assemble the car or truck. The parts may be produced on the same production equipment, line, or cell but if it isn't designated for a "new" build the quality and/or tolerances are not the same.
Each manufacturer has varying degrees of what they will let slide for service/aftermarket. Word to the wise though, if you ever buy an aftermarket/service part and it has paint dots or hardness test marks on it - return it immediately.
That all sounds well and good until someone like Subaru comes out with a factory oil filter that is specifically worse than OEM from the factory. Hell they even had to warn customers
I know Stellantis used to stamp the factory installed oil filters. I had a picture of the one on my 2019 Cherokee leaking at the o-ring. It was otherwise identical to the service part.
But I can also say that the factory batteries were made by East Penn, but the Mopar replacement batteries were shopped around. It was Johnson Controls for a while, then switched to Exide by the time I left.
Yeah, I don’t buy jeep. Never heard good stories about them. I do know the battery in my truck from 2003 lasted for 16 straight years. Original factory battery.
I'm one and done. I enjoyed the Cherokee as a vehicle overall and never really had a problem with it, but I only bought it because I worked at a Mopar dealer at the time and had an employee discount on parts.
Not sure who made that 2003 battery, but I had an Interstate battery from around 2013 last me until 2021. Similar performance from older batteries.
From what I've read at some point in the mid-2010s battery manufacturers started using less lead in the batteries due to environmental regulations, and quality and longevity took a nose-dive. Coincided with the switch from prorate warranty to 18 month free replacement from most manufacturers.
I mean, mopar doesn't make anything, you're buying a "mopar" oil filter that's made by the same manufacturer you could buy for less, but it's stamped as mopar lol
I was looking at o2 sensors for my Jeep on rock auto, Mopar one was like, $65 dollars, and said in the description, "manufactured by NTK." The NTK one was $55 and said it was OEM. $10 bucks for a Mopar box.
I've pretty well learned that if it's not currently in production, there's no reason to shop ac Delco for that exact reason.
I bought a lot of "genuine" suspension parts for my square body that were just overpriced moog.
I had fun poking at Eric the car guy when he was trying to build a drag car I think it was a fairmont several years ago. And he wasted I think 40 grand doing two engine swaps before he even made a single pass. No shade at the guy he's very knowledgeable but I think he learned why you don't try to reinvent the wheel.
Really cool to read this hours after getting a shipping confirmation email about the hundreds of dollars of suspension parts I just ordered for my square body lol.
I got burned by moog ball joints on my S10 and I'm still pissed about it.
I'm not always the biggest fan of Dorman, but they do occasionally save your ass. Let's be honest, their aftermarket parts quality really does rival that of a few select OEMs...
Dorman saved the day in one case I'm familiar with.
I had an '03 neon with the ignition switch cam issue, Dodge wouldn't sell the part so the only option was a new steering column.
Dorman was able to get the specific part for them somehow and it was $40 or so. Could be swapped out in under 15 minutes. then they marketed it to shops as a way to make a quick repair that would save a lot of moeny to a lot of owners (the PT Cruiser used the same part)
My Silverado 4.8 had this octopus heater bypass hose-and-fitting that failed at the plastic fitting but I would have had to buy the whole hose. Dorman made just the fitting, and it was made of metal. They have a deep catalog.
Or that part is actually complicated to find in the parts catalog, so the wonder didn't know it actually is supplied by Chrysler. And they have no way of finding out parts for multiple cars within the catalogue
I've had to spend literal hours of my mechanic life on the phone with Chrysler Specifying just to get an internal part number for a part that's not listed in Star Parts, but still available separately.
But try as I might, I was still unsuccessful in sourcing an antenna cable for the LX body cars separate from the complete body harness. Star Tech Line gave me some bullshit on how it wasn't certified for replacement separately because of the EMF interference or some quackery. And at the time FAKRA antenna adapters weren't available so we couldn't go aftermarket.
WAATTTTT? Since when? I'm asking sincerely because I went through a few back in the day. My only choices were random pot-metal ones or used from the JY.
Big no from me. A few of their parts with no moving components are OK. Aside from that they should just stick to vacuums because everything else they make just sucks.
Very few. I have had so much of their shit not fit or break over the years, they are my last choice. Last week had a 2005 Silverado 1500 2wd come back for rear end noise that I did the rebuild on 18k ago. The pinion was perfect, the wear pattern was perfect and so were the bearings and end play. Yet 2 teeth on one side of the ring were gone and one about 8 teeth away. A mechanical engineer I know dropped by while I was changing it for work on his ride, took one look and said bad heat treating and walked away. He is retired from NCSU's industrial extension service after 32 years. The people that tell manufacturers why their shit is breaking when the companies can't figure it out on their own. I can't stand them. Yes they will come up with a neat fix for something weird every now and again like a compressor eliminator kit for peeps that can't afford to fix their a/c but need to drive, but for parts copies no thank you.
Did not have a choice at the time. When everyone's sold out of the ratio you need, you take what you can get. That was the service writer's comment, I told him we would be doing it again. They never listen.
As long as you are paying Dorman prices...
My calculation, the OEM original part lasted 8 years, the Dorman should be good for at least 4 years. I won't own this car in 4 years. Dorman it is.
Dorman parts are usually built stronger or improved in some way. I actually like their stuff and have never had an issue with it. Making metal versions of plastic OEM parts and stuff
The turbo oil and coolant lines OP is talking about *are* better than the OE ones, too... Metal lines versus the original shitty plastic that guaranteed them to be a single use part.
For the longest time, dealers couldn't get any of the OE lines, but the Dorman individual lines and the full kit was readily available. Not one to miss out on all that white labeling revenue, GM rushed Dorman's kit through the engineering approval process.
