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You have to be careful about comparing apples to oranges such as the exhaust example. OEM exhausts usually are great and are better than most replacement components even from the dealer. Auto part stores mufflers can be very mickey mouse with a muffler company using a muffler with half a dozen different adapters, clamps, hangers, etc to replace an OEM muffler that was a one piece welded assembly. Not only will the one piece muffler last longer, many times it is much cheaper than the weaker mickey mouse assembly that have to pay more for as well as wait extra days for the “parts” to arrive! Chain muffler shops make a lot of money by selling a “lifetime” muffler and exhaust pipe at high premium prices, then come replacement time they will charge $10 each for the four clamps on the non OEM muffler assembly, plus all of the adapters and hangers, etc. Plus many times there is a labor fee for “installation” of all of these non OEM components.
Shocks and brake wise IMHO the better aftermarket components are as good if not better than the OEM equipment in many cases. OEM shocks/struts and brakes are designed to gave a soft ride and quite decent braking and be cheap, plus they are not designed to last much past the warranty period (which neither shocks or brakes are usually covered under). You have to pay good money and buy American/Canadian/Japanese/Euporean Union made components though, and this can be very hard to do nowadays.
Stock OEM electronics are the best for the most part although there are some exceptions. Even if the part cost more then price will be worth it if the car is not going to the junkyard sometime soon.
I can say 100% without a doubt that 9 out of 10 times OEM for my Eclipse is better than the crap at AutoZone.
It’s a mixed bag I think. Some electrical components will fit but not work quite as well. I’ve heard of many people who used Bosch O2 sensors in Mitsubishis and Hondas that after a few days the car started throwing codes.
When they switched to Denso (the OEM brand typically used in Asian cars) the codes went away and never came back.
There could also be “NEW” OEM and Aftermarket “OEM”
Items which as far as the dealer are concerned are the same but may have been contracted out to a third party to be sold as dealer parts.
Generally speaking dealer parts will last longer, but will cost more. Personally speaking, I tend to replace parts with high performance aftermarket pieces. For example, when the stock exhaust rusted off of my Subaru, I replaced it with a stainless steel system. Yes, it’s louder than the stock pieces, but I don’t really care about that. I think my car’s got a nice mellow rumble, and I know that I’ll never have to replace any of it unless I decide to turbocharge my car. It’s got stainless steel parts from the cylinder heads back that have been on there for 6 years now, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with them. All the salt that MD and VA use at the slightest hint of snow caused the factory exhaust to more or less disintigrate when the car was a little over a year old. I priced it out, I could replace the entirety of the exhaust with stock stuff from {insert local auto-parts tore here} for right about $800 and maybe get a year or two out of it before it rotted off the car. Or, I could spend $1000 and replace all of it with stainless and never touch it again. Tough call there, let me tell you.
Take the steering rack bushings for example. Dealer replacements made of soft rubber that will probably fail again in 2 years and still give the steering a vague feeling $25 for the pair. I’ve got a set of urethane bushings from Whiteline that set me back $40, will last nearly forever and improved the steering response by an amazing amount. It’s literally a night and day difference.
The first time I went auto-crossing, I broke both rear sway bar endlinks, and damaged the left front endlink. I could have gotten stock replacements made of plastic with soft rubber bushings (like Subaru uses at the factory) for probably $160 for all 4. I put more Whiteline pieces in there, made of aluminum with urethane bushings which cost me $200 for the set, and that sharpened the cornering response even more. My car went from a limp noodle in the corners to one that will try and tear your face off.
Bottom line, you get what you pay for, but just because the factory specifies that a given part be made from a particular material, that doesn’t mean that the replacements have to be made of that same material. Then again, I can tolerate more NVH than some people. I know people that say my car is undrivable because when you move the steering wheel the slightest amount the car tries to change direction on you. It’s because I took most of the slop out of the steering. I enjoy the twitchiness, but your mileage may vary. The only parts I insist on getting from the dealer are oxygen sensors. When the upstream sensor on my car died, I got a Bosch replacement from a local parts store. It lasted me almost an hour before it stopped working and the car threw a CEL. I get one from the dealer, and it’s been in there ever since. That was 5 years ago I replaced that sensor, and it’s still working just fine.
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