So I need a new front fender for my Prius. Dealer cost is $245, I can get an aftermarket fender for $80. Will there be a problem with how well it fits?
"Aftermarket" Body panels - Any good?
- Thread starter Winston
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Usually, the made in China knock off panels will fit fine, but they'll be thinner and may require more prep. If you're doing the work yourself then more prep is just a little more of your time. If you're paying someone to do the work, more prep work will likely eat up any cost advantage of buying the cheaper part.
The wife hit a snowbank with the Aerostar 7-8 years ago and popped out a headlight assembly. I got a cheapie off of ebay and it probably took about 3 hours of trimming to get it to fit properly. After it was installed it help up okay and looked like a factory part. I can see why body shop employees cuss some of those parts.
It still had the reflectivity when we retired the van a couple of years ago.
It still had the reflectivity when we retired the van a couple of years ago.
Kestas
Staff member
If you can get one, a salvage part should be better than aftermarket.
Some are just fine. I have not had a problem yet. Also not all OEM's make their replacement tins some out source. For instance GM has huge money in China so it goes with out saying that they are gong to take advantage of this!!!
Die's are expensive so most places are going to do a good job on them to start with as it is in their interest it does not cost any less if you do a [censored] job on the die to start with the price to make a die is fairly consistent.
Another thing to take into account is that GM for instance over use's their dies. For instance when I was working for them an engineer came up with the a bright way to save GM money on die maintenance and replacement cost's. He suggested that they purposely spray the box of the pickup trucks heavy and with orange peel on purpose. By doing that they could get an addition 100,000 stamping or something like that before then needed to repair the die. They extra heavy orange peeled paint would hid the flaws in the stamping from the consumer's eye! So going OEM neither guarantee's that is is produced domestically or that it is going to be better then after market.
In fact domestics sheet metal for years even in the plants doing production was rotinly out more then 5mm from the design!
Die's are expensive so most places are going to do a good job on them to start with as it is in their interest it does not cost any less if you do a [censored] job on the die to start with the price to make a die is fairly consistent.
Another thing to take into account is that GM for instance over use's their dies. For instance when I was working for them an engineer came up with the a bright way to save GM money on die maintenance and replacement cost's. He suggested that they purposely spray the box of the pickup trucks heavy and with orange peel on purpose. By doing that they could get an addition 100,000 stamping or something like that before then needed to repair the die. They extra heavy orange peeled paint would hid the flaws in the stamping from the consumer's eye! So going OEM neither guarantee's that is is produced domestically or that it is going to be better then after market.
In fact domestics sheet metal for years even in the plants doing production was rotinly out more then 5mm from the design!
Chinese/Taiwanese steel isn't as strong and I know you will need to sand off their primer as it has shoddy adhesion and possible incompatibility with most paint systems that aren't old school lacquer or enamel like Centari or classic Deltron DBU.
And the Prius is a nice car - maybe if it was a beater Civic I would use Chinese steel.
And the Prius is a nice car - maybe if it was a beater Civic I would use Chinese steel.
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It has been quite a while since I worked in the auto field selling parts( body parts at the dealer ), and was an auto body supply salesman to boot at one point, but back then anyway( 90's )body guys HATED aftermarket panels. They fit for crud. It wound up being more expensive to use them vs OEM because it took so much time to make them fit properly and there was more pre-paint prep work as well. Cost more for the OEM panel but it took no time to fit and prep.
I don't imagine that has changed.
I don't imagine that has changed.
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Kestas
Staff member
My only experience with aftermarket panels was evaluating OEM vs aftermarket in the lab for Ford a long time ago, and using patch panels for my classic car. In both instances, the definition of surfaces were very crisp with well-formed edges on the OEM parts. By contrast, the edges of the aftermarket parts weren't well formed and didn't fit well. Just the visual comparison shows the difference in quality.
A body shop friend of mine refers to replacement panels made by "CertiFit" as "Sorta-fits"...
Last collision repair I had made, I demanded that OE body panels be used. The insurance company wasn't happy about it, but I eventually won out. Too bad that the body shop was so incompetent, that the paint that they applied to the panels had to be stripped off and re-painted by a second body shop.
Last collision repair I had made, I demanded that OE body panels be used. The insurance company wasn't happy about it, but I eventually won out. Too bad that the body shop was so incompetent, that the paint that they applied to the panels had to be stripped off and re-painted by a second body shop.
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