Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonefishblues
I'm not trying to be difficult, but do you think that, say Dayco, since they've been mentioned, has different recipes for different aux belts, for instance?
To take an extreme example (but a hugely important one to those who run Volvos fitted with them), is the 4C Monroe front damper for c£200 from Autodoc materially different to buying one with a Volvo badge on it, except that the latter's double the cost, and some?
The answer is no. Volvo use an off-the-shelf electronically controlled damper for their cars, made by Monroe. That knowledge makes a huge Financial difference, come the inevitable day when they fail.
I'm just saying that it's a more sophisticated conversation than simply "Volvo good, Brand X bad".
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You make some good points. I've always believed that the purpose of buying 'genuine' parts from a dealer was that you would then know that the part was at least good enough. Other aftermarket parts could be just as good - or even better - but as a layperson you could never be sure.
My last car was a Honda Accord and in conjunction with others (including a Honda technician) on an internet forum (the late HondaKarma forum) we built up a database of which manufacturers actually made the parts that Honda put into the boxes.
But personally - in the absence of actual facts - I'll still be perfectly happy to use a Gates or a Dayco cambelt next year when a change is due, however I'd rather use a Volvo tensioner unless the OEM supplier has been positively identified, as a lot of aftermarket parts are utter ****e.