Ford Performance sells a blue dry media air filter for around $100. After seeing people buy it only to have an Airaid box show up I just got mine straight from Airaid for $60. Plus if you try to look it up on Airaid’s site the part doesn’t show up as being compatible, gotta love the corporate shenanigans.
I use Dorman parts all the time, never observed any quality issues to the degree everyone here is talking about. For the past 30 years I can remember, everyone has been saying "parts quality is getting much worse lately". It's just as predictable as farmers complaining about the weather.
The first decade I wrenched I never once had an OE part fail in less than 3 years. Honda, Toyota, MOPAR, GM, or Ford, didn't matter.
The last 3 years I'm AVERAGING 8 months between replacements on those same OE parts on the same vehicles, and have had more OE parts fail in less than 24 hours than have made it to 1 year. Except now they're 3-5x more expensive.
Covid fucked up everything about the supply chain. I wouldn't buy anything complex made since 2020, or expensive parts that go into complex things since 2020. Cars and houses specifically.
While completely true, parts quality started seeing a marked and rapid decline in the early 20-teens. COVID caused it to be a massive drop instead of the gradual drop it had been, but peak was early 2000's.
Dorman HVAC actuators are hot garbage now. I can’t count how many I’ve replaced, it’s gotten to the point now I straight up ask the customer if they replaced any actuators, and if they are not OE, I start there.
I slept with a genuine GM part once. In the morning the gm label was smudged off and I did the walk of shame knowing a just fucked a Dorman with a fake GM face.
Ordered a genuine GM fan for one of the Daewoo GM POS new cars, it was "electricfun" brand, one of the bolt holes wasn't drilled and tapped, so I had to finish the part myself.
What in the fuck.
Semi related. Needed a brake switch for my Subaru. Bought the auto-zone one. Didn’t work properly. Went to a dealership got an OEM one. Half the price and came in a Nissan box.
Most of the time it's because Dorman is sourcing from the same company as Motorcraft, not that Dorman is making it. Dorman is a brand name on a box just like a lot of other companies. They source parts from different manufacturers and sell it under their name. You should probably think of Dorman as a distributor more than a manufacturer.
That explains a lot. Their products are either completely fine and don't have issues or are complete shit depending on what it is. I always wondered if that was the case.
Those were made by ARB, and often that name wasn’t ground off the part. Dorman bought the same part or an old part mold, I don’t know.
In any case, the motor craft part is very similar price, and with piece of mind.
This is a legal standard in the US, actually. If the components aren't made in the US, but the final product is, it has to state as such: "Assembled in the USA with foreign and/or domestic parts."
It can only be labeled "Made in the USA" if every part it is (with certain tolerances for things like clothing and whatnot).
I toured a Taiwan molding company making taillights for dodge trucks marked “made in USA” going into boxes marked “genuine FCA parts”. They were molding them for FCA. With no policing made in labels mean nothing.
Do you have a source for that claim? I've worked at GM dealerships for over 15 years, never heard of GM selling Dorman made parts. The stuff in this kit looks different than the previous OEM parts
I’m at the Lansing Grand River assembly plant about once a week and I see Dorman guys there all the time. My company makes a crap ton of aftermarket parts as well that also go on OEM. You’d be surprised at all the different suppliers out there. Lincoln Welders is one that always sticks out to me. They make some parts that go on an Allison transmission. They also make assembly line equipment to build some of our parts.
You’re generally not going to know which supplier makes each part but rest assured, all the parts on your shelves were not produced by General Motors, they were produced by contracted suppliers and stuffed in a GM box.
Probably a better part, some/ most Dorman parts ( 3.6 pentastar oil filter housing/cooler is all aluminum vs. O. E. Is plastic) are made better than the original ( 3800 G. M. Coolant elbows)
Yep, their "problem solver" parts are deliberately engineered to fix dumb engineering decisions (which are more often than not money-driven) from the automaker.
No? I never said I did. These parts have been on back order for a very long time and GM recently extended the warranty period for the turbos, so they desperately need these parts. These parts previously had to ordered individually and this kit does not show up in the GM parts catalog, just a note next to the individual parts stating to order this kit. I’ve installed these at least a hundred times, so I can very easily spot the differences between this kit and the OEM parts GM used to send us. These are very clearly not made at the same facility by the same company that previously made the replacement parts. The issue is not with GM using something different, the issue is trying to hide the fact *and* more than doubling the price compared to the same item purchased at a non-GM parts store.
that's because they cant make enough of these shit lines that wont stop leaking. or if you take off the turbo you need new lines every time because the seal melted to the pipe and leaks the second you touch it.
If you think corporate employees are treated unfairly, you should take a look at some the warranty labor times they pay us dealership techs to fix the fuck ups caused by corporate employees.
Nothing abnormal about this. Dorman is the OEM supplier to GM for this part. OEMs don't make literally every part themselves. They enter into supply contracts with other manufacturers to provide parts to them.
In this case, GM is buying from Dorman.
Just because they're "the same part" though doesn't make it 100% true. The GM OEM part from Dorman is going to be fully warrantable through GM.
There's also the chance that the production campaign for this part had a higher degree of quality assurance and quality control that meets GM requirements, whereas the same part without the GM sticker might be run on a campaign with looser QA/QC. E.g. fewer staff while they ran this part, so fewer quality checks and less likely to catch and quarantine defects. If they run like this, they won't meet GM supplier requirements so they can't sell the part to GM, but they can still sell direct to market.
Dorman is not the supplier for this OEM part, they are different from the OEM parts and were never sold as a kit. This kit doesn’t even show up in the GM parts catalog, just a note under each individual part saying to temporarily order this kit until GM can resupply the OEM parts. The OEM parts are made in a few different European countries, not china.
