OE: Original Equipment: This part is manufactured by a car manufacturer or manufactured by an auto parts supplier and is branded to a car manufacturer's logo and / or automobile manufacturer's box.
OEM Original Equipment Manufacture
OES Original Equipment Supplier
Automobile manufacturers do not make all the parts to ride on the vehicle at the time of assembly and repair, but contract with automobile parts manufacturers to make parts. In most cases, car manufacturers make body parts, frames, main engine parts and the rest of the farms. To OEM / OES manufacturer. Automobile manufacturers will provide necessary parts to OEM / OES manufacturers. OEM / OES manufactures parts to these specifications, adds logos and ships to automobile manufacturing.
Bosch, Bilstien, Boge, Beru, Mann, ATE are all automobile manufacturers' OEM or OES suppliers. They make parts from spark plugs to exhaust parts. The difference between OE and OEM / OES is mainly that OEM / OES does not have automobile manufacturing logo, but they are the same exact part. Sometimes the logo is scraped by parts of OEM / OES and may not affect the contract with automobile manufacturing. The same parts come out from the same assembly line as OE parts.
OEM / OES parts are less expensive as they do not go through the automobile manufacturing parts system. Every time OE parts pass through depot, warehouse, dealer, a little money will be added to the cost of parts. This is the main reason for the high cost of OE parts. Since OEM / OES does not take this step, buyers lower prices and get it directly from the manufacturer.
Aftermarket: The aftermarket parts are just aftermarket. They are not made by car manufacturers. They can be created by one of the original equipment manufacturer's manufacturers or completely different manufacturers. The main difference is that they are not perfectly made into the manufacturing specifications of the car. This is not always bad. An example is Bilstien. They are suppliers of OEM / OES, but they also offer aftermarket parts. Where HD struts / shocks are original equipment, sports struts / shocks and suspension kits are not compatible with OE specifications, but will be part of the aftermarket, not OE. Another example is the Stewart EMP BMW water pump. Stewart EMP is not an OEM / OES manufacturer, but pumps are better than OE. It is part of aftermarket, but it is a better part of the altar.
However, yet another example of the bad part of aftermarket is counterfeit goods. Counterfeit parts manufacturers use back engineering to obtain part specifications without paying to automobile manufacturers. In most cases, these parts are made of very low quality parts. Sometimes, these parts are not made with emphasis on the appearance and feel of parts, they are not derived from anything, so it is very difficult to identify them. One way to identify counterfeit goods is incredibly low prices. It is an old adage that you get what you pay to fit here. The best way to avoid these cheap and poor quality parts is to purchase parts from reliable suppliers that provide warranty and return policy.
Almost all performance parts are aftermarket parts, but please be careful of these parts as well. Please purchase from a reputable supplier or manufacturer.
