AC Delco Advantage vs. AD Professional vs. AD (OE)

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Aside from one being the OE part, how do these parts differ? The price differences are pretty substantial, but how much would quality differ?

On Rock Auto for my truck, there's a ~$110 difference between the Professional and OE water pumps. For tie rod ends, they only offer their Advantage and Professional line with a ~$25 difference. These are just examples so for any other parts, are there any other non AC Delco brands that would be "better"? They sell the OE AC Delco radiator for ~$150, but the Denso is ~$80. As much as I prefer OE for just about anything, I'd pick the Denso hands down in this case.

Anyone have any experience with others?
 
There is a huge difference in actual quality and QC. As you say ACDelco has 3 basic lines, Advantage which is cheap Off shore produced garbage, Pro which is standard aftermarket quality, OE meets OE specs for quality, life expectancy and fit (GM had a 112K min life expectancy on OE parts, not sure if it is still applicable today) they also have a Specialty parts line for HD applications e.g. Police brakes and HD rotors.

I put an OE radiator in a GTP, it is Made in Canada by Modine. OE is 1-1/16" thick with no fan spacers the Denso is 5/8" and needs spacers used on the GT, the Denso is for the GT not the GTP but they don't make a different unit (most don't) so it is under cooled. It is worth the premium all day.
OE and Pro rack and pinions are both rebuilt but the OE has a new magnasteer unit, new internals, new OE inner tie rods and boots, the pro is just polished rack with magna unit tested and reused, reused or pro tie rods and lower quality boots.

I just put a PS pump in yesterday, new OE, it is perfect, no whine or noise the rebuilds are notorious on these and the chances of getting a good one even after 3 or more times is slim but the OE cost 2.5 times the price.
Denso is not what they were, they outsource a lot and put their name on some real iffy stuff, plug wires are one example. No brand name on the wires and no COO on the package, I had a bad #3 wire right out of the box, not cool when you have to pull the plenum to get to them.

I would bite the bullet and go with the OE, repair it once and be done with it.
 
I used the ACDelco Professional brake rotors on my Ridgeline, and I was very satisfied. They were about $10 more per rotor than the Advantage line. But that was a simple part. I'd pay extra for the OE line if my part was available.
 
Dang it's definitely a hit or miss across the line.

Thanks for the detailed response.
 
Long gone are the days you could just go to the parts store put the part in and be confident the job was done, aftermarket new part failure is a real problem today.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
Long gone are the days you could just go to the parts store put the part in and be confident the job was done, aftermarket new part failure is a real problem today.


Thanks for explaining the AC Delco lineup.

I visit sites where members still recommend brands like MOOG and Timken based on past reputation. The current situation is especially sad for us old timers that are in denial.
frown.gif
 
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