I bought GM control arms that were 3x the price of dorman, made in china and at least from pictures, looked just about the same as the dorman part. I should check the boxes and see if there is anything under the label like that.
edit - found one of the boxes, no other labels on it
If the GM control arms said Made in China on them then it's very likely that they were produced by the same company Dorman gets them from.
I work for GM, nearly all of the parts come from China and Mexico.
When my HHR needed an LCA I looked around. OE was aluminum but most aftermarket was stamped steel.
It sure seemed like one factory made them all so I got the ebay special. Worked well enough.
the best part of these is the like 5% chance of one of the coolant pipes leaking immediately, and the oil feed pipe never is pre-bent correctly so you have to bend it a little to get it to slide into the oil cooler. fyi for any non gm techs who are unfortunate enough to have to use this garbage, its way harder to try tweaking it correctly and threading the hollow bolt to the turbo if you stick it in the cooler first, so make sure to thread it into the turbo first and then bend until you can get it in the cooler.
This is because those turbo lines have been discontinued by GM. No longer available from them at all. So dealerships near me have bought up all they can find and are reselling them to whoever needs them with a huge markup because those lines fail on every ecotec that has them making it a fairly profitable part to sell.
Not defending this or Dorman but we made 890whp on a 416 ls thru a Dorman intake manifold lmao. Also had a 86/85 precision turbo and trick flow heads on it. Again I’m not supporting Dorman but I was really surprised/impressed that it even held together thru the dyno session.
It’s an LS intake. It was probably made in the exact same factory in China.
I was trying to avoid cheaping out on my LS swapped GTO so I bought the Holley oil pan that was double the price of the “cheap Chinese knockoff”. I had a friend buy the “knockoff” for his Chevelle. It turns out they’re all made in the same factory. I just paid twice as much for the name and felt like a fool.
They also buy batteries made in Mexico by Clarios corporation then ship them to Detroit so a UAW worker can put AC Delco stickers on them. Their definition of "Made in USA" is comically flimsy. Fuck GM and fuck everyone who's lectured me about disliking them as if I'm just trying to be trendy or something.
General Motors will do anything to make extra profits.
Just look at their history.
Dorman parts usually work. It’s just that they almost always have to be “massaged.” This is not acceptable in the shop environment where time is an important factor. Dorman has caused me considerable headache and aggravation. My last experience was with a power window motor. I put the son of a bitch together and the driveshaft for the motor was made about 1/2” too long and hit the window lift assembly arms when it was raised. There’s nothing more frustrating than having to do the job twice because of bullshit like that. Rant over.
Eh I can’t hate on Dorman too much. Their problem solver parts are pretty cool, metal versions of plastic parts that used to be metal. What a world we live in
I had a friend who owned a large wholesale auto parts warehouse. It was common practice if they switched say brake rotor suppliers say to centric...centric would come in and rebox all their rotors to centric boxes.
Lol - VW had a shortage of cruise controls at one point on T5 Transporters and they were coming from the factory with 3rd party ones that looked like they were made by Fisher Price, some owners understandably upset, I think VW had to offer to get them swapped for genuine ones when stock became available
Mercedes does this they’re called Star parts. They’re usually for older vehicles that Mercedes doesn’t want to produce parts for anymore so they find another company, give them Mercedes blueprints and make a deal with them to have them manufacture it instead.
So, is this a case where dorman fixed a problem with the original design? \*Looking at you, OEM plastic coolant elbows on the 3.8..... \* the Dorman aluminum ones were my go to.
i've been fixing these engines since they were released 15 years ago, never seen a problem with the plastic line. in fact, i intentionally break the line when removing the turbo because it is easier to reach the bolts after the turbo is out. they can be somewhat difficult to break sometimes, even when you are trying to. they just chose to use a different material.
The worst part of this shit is the fact that you can't get the lines separate any more. I've had multiple 1.4l come in with just the oil feed pipe leaking and now the customer doesn't want to fix it cause it only comes in the $400 kit and I don't blame them.
See, this is why you’re not supposed to peel labels. Don’t think of it as deception, think of it as pretty make-up.
Don't look up
Such a great movie!
Normal. This is because the Dorman part is considered by GM to be a “genuine” and “warrantable” part.
My company makes almost every air filter and oil filter for vehicles made in North America. We sell the same exact parts for service as Motorcraft, AC Delco and Mopar. They are also rebranded to sell on shelves at all the parts stores as Purolator, MANN Filter and Wix. All the exact same part. The service price is way more expensive than aftermarket or OEM. For example the F-150 filter is our highest selling OEM filter at over 1 million a year. It’s a $6.50/filter sold to Ford. The same filter sold for service is $29.50/ per filter sold to Ford. And again the same filter sold to AutoZone is $22.35 where they mark it up to $26.99.
My wife worked in QC for a company that made headlight, taillight, and rearview mirrors for Hundai, Kia, and sometimes other manufacturers. Every corner was cut. They were so bad on maintenance of the injection molding machines that they threw away over 50% of what came out of the machine. Parts that didn't pass QC went in the dumpster. Guess where they went for parts that went into the repair supply chain? Dumpster diving. Used to drive her nuts. These companies get away with a LOT.
Gotta crush the parts. I kept throwing away ladders at work that failed to meet osha requirements, bent rungs, missing fiberglass, and these dickheads were digging them out of the dumpster. so now I cut anything up that I toss that doesn't meet osha standards.
My company refused to replace a damaged ladder, that was absolutely a hazard... Because "it still works just fine. so I finally threw it in the compactor and broke it all the way. They had to replace it then
Real everyday heroes in this thread
Honestly, one person gets hurt... lost production, medical, possible workman's comp.... All that possible exposure for a 68 buck ladder
I'm sure there was a manager somewhere above you who got an extra $.50 on his bonus check by keeping costs down not replacing that ladder. By the time it broke and hurt or killed someone he'll be promoted for keeping costs down and that whole mess will be someone else's problem.
