Hello,
My car is a '93 300D. The strut mounts on the front are showing some cracks on the rubber, so I decided to replace them because the mechanic at the dealership told me that when they give, the rod goes through the hood and it's obviously a very expensive repair. Anyway, I bought new strut mounts from some online parts store. The brand is Bilstein. Today I took the car to a mechanic (not the dealership) and the mechanic was telling me to make sure that they are the OEM parts, not aftermarket parts, because they replaced those before with aftermarket parts, in they broke in only one month. He also told me that even if the brand is Bilstein, that doesn't mean that it's the OEM part, because they can have two grades: an OEM grade and a cheaper aftermarket grade. The dealer sells the mounts for $80+ each, and I paid $40+ each online for these Bilstein mounts. It seems that the difference in price is too much for them to be the same part.
What do you make out of this? Should I go ahead with these Bilstein strut mounts? Thanks in advance for any comments.