Quote:
Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc
In Paul's examples above is the " Volvo branded " air filter better than the less expensive versions ? If the less expensive versions meet OEM spec's then why pay the extra ? Especially if you are changing on a regular basis .
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What specs? Volvo doesn’t publish guidelines for aftermarket parts companies to use in manufacturing competing replacement parts. You have literally no idea how the two products would compare. It’s not something anybody checks, it’s not something you can easily measure for yourself.
Years ago, when I was a Honda dealer, I cut apart serval oil filters to show customers what they were getting when they tried to save $.50 by going to Walmart and buying a Fram, or whatever. The aftermarket filters were constructed quite differently from the Honda filter, none of them were even close to the same quality. A few factors that you have to consider in an oil filter are how many effective square inches of filter material are there, to what micron level does the filter element trap contaminants, what’s the opening pressure for the pressure relief valve, etc. There are other factors but you probably get the idea.
Want to buy an aftermarket rear brake pad? Fine, what’s the friction coefficient of the pad? How does it compare to the old pads? How does the friction coefficient versus temperature curve look, between the two pads? How is that going to change the effective balance of the braking forces on both ends of the car?
I could go on. With parts that you get from a dealer, you know you’re getting the correct part for the car and probably the best quality. With aftermarket parts, it’s a crapshoot. All you can do is usually simply look at the part, to see if any differences are obvious. That doesn’t tell you much.
There are plenty of dealers out there that will sell stuff at 25% off. That’s good enough for me, if I want to pinch pennies, I do it elsewhere.