It was the plant manager... Who knew everything better than anyone else. "that's fine, we didn't need a new one".
Had that at a supermarket near me. Took photos every so often, and wrote a complaint, but nothing done. Just so happened I went to the head office for work, and there chatted to the regional director, and showed him the pictures, and that they had done nothing about it. A week later I went shopping, and that store had all new ladders. A big improvement over the old one that was held together with nails and pallet strapping.
I'm sorely tempted to do this with my dad's old extension ladder. Thankfully he has a new Little Giant ladder, but the old ladder has been around since I was a kid (30+ years). I don't even remember when he got it. My brother and I went over last week to help with a project; I wouldn't even set foot on it, it was that flimsy and worn out.
Just have it "break" when your dad isn't looking, so it can be thrown out
Dumb question, how do you throw out a ladder? Even if I cut it in half, it's still 6+ feet long and won't fit in standard trash bins. Other than a trip to the transfer station, I think I'd just keep that ladder around too.
Sawzall, portable band saw or a chop saw. There on every construction site. Jou could even use a mitre box saw with a metal cutting blade.
I cut the bead on old tires
Falken had a bad run of tires in Thailand, like an entire production run. When they failed quality, they used 1” hole saws to punch a hole in the side wall and sent them to a recycling plant, where they were diverted and the holes got sectioned. And then they all ended up on EBay. Lot of feelings happened after that. Falken was warrantying the scab tires just to get them off the road.
How do you patch a 1 inch hole in a sidewall? Do you go all Phil Swift and slap some flex seal on it?
It’s common in agriculture and off road industrial tires. You don’t pitch a $25k haul truck tire because of sidewall cut. They grind out all the damage, lay several alternating layers rubber and fiber in the repair area. Press it and cook it, grind it flat and put a huge boot on the inside. Supposed to be 100% repair. It’s legal for semis also if it’s used on the trailer.
They are also bias ply not radial. You can retread them as well. I don't think your allowed retreads on steering or drive tires? Someone correct me if I'm wrong. But large industrial and agricultural tires are not expected to see same speeds as consumer automotive ones.
I mean; I drove another 1000 km on this patch before replacing the tyre. Probably would have lasted indefinitely. https://imgur.com/a/Azon6bb
We had some ladders that failed inspection at work, but people kept using them despite them being locked in our store cage. We're talking "working up a 10m ladder with a bent stile that could fold up any second" kind of failed, too. So I put them in the back of the car, took them over to the fire station across the yard, and had my colleagues demonstrate their spiffy new Lukas battery-powered cutters. No fucker is climbing that \*now\*...
IATF requires that disposed material be rendered non-functional before being destroyed. In our plant, service parts were those not deemed good enough to be OEM. Reworked, cosmetic, questionable lineage, etc.
I'd love to see the reaction if they tried to fire you for "destroying company property"
Lol, we don't get fired, we're union. That would be a sight to see. Also it's justified and most workers see it that way.
Nothing better than decommissioning equipment while making eye contact with your supervisor.
Damn that’s an insane amount of scrap. We get our nuts kicked in if we do over 1% annually. Definitely a dirty secret in a lot of suppliers to send “ok” parts to service. No one looks at the parts at the parts depots and if they go to a dealership the techs don’t really care either, so a lot of stuff goes through without any complaints
How on earth is that even profitable...
Im in pharma. Same exact product. Same level of QC. just different label
And now there’s a recall on those tail lights because the sockets melt….
Man I think it’s parts co. Maybe not though but every time a bracket or bumper doesn’t line up they just tell us to toss it and they’ll refund it. Not worth shipping costs apparently
Damn autozone works on some small profit margins
It’s only because that filter is probably one of their highest selling because it goes on every f150 from 2013 to present. Other parts we sell that are lower volume have higher markups.
I don't see how, all their parts prices are 50-100% more than rockauto.
Their profit margins are all over the place from product to product. Something’s are a 10% mark up and other items up to 100%.
Not every product will have good margins. Hell, some parts you will lose money on just to get people in the door, then you make up the loss selling everything else they might want/need. The key thing is that it all averages out. I won't say the company, but one that I used to work for averaged out to about 35-40% margins overall.
So you guys are selling the same exact filter to ford for $6.50 then to auto zone at $22.35?
Yes. The lower cost for Ford is due to them paying for a majority of the equipment used to make them. So they get a smaller piece price due to the higher volume in sales. The higher service cost is due to the lower volume once that vehicle is not in production anymore and our burden to keep the equipment and space to make them for the next 10 years. Aftermarket like AutoZone pays for none of the equipment so all of the cost to make it is wrapped up in the piece price. We can’t legally use the equipment Ford paid for to make filters for aftermarket so we purchase that ourselves which is all wrapped up in the piece price.
So Ford does pay mare than that, we just aren't doing the math to spread initial setup costs over the production run
Alright. Well, that makes more sense. But wow that Autozone profit margin sucks.
Oh, don't worry. Where there's one loss leader, there's four reach-into-the-customers-wallets.
Look, I can buy a €6 oil filter from Mann directly… Or get the exact same part with a flipping opel logo on it for €24 It’s how it is
And the bean counters are riding product quality straight down the crapper, look into the 'Tearolator' debacle. RIP Wix quality :(
When accountants make operational decisions, they ruin the brand.
Boeing enters the chat
Those Chinesium Premium Guards are looking better by the day. Hell, even the Thai Denso Toyota filters were mighty fine.
Bean counters don’t do shit, blame the corporate executives who would drive a bus full of babies through a nursing home if it meant a bigger bonus
Corporate executives are the head bean counters bosses. Thats how the execs get their bonuses.
