OE OEM and OES Parts Differences

OE: Original Equipment, (or Original as stated in our catalog).

This part is either made by the car manufacture or is made by an automotive part supplier and is branded with the car manufactures logo and/or in the car manufactures box.

OEM Original Equipment Manufacture

OES Original Equipment Supplier

Car manufactures do not make all there parts that they put on their vehicles during assembly or repair, they contract out to auto part manufactures to make parts for them. For the most part the car manufacture makes the body, frame and major engine components the rest they ‘farm out’ to OEM/OES manufactures.

The car manufacture provides the specifications to the OEM/OES manufactures for the parts they need. The OEM/OES manufactures the part to these specs, adds a logo and ships it to the car manufacture.

Bosch, Bilstien, Boge, Beru, Mann, ATE, to name a few, are all OEM or OES suppliers to the car manufactures. They make parts from spark plugs to exhaust parts.

The difference between OE and OEM/OES is mainly the OEM/OES usually don’t have the car manufactures logo, but they are the same exact part. Sometimes the logo is ground off the part by the OEM/OES company so as not to affect there contract with the car manufacture. Same part coming off the same assembly line as the OE part does.

The OEM/OES parts are less expensive because they do not go through the car manufactures part system. Every time an OE part goes through a depot, warehouse, dealer, there is a little more money added to the cost of the part. This is the major reason that OE parts cost more.

OEM/OES do not go through this procedure, our buyers get them directly from the manufactures, keeping the prices down.

Aftermarket:
Aftermarket parts are just that, aftermarket. They are not made by the car manufactures. They can be made by one of the original equipment manufacture companies or by a complete different manufacture. The main difference is they are not made completely to the car manufacture specifications. This is not always bad.

One example is Bilstien. They are an OEM/OES supplier, but they offer aftermarket parts also. There HD struts/shocks are original equipment, but their Sport struts/shocks and suspension kits are not made to OE specifications, better but not OE, so it’s now an aftermarket part.

Another example is the Stewart EMP BMW water pumps. Stewart EMP is NOT an OEM/OES manufacture but the pump they make is better and stronger than OE. It is an aftermarket part but a better part altogether.

Almost all Performance parts are aftermarket parts.

Cheap Reverse Engineered Knock-off Parts:
Knock-off parts are just that, a knock-off of the original.
Unfortunately there are part manufactures out there, in countries where the law does not forbid imitation part manufacturing, that reverse engineer parts.
The big problem with this is the quality of the part is extremely substandard.
For example the metals or plastic used are not the same grade and quality as the original. Electrical components use cheap wiring, electronic components, etc causing a world of trouble for the technician trying to diagnosis.

Lights that draw too much currant causing wiring failure in cars.

They also do not subject there parts to testing.

We have, unfortunately, used these parts at the insistence of the customers on there cars in our shop. And (if the part fit correctly) the parts failed. Might not have been right away but they failed.

We have had timing belt tensioners fail and now the engine is junk because the pistons hit the valves. Water pumps coming apart.

We have heard of electrical components causing car fires. Tie rod assemblies coming apart and the drivers loosing there steering. And air bag components not working when needed, too much explosive in the airbag, airbag sensors not working etc. The list goes on.

Basically with knock-offs you get what you pay for.

The knock-off part MIGHT look the same but they are not by any means. They are dangerous substandard copy of the original.

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