More Parts Rebranding

[Trav]

On Saturday i needed a MAF sensor for a GM 3800 GenII engine.
AZ only had Cardone so that quickly put an end to that,AA had a BWD previously Borg Warner now owned by SMP,with a $35 off offer i ordered it and picked it up the same day for around $56.

This got me to thinking that if SMP owns BWD then its more than possible these are the same reman part.
The part number listed for the BWD is 25288 and for the Standard its just 5288.I opened the box and the part has the same sticker as the Standard with the #5288 right on the sticker,the price difference around $100!

I went looking through injector boxes,an idle control motor all boxed BWD and Standard,holy smokes these are the same parts.The IAC motor was standard made in USA in a BWD box for half price.
A evap valve from AC Delco cost $19 and has Delphi and a part# on it,the Wells cost $25 and has the same exact Delphi part inside.
These are not Standard T series or Delphi seconds these are the same exact parts.

Internet research has done me little good,the same old story keeps coming up,BWD is junk Standard and Delphi is good.
Truth is many of these BWD part are Standard reboxed at much cheaper prices and AC Delco rebox many Delphi parts.

I encourage anyone looking for expensive controls and sensors to check out BWD before laying out more money for so called better brands as it could be the identical part inside the BWD box for sometimes half the price.

 

[FowVay]

I had to replace a MAP sensor on a Hyundai Elantra several years ago. The part was $80 dollars from a dealer and $35 from O'Reilly. The guy at O'Reilly said it was made by Borg Warner (listed as BWD) so I thought I'd try it. When it arrived it was a Hyundai part, complete with part number stamped and identical to the original. That was nearly a $50 savings for what seemed to be a identical part compared to the OEM. So maybe Borg Warner was the OEM to Hyundai and I lucked out.

I've never had problems with BWD product from the box stores.

 

[sciphi]

I had a BWD throttle position sensor flake out on me on the Buick. The car was screaming at 2500 RPM without my foot on the gas sitting in the driveway. Warrantied it and problem solved.

Good luck with that aftermarket MAF. Legend around the 3800 forums is that aftermarket MAF's are universally junk, and will fail 3-6 months later.

 

[Trav]

Forums are notorious for bad information as well as good.
I am sure there are certain brands that have gone downhill but there is still some decent stuff out there.

I have been using BWD for a while and had no problems.
I put a new Hitachi (OEM GM box) in one car and had it fail right away so its not just remans that have issues.
Its been my experience that a new or reman electronic parts will fail quickly usually within 30 days if its going to.

For $56 bucks and a lifetime warranty i figured its worth the risk seeing it only takes 2 min to swap.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Forums are notorious for bad information as well as good.
I am sure there are certain brands that have gone downhill but there is still some decent stuff out there.

I have been using BWD for a while and had no problems.
I put a new Hitachi (OEM GM box) in one car and had it fail right away so its not just remans that have issues.
Its been my experience that a new or reman electronic parts will fail quickly usually within 30 days if its going to.

For $56 bucks and a lifetime warranty i figured its worth the risk seeing it only takes 2 min to swap.



My fiend in the parts business has told me that BWD electronic parts are just re-boxed Standard - in case you were thinking it was just a fluke that you found a bunch of Standard parts. Also, probably common knowledge, but AC Delco is just a name on a door somewhere. There no longer manufacture anything. Just buy from the lowest bidder. Could be Standard, could be Delphi....

 

[dailydriver]

Thanks for the heads up/tip Trav!!

On the other side of the coin, I know that most on here (myself included) are certain that Moog makes the best suspension replacement stuff.

But, I have recently found out that they are allowed by law to put overseas made product into their existing, alredy printed boxes/cartons which CLEARLY state "Made In U.S.A." (or Canada).

I understand that, even though these made in wherever parts could be right up to their made here standards/tolerances, it still seems like a BIG deception regardless (especially when one is STILL paying the 'made here' level price for said part).

It truly is a sad day when even a great, quality conscious company like Moog is forced to do this to satisfy shareholder greed for unsustainable profit margin increases/dividends/etc. (or for whatever reason).

 

[PandaBear]

I bought a power steering pressure hose from rockauto once. It was a Gate with made in Mexico internal labeling, and then I realized I ordered the wrong part and returned it. I then bought a Edelmann hose from Kragen and it turns out to be the same part inside, also made in Mexico.

 

[ludey]

Originally Posted By: Trav

Internet research has done me little good,the same old story keeps coming up,BWD is junk Standard and Delphi is good.
Truth is many of these BWD part are Standard reboxed at much cheaper prices and AC Delco rebox many Delphi parts.


Re: Delphi use to be part of AC Delco back in the 80s or at least GM.

 

[ltslimjim]

I ordered the infamous replacement 5-wire wide-band 02(LAF) sensor, pre-cat for the 92 VX. It's also a viable replacement for all models VX(that use the 5-wire wide-band) and later 6th gen Civic HX. Basically makes lean-burn work.

It was only $55 or so from RockAuto and arrived with Product of Japan on the box, and the original 92/93 L1H1 code stamped(replaced by the L2H2, aka NTK 24300).

Personally, if I could afford $200 instead of $50 on this part, I'd buy the NTK(better part, larger sensitivity to allow lean burn to work more effeciently), but won't pay much more than that. Bosch is now using the 'officially backed' replacement sensor that is well over $300 from autoparts places or $500+ at the dealer.

So, thank you SMP.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

I've bought a couple parts for my car that I suspect may be rebranded oem. One was Felpro valve cover gaskets and the other was Moog outer tie rods. They were both made in Japan. Except the tie rods have zerk fittings and the originals were sealed. Which reminds me, I should probably lube them.