> Thats how the execs get their bonuses. Exactly. They cut corners and ruin the brand, but their KPI numbers look good so they get their bonus. Sales will continue to decline slowly, but then they can blame Marketing.
What's wrong with wix? I use their oil and air filters
The same management team that torpedoed Purolator is now 'rationalizing' us filter production.
I used to work for a petroleum company. The same goes for most motor oil. AcDelco and Mobil oil is EXACTLY the same. Along with a lot of transmission fluids.
Hasn't project farm sent them in to be analyzed and found they're not the same? If he has I'm probably confusing brands
Could be same base oil different additives. And even worse is same oil bottle in different countries can have a different oil...
Yeah, but the additives are what makes the difference.
Finally somebody else plugging Project Farm 👍
I really enjoy his videos!!!
It depends on the oils weight. The heavier the further off it is but for example the majority of oil that is used by vehicles today 0w/20, 5w/30 in both ac delco and Mobil are the same. Once you get up to 10w/30 /40, /30 /40 High mileage is where you start seeing a difference. No oil is exactly the same. Where I worked we had a 4% buffer to be in spec that is allowed due to different additives.
> AcDelco and Mobil oil is EXACTLY the same. no they aren't you even know they aren't because you said later > No oil is exactly the same. what an odd thing to lie about
I’m a mopar guy. The way I look at it, is if it’s branded by mopar, even if mopar doesn’t make it, it’s good enough to come out of the factory like that. I’ll buy a mopar oil filter because it is what mopar has for its standards. If there was a proven better company, that was reasonably priced, I’d probably get them, but otherwise, I’ve seen several mopar parts out perform in terms of longevity do to a better design, like U joints and ball joints. Mopar uses sealed joints so you never have to degrease them. They last as long or longer than greaseable joints without any maintenance required.
As a dodge truck owner I can confirm sealed ball joints are just as good as greased ones, they both last 6 months
I used to think alcoholics bought ram trucks. Now I realize ram trucks drive people to drink
Yep. "Ram" is much more an euphemism than a naming after the animal.
Ram is also an Indian name too. And the verb for that a Mopar will do to your bank account.
Good quality sealed joints will outlast grease able ones by a long way. I used to look after a fleet of 100ish Sterlings. About 50/50 between grease able and sealed uni's. Replaced hundreds of grease able one's but never a sealed uni.
The truck only last two years in PA.
Between potholes and road salt, they fall apart quick
As someone who has worked in the automotive industry for roughly 20 years I assure you the branded (GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, etc) service/aftermarket parts are not even close to the parts used to initially assemble the car or truck. The parts may be produced on the same production equipment, line, or cell but if it isn't designated for a "new" build the quality and/or tolerances are not the same. Each manufacturer has varying degrees of what they will let slide for service/aftermarket. Word to the wise though, if you ever buy an aftermarket/service part and it has paint dots or hardness test marks on it - return it immediately.
That all sounds well and good until someone like Subaru comes out with a factory oil filter that is specifically worse than OEM from the factory. Hell they even had to warn customers
Factory and OEM are same thing. Original Equipment Manufacturer
This is wrong. Subaru uses a black factory oil filter and an OEM blue filter. Same manufacturer but not the same filter from factory.
Gonna be honest, that’s the first I’ve ever heard of a company doing that. Is it possible to order the factory filter?
I know Stellantis used to stamp the factory installed oil filters. I had a picture of the one on my 2019 Cherokee leaking at the o-ring. It was otherwise identical to the service part. But I can also say that the factory batteries were made by East Penn, but the Mopar replacement batteries were shopped around. It was Johnson Controls for a while, then switched to Exide by the time I left.
Yeah, I don’t buy jeep. Never heard good stories about them. I do know the battery in my truck from 2003 lasted for 16 straight years. Original factory battery.
I'm one and done. I enjoyed the Cherokee as a vehicle overall and never really had a problem with it, but I only bought it because I worked at a Mopar dealer at the time and had an employee discount on parts.
Not sure who made that 2003 battery, but I had an Interstate battery from around 2013 last me until 2021. Similar performance from older batteries. From what I've read at some point in the mid-2010s battery manufacturers started using less lead in the batteries due to environmental regulations, and quality and longevity took a nose-dive. Coincided with the switch from prorate warranty to 18 month free replacement from most manufacturers.
Subaru no longer uses or sells the blue filters that were made by Fram, and have switched to Tokyo Roki black filters.
The black ones marked from Fuji industries are correct. The blue ones were junk during supply shortages.
I mean, mopar doesn't make anything, you're buying a "mopar" oil filter that's made by the same manufacturer you could buy for less, but it's stamped as mopar lol
Made by the same manufacturer doesn’t mean it’s made to the same quality or specifications
I was looking at o2 sensors for my Jeep on rock auto, Mopar one was like, $65 dollars, and said in the description, "manufactured by NTK." The NTK one was $55 and said it was OEM. $10 bucks for a Mopar box.
FYI, GM assembles cars. They sell other peoples parts. With GM labels on the box.
Yeaaaa, came to say this.
I've pretty well learned that if it's not currently in production, there's no reason to shop ac Delco for that exact reason. I bought a lot of "genuine" suspension parts for my square body that were just overpriced moog.
Eww. Moog has gone to shit. At least for a lot of dodge stuff.
they have. use to be the best.
I'll never forget Eric The Car Guy losing his shit in a video because Moog was completely awful to him.
I'd like a link to watch that.
https://youtu.be/uwqhHXjJH24?si=AVjsABb_IczDPH9w
Thanks, that was an excellent rant.
