^ Thank you 97 SL320, appreciate the kind words.

Very true. However, I challenge anyone to claim that a part they manufacture is equal to or better in quality than the OE part when it costs 25% of the OE's price. And I would want to see that proof in samples of metallurgy, chemical composition (plastics and rubber) and manufacturing tolerances.

Certainly there are profit margins and overhead the OE has that an aftermarket manufacturer does not. However, to attain a level of profitability and sell at a price that is 25% of the OE's retail price, corners have to be cut somewhere. The economics of manufacturing dictate this, it's not something that can be dismissed.

High quality parts can be made anywhere in the world if the manufacturer maintains standards. Whether it be China, Mexico or Timbuktu it makes no difference.

Whether it's URO or anyone else, it is my opinion that to obtain price levels at this point substitutions or exceptions must be made relative to the quality of the OE part. My opinion is based on direct experience in manufacturing and distribution. I would love to be proven wrong.

I suspect, but can not prove , that OE parts pricing while the car is under a new car warranty is higher than it needs to be so some creative accounting can be applied to offset warranty costs.

Be sure to demand this info from the OE so you have a base line.

Demand for OE parts drops off as the car is ages / 3rd owner is driving the car. I've bought parts that had the MB logo / part number ground off, this tells me that OE demand has fallen off enough that inventory was dumped to the much more active aftermarket.

OE demand will likely never be as high as the aftermarket. The OE network must store these slow moving parts and someone has to pay for this.

The aftermarket is where owners of these older cars go to buy parts so inventories ( and storage area ) can be lower reducing overhead. Many buyers of aftermarket parts _want_ cheap parts and scream rip off when a quality part is offered at a higher price. For an example, have a look at high end chassis parts maker MOOG or the electrical part maker Standard. Both have a lower quality / cost " replacement part " line.

Try being a shop or auto parts and explain to tobacco juice dribble guy that the higher line parts will last longer when he is irate about " paying too much " for the low end stuff.

Also, the aftermarket only has to reverse engineer a part where an OE has to engineer it from scratch, this adds to costs.


Is there an aftermarket source competing with your product? If you took away your R & D costs, would that result in a significant cost reduction of parts?

Good points LWB250, however a huge unseen cost borne by the OE manufacturer is R&D and validation. (Validation is the long, painstaking process whereby OEM engineers work with automaker engineers to ensure a component meets all requirements for the intended purpose.)

The OE manufacturer has only so much time to recoup the tremendous R&D and validation costs and still make a profit, which is why a little piece of plastic that costs less than a dollar to manufacture can sell for hundreds of dollars at the dealer. Aftermarket manufacturers don't bear these design and validation costs, and can quickly reproduce existing items for a relatively small investment in engineering and tooling, plus the material and manufacturing cost of the initial production run.

Of course there's a wide range of aftermarket product quality, but price doesn't have a linear relationship with quality when comparing an aftermarket part to OEM. For example, the URO Premium line consists of many items made of aluminum when the failure-prone OEM part is plastic. Manufacturing an aluminum version is MUCH more expensive than making a plastic one, yet the upgraded URO part can sell for half the price of the original plastic part. In this example, the aftermarket metal part costs more to manufacture and is vastly superior to the plastic OEM part, yet the retail price is substantially less than OEM. Bypassing massive R&D and validation costs allows this to happen.

For basic aftermarket reproduction parts, product quality depends more on business model than manufacturing cost. URO doesn't position itself as a manufacturer of racing or high-performance parts; we leave that to boutique specialists. We also don't position our parts as the rock-bottom cheapest parts on the market. We leave that to some of our competitors who simply re-box the cheapest parts they can source, who don't compare materials and dimensions to the OEM part, and are basically nothing but a shipping and receiving warehouse.

Here's how today's URO is different. We currently employ a staff of nearly a dozen full-time in-house engineers, who start with a genuine OEM part (we have more than 6,000 OE/OEM parts in our sample library) and carefully reproduce it using a wide variety of equipment and consistent procedures. Our engineering lab utilizes a FaroArm to scan dimensions in 3D, XRF (X-ray fluorescence) and FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy) equipment to analyze organic and inorganic materials, several powerful hydraulic testing machines that chart applied force vs travel (to evaluate damping or actuator assemblies, and perform destructive testing), machines that cycle-test bushings and joints to tens of thousands of movements, a system that cycle-tests cooling system components between hot and freezing coolant (ideal for hoses and reservoirs), electronic equipment that continuously tests ignition components for months at a time, pressure and flow testing equipment (both air and liquid), a fleet of actual door assemblies to test window regulators, etc.

Once we have the specifications and performance requirements for a part, we go to the production line, tool up, and make pre-production samples. The engineers carefully compare the samples to the OEM part, make adjustments to materials and/or dimensions if necessary, and eventually approve the item for production and sale. (Sometimes we're able to find an existing part that meets our specifications, in which case it goes through the same engineering evaluation and approval process prior to being private-labeled for URO.) When a production shipment is received at our headquarters, our QC engineers perform final acceptance sample testing by comparing a few randomly-selected parts to the OEM part.

This hands-on, engineering-based approach results in reasonably-priced parts that are a solid value for shops and DIY enthusiasts. We certainly have no issue with folks who can afford to spend two or three times as much for OEM, but it's not realistic to assume OEM parts are two or three times better quality.

If any forum members happen to be visiting the Simi Valley, CA area, you're welcome to drop by for a personal tour and see the above in action. Just send a PM a week ahead of time if possible, so we can have someone available to show you around.

Ten years ago we had only one engineer and almost none of the laboratory equipment we have today. URO has changed tremendously over the last decade thanks to a massive investment in personnel and infrastructure, and we're happy to share our story and experiences over a cup of coffee in the lab.

Oops, we posted at the same time as 97 SL320.

All these calories burned, for naught.

The proof is in the pudding, so to speak. Reports of substandard performance are common with this and similar brands.

OEM parts with the tristar ground off aren’t being dumped, they’re being sold as OEM parts manufactured using the same tooling as the OE part. This is a very common practice and can been seen in many OEM parts’ lines, like Lemförder, for example.

I’ll pass on the Kool-Aide, thanks, and stick with proven quality sources with long term warranties. Sure, I’ll pay more, but I won’t be replacing those parts prematurely or watching them degrade in place as I drive my car. As someone who is an “influencer” in my community, I’ll continue to make my points against buying and using junk like this on a car, whether it’s mine or someone else’s. Sadly, there will always be consumers who will step over a nickel to pick up a penny, so to speak, but they’ll pay the price in the long term and there’s nothing I can do about that. After all, you can’t fix stupid.