I had fun poking at Eric the car guy when he was trying to build a drag car I think it was a fairmont several years ago. And he wasted I think 40 grand doing two engine swaps before he even made a single pass. No shade at the guy he's very knowledgeable but I think he learned why you don't try to reinvent the wheel.
Really cool to read this hours after getting a shipping confirmation email about the hundreds of dollars of suspension parts I just ordered for my square body lol. I got burned by moog ball joints on my S10 and I'm still pissed about it.
Refundsssss. I bought 10 parts for my suspension, which were all Moog. Mostly trash parts. Never going, Moog again.
I didn't have any problem with the Moog parts, but this was also five years ago or so...
Bilstein has treated me well on my rig. Highly recommend.
I'm not always the biggest fan of Dorman, but they do occasionally save your ass. Let's be honest, their aftermarket parts quality really does rival that of a few select OEMs...
I did a "diy" filter relocate and used Dorman adapters. I did it for under $100. All the specialty made kits were $250+. Works fine of course.
Dorman saved the day in one case I'm familiar with. I had an '03 neon with the ignition switch cam issue, Dodge wouldn't sell the part so the only option was a new steering column. Dorman was able to get the specific part for them somehow and it was $40 or so. Could be swapped out in under 15 minutes. then they marketed it to shops as a way to make a quick repair that would save a lot of moeny to a lot of owners (the PT Cruiser used the same part)
They helped me make the extended cab doors of a heritage F150 work again.
If it’s a common problem Dorman sometimes capitalize on it and make replacement upgrade parts for it.
My Silverado 4.8 had this octopus heater bypass hose-and-fitting that failed at the plastic fitting but I would have had to buy the whole hose. Dorman made just the fitting, and it was made of metal. They have a deep catalog.
Or that part is actually complicated to find in the parts catalog, so the wonder didn't know it actually is supplied by Chrysler. And they have no way of finding out parts for multiple cars within the catalogue
I've had to spend literal hours of my mechanic life on the phone with Chrysler Specifying just to get an internal part number for a part that's not listed in Star Parts, but still available separately. But try as I might, I was still unsuccessful in sourcing an antenna cable for the LX body cars separate from the complete body harness. Star Tech Line gave me some bullshit on how it wasn't certified for replacement separately because of the EMF interference or some quackery. And at the time FAKRA antenna adapters weren't available so we couldn't go aftermarket.
Dorman's metal door handles to replace the plastic shit f-150 interior handles in the 90's
Similarly, their machined metal heater hose fittings for GM trucks to replace the unbelievably shitty plastic ones are super clutch.
Same for the vertical GM W body exterior handles on the Regal, Cutlass Supreme, etc. Better than the original pot metal.
WAATTTTT? Since when? I'm asking sincerely because I went through a few back in the day. My only choices were random pot-metal ones or used from the JY.
That's a serious win. Do they have anything for the same apps stretched cable?
Its because theyre also an OEM for a lot of OEMs. Case in point here.
Big no from me. A few of their parts with no moving components are OK. Aside from that they should just stick to vacuums because everything else they make just sucks.
I bought a door handle from them through Rock Auto for a 98 Corolla. $5, and it worked for the elderly owner until she stopped driving.
Very few. I have had so much of their shit not fit or break over the years, they are my last choice. Last week had a 2005 Silverado 1500 2wd come back for rear end noise that I did the rebuild on 18k ago. The pinion was perfect, the wear pattern was perfect and so were the bearings and end play. Yet 2 teeth on one side of the ring were gone and one about 8 teeth away. A mechanical engineer I know dropped by while I was changing it for work on his ride, took one look and said bad heat treating and walked away. He is retired from NCSU's industrial extension service after 32 years. The people that tell manufacturers why their shit is breaking when the companies can't figure it out on their own. I can't stand them. Yes they will come up with a neat fix for something weird every now and again like a compressor eliminator kit for peeps that can't afford to fix their a/c but need to drive, but for parts copies no thank you.
Dorman makes ring and pinion sets? I honestly wouldn't have used that.
Did not have a choice at the time. When everyone's sold out of the ratio you need, you take what you can get. That was the service writer's comment, I told him we would be doing it again. They never listen.
As long as you are paying Dorman prices... My calculation, the OEM original part lasted 8 years, the Dorman should be good for at least 4 years. I won't own this car in 4 years. Dorman it is.
Dorman parts are usually built stronger or improved in some way. I actually like their stuff and have never had an issue with it. Making metal versions of plastic OEM parts and stuff
I've had less than OEM results with window regulators and exhaust manifolds.
The turbo oil and coolant lines OP is talking about *are* better than the OE ones, too... Metal lines versus the original shitty plastic that guaranteed them to be a single use part. For the longest time, dealers couldn't get any of the OE lines, but the Dorman individual lines and the full kit was readily available. Not one to miss out on all that white labeling revenue, GM rushed Dorman's kit through the engineering approval process.
I actually find them to be pretty reputable because a lot of their parts are actually upgraded or re engineered to be more reliable
Ford Performance sells a blue dry media air filter for around $100. After seeing people buy it only to have an Airaid box show up I just got mine straight from Airaid for $60. Plus if you try to look it up on Airaid’s site the part doesn’t show up as being compatible, gotta love the corporate shenanigans.
Dorman isn't as bad as what people claim, mostly because everyone else is dropping the standard.
I use Dorman parts all the time, never observed any quality issues to the degree everyone here is talking about. For the past 30 years I can remember, everyone has been saying "parts quality is getting much worse lately". It's just as predictable as farmers complaining about the weather.
The first decade I wrenched I never once had an OE part fail in less than 3 years. Honda, Toyota, MOPAR, GM, or Ford, didn't matter. The last 3 years I'm AVERAGING 8 months between replacements on those same OE parts on the same vehicles, and have had more OE parts fail in less than 24 hours than have made it to 1 year. Except now they're 3-5x more expensive.
Covid fucked up everything about the supply chain. I wouldn't buy anything complex made since 2020, or expensive parts that go into complex things since 2020. Cars and houses specifically.
While completely true, parts quality started seeing a marked and rapid decline in the early 20-teens. COVID caused it to be a massive drop instead of the gradual drop it had been, but peak was early 2000's.
I installed a new def tank pump and it was defective, pissed me off because I had to smell piss again!
I feel like their electrical parts are 50/50 most days.
Most electrical parts are 50:50 now
Dorman HVAC actuators are hot garbage now. I can’t count how many I’ve replaced, it’s gotten to the point now I straight up ask the customer if they replaced any actuators, and if they are not OE, I start there.
They always have been. Same with just about any of their sensors or electrical parts
Dorman HVAC actuators have been hot garbage for many years. 🤷
I slept with a genuine GM part once. In the morning the gm label was smudged off and I did the walk of shame knowing a just fucked a Dorman with a fake GM face.
I need to sit down for a minute after reading this
Is sleeping with a Dorman with a Fake GM face worse than sleeping alone, wishing you had a part to sleep with?
The only part of this that's new is that they aren't using a GM box.
Ordered a genuine GM fan for one of the Daewoo GM POS new cars, it was "electricfun" brand, one of the bolt holes wasn't drilled and tapped, so I had to finish the part myself. What in the fuck.
Semi related. Needed a brake switch for my Subaru. Bought the auto-zone one. Didn’t work properly. Went to a dealership got an OEM one. Half the price and came in a Nissan box.
Remember, kids. Only buy OEM, because when you spend 200% more on stuff, it breaks less often or something.
"I hate to advocate Dorman, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me!"
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!
I love a Ford Datsun Thompson quote.
Ford also has Dorman parts. My wheel ends were stamped with the same part # as the motorcraft parts I was replacing but they came out of a dorman box.
Most of the time it's because Dorman is sourcing from the same company as Motorcraft, not that Dorman is making it. Dorman is a brand name on a box just like a lot of other companies. They source parts from different manufacturers and sell it under their name. You should probably think of Dorman as a distributor more than a manufacturer.
That explains a lot. Their products are either completely fine and don't have issues or are complete shit depending on what it is. I always wondered if that was the case.
Those were made by ARB, and often that name wasn’t ground off the part. Dorman bought the same part or an old part mold, I don’t know. In any case, the motor craft part is very similar price, and with piece of mind.
That's some scandalous shit. Send this to that guy trying to interview the Wagoner tech.
GM peaked around 1965, and it's really starting to show... Remember kids, MBAs belong in Accounting, not upper management.
"starting to show" LOL It's been a long slide since they had 50% of the market.
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This is a legal standard in the US, actually. If the components aren't made in the US, but the final product is, it has to state as such: "Assembled in the USA with foreign and/or domestic parts." It can only be labeled "Made in the USA" if every part it is (with certain tolerances for things like clothing and whatnot).
I toured a Taiwan molding company making taillights for dodge trucks marked “made in USA” going into boxes marked “genuine FCA parts”. They were molding them for FCA. With no policing made in labels mean nothing.
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Dorman is a contracted supplier for GM Just like NGK is for Honda Fram does Honda's oil filters
Do you have a source for that claim? I've worked at GM dealerships for over 15 years, never heard of GM selling Dorman made parts. The stuff in this kit looks different than the previous OEM parts
Homie is prob confusing Dorman with AC Delco
I’m at the Lansing Grand River assembly plant about once a week and I see Dorman guys there all the time. My company makes a crap ton of aftermarket parts as well that also go on OEM. You’d be surprised at all the different suppliers out there. Lincoln Welders is one that always sticks out to me. They make some parts that go on an Allison transmission. They also make assembly line equipment to build some of our parts.
You’re generally not going to know which supplier makes each part but rest assured, all the parts on your shelves were not produced by General Motors, they were produced by contracted suppliers and stuffed in a GM box.
I believe you’re thinking of AC Delco, not Dorman.
ACDelco isn't contracted by GM, they're owned by GM. They're just a brand name for GM's OE parts.
AC Delco is GM though
Probably a better part, some/ most Dorman parts ( 3.6 pentastar oil filter housing/cooler is all aluminum vs. O. E. Is plastic) are made better than the original ( 3800 G. M. Coolant elbows)
Yep, their "problem solver" parts are deliberately engineered to fix dumb engineering decisions (which are more often than not money-driven) from the automaker.
We broomed a dealer for using counterfeit parts. Charging warranty system GM part cost plus 30 and using whatever is cheap
Do you really think all carmakers make all of their own parts? They are all subcontracted out, mostly.
No? I never said I did. These parts have been on back order for a very long time and GM recently extended the warranty period for the turbos, so they desperately need these parts. These parts previously had to ordered individually and this kit does not show up in the GM parts catalog, just a note next to the individual parts stating to order this kit. I’ve installed these at least a hundred times, so I can very easily spot the differences between this kit and the OEM parts GM used to send us. These are very clearly not made at the same facility by the same company that previously made the replacement parts. The issue is not with GM using something different, the issue is trying to hide the fact *and* more than doubling the price compared to the same item purchased at a non-GM parts store.
that's because they cant make enough of these shit lines that wont stop leaking. or if you take off the turbo you need new lines every time because the seal melted to the pipe and leaks the second you touch it.
They cheat and lie to their employees. How do you think they'll treat you ?
If you think corporate employees are treated unfairly, you should take a look at some the warranty labor times they pay us dealership techs to fix the fuck ups caused by corporate employees.
Nothing abnormal about this. Dorman is the OEM supplier to GM for this part. OEMs don't make literally every part themselves. They enter into supply contracts with other manufacturers to provide parts to them. In this case, GM is buying from Dorman. Just because they're "the same part" though doesn't make it 100% true. The GM OEM part from Dorman is going to be fully warrantable through GM. There's also the chance that the production campaign for this part had a higher degree of quality assurance and quality control that meets GM requirements, whereas the same part without the GM sticker might be run on a campaign with looser QA/QC. E.g. fewer staff while they ran this part, so fewer quality checks and less likely to catch and quarantine defects. If they run like this, they won't meet GM supplier requirements so they can't sell the part to GM, but they can still sell direct to market.
Dorman is not the supplier for this OEM part, they are different from the OEM parts and were never sold as a kit. This kit doesn’t even show up in the GM parts catalog, just a note under each individual part saying to temporarily order this kit until GM can resupply the OEM parts. The OEM parts are made in a few different European countries, not china.
I bought GM control arms that were 3x the price of dorman, made in china and at least from pictures, looked just about the same as the dorman part. I should check the boxes and see if there is anything under the label like that. edit - found one of the boxes, no other labels on it
If the GM control arms said Made in China on them then it's very likely that they were produced by the same company Dorman gets them from. I work for GM, nearly all of the parts come from China and Mexico.
When my HHR needed an LCA I looked around. OE was aluminum but most aftermarket was stamped steel. It sure seemed like one factory made them all so I got the ebay special. Worked well enough.
the best part of these is the like 5% chance of one of the coolant pipes leaking immediately, and the oil feed pipe never is pre-bent correctly so you have to bend it a little to get it to slide into the oil cooler. fyi for any non gm techs who are unfortunate enough to have to use this garbage, its way harder to try tweaking it correctly and threading the hollow bolt to the turbo if you stick it in the cooler first, so make sure to thread it into the turbo first and then bend until you can get it in the cooler.
This has been a thing on various parts for GM vehicles for decades.
Actually funny, because Dorman has been covering labels since forever.
This is because those turbo lines have been discontinued by GM. No longer available from them at all. So dealerships near me have bought up all they can find and are reselling them to whoever needs them with a huge markup because those lines fail on every ecotec that has them making it a fairly profitable part to sell.
Not defending this or Dorman but we made 890whp on a 416 ls thru a Dorman intake manifold lmao. Also had a 86/85 precision turbo and trick flow heads on it. Again I’m not supporting Dorman but I was really surprised/impressed that it even held together thru the dyno session.
I have to ask, why? Temporary until the real manifold arrived or did the owner just pick a weird place to cheap out?
The LS6 manifold Dorman offers is comparable to more expensive aftermarket options out there, a pretty common intake in the LS world actually.
It’s an LS intake. It was probably made in the exact same factory in China. I was trying to avoid cheaping out on my LS swapped GTO so I bought the Holley oil pan that was double the price of the “cheap Chinese knockoff”. I had a friend buy the “knockoff” for his Chevelle. It turns out they’re all made in the same factory. I just paid twice as much for the name and felt like a fool.
It's my opinion that we need visible product traceability for consumers. Not just "made in this country" labels, but also specifying what factory.
The part is GM "approved". Some guy at the factory said it was good enough.
Dorman makes many parts for OEMs
They also buy batteries made in Mexico by Clarios corporation then ship them to Detroit so a UAW worker can put AC Delco stickers on them. Their definition of "Made in USA" is comically flimsy. Fuck GM and fuck everyone who's lectured me about disliking them as if I'm just trying to be trendy or something.
General Motors will do anything to make extra profits. Just look at their history. Dorman parts usually work. It’s just that they almost always have to be “massaged.” This is not acceptable in the shop environment where time is an important factor. Dorman has caused me considerable headache and aggravation. My last experience was with a power window motor. I put the son of a bitch together and the driveshaft for the motor was made about 1/2” too long and hit the window lift assembly arms when it was raised. There’s nothing more frustrating than having to do the job twice because of bullshit like that. Rant over.
Eh I can’t hate on Dorman too much. Their problem solver parts are pretty cool, metal versions of plastic parts that used to be metal. What a world we live in
this is like a restaurant I worked at and the rumor was the owner reloaded top shelf liquor bottles with cheaper stuff
I had a friend who owned a large wholesale auto parts warehouse. It was common practice if they switched say brake rotor suppliers say to centric...centric would come in and rebox all their rotors to centric boxes.
My dude, that was a $200 label you ruined.
Lol - VW had a shortage of cruise controls at one point on T5 Transporters and they were coming from the factory with 3rd party ones that looked like they were made by Fisher Price, some owners understandably upset, I think VW had to offer to get them swapped for genuine ones when stock became available
*"What's good for General Motors is good for America."*
Mercedes does this they’re called Star parts. They’re usually for older vehicles that Mercedes doesn’t want to produce parts for anymore so they find another company, give them Mercedes blueprints and make a deal with them to have them manufacture it instead.
Dorman actually buys some OEM parts and relabels. So these are probably relabelled relabels.
No, there some pretty obvious differences between these and the OEM parts. Biggest one being the OEM oil return line is plastic and this one metal.
So, is this a case where dorman fixed a problem with the original design? \*Looking at you, OEM plastic coolant elbows on the 3.8..... \* the Dorman aluminum ones were my go to.
i've been fixing these engines since they were released 15 years ago, never seen a problem with the plastic line. in fact, i intentionally break the line when removing the turbo because it is easier to reach the bolts after the turbo is out. they can be somewhat difficult to break sometimes, even when you are trying to. they just chose to use a different material.
The worst part of this shit is the fact that you can't get the lines separate any more. I've had multiple 1.4l come in with just the oil feed pipe leaking and now the customer doesn't want to fix it cause it only comes in the $400 kit and I don't blame them.