Hey all,
M50 ENGINE/E34
I purchased what I thought was a genuine bmw head gasket from Eeuroparts.com thinking I needed to avoid Victor Reinz and spend triple the $... turns out BMW GROUP sent out a gasket manufactured by Victor Reinz, anyway. It is stamped on the gasket as "BMW...", but why in the world would I pay 100 dollars for this part when I could get it for 35 dollars somewhere else?
Can someone enlighten me? Is there a difference between a VR part from BMW GROUP vs. a gasket straight from VR?
Thanks!
Chris
You get that nifty BMW logo with the OEM part.
O o
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Genuine BMW comes with a two year warranty. But, if you have to do the job over again within two years getting a free part isn't much consolation. It seems genuine BMW used to mean lots more than it does in these days of multi-sourced manufacturing or perhaps BMW was just more discrete about their packaging in the past!
Sometimes that's really all you get. Other times there are meaningful differences between a BMW-branded part made by a subcontractor, and the subcontractor's own branding. For example, genuine BMW E34 rear swaybar links are made by Lemförder, who casts a BMW logo and part number into them. When the same part is sold through the aftermarket, those markings are machined off and the price drops. On the other hand, genuine rear subframe mounts are made by Lemförder, but the BMW-branded ones are markedly different, at least in appearance, from aftermarket Lemförder, and come from a different factory (genuine from Germany, non-genuine Lemförder from China, as of 2016 or so).
E34 front ends parts seem to be in the former category, radiators (by Behr) in the latter... it's case-by-case, apparently.
I'm not aware of any car manufacturer who makes everything in-house. To some extent or another (Mercedes makes their slushboxes in-house, while BMW farms theirs out to ZF or Getrag or occasionally GM), they all source some parts - bushings, bearings, and gaskets, especially - from specialist subcontractors. Victor Reinz is a major gasket maker who makes quality stuff IME, and to my knowledge haven't jumped on the Chinese (and more recently Indian) bandwagon. Assuming the latter remains true - I'd expect it to be made in Germany, or at least elsewhere in western Europe - I wouldn't hesitate to use a VR headgasket even in a cost-no-object scenario.
Not to sound like a commercial or to crap on other vendors...
FCP Euro's website does a great job explaining these differences, it tells you when aftermarket parts are also supplied as OEM. Wish all vendors did the same.
Another example of OE BMW being different is Bosch spark plugs. BMW OE Bosch plugs have a tip that is not threaded so it cannot be removed or come lose. OE plugs are about 2X the price of non-OE Bosch plugs.
I've not seen these specific parts with my eyes, but between other VR products I've seen and carefully looking at images of both of these, my guess is they are identical, with 90% certainty.
There is another consideration - quality control. Maybe OE (not OEM - read FCP euro) parts have stricter QC like gasket material comosition? Who knows. Same factory can make stuff cheaper or more expensive and maybe in some cases it's identical part but in some cases it's actually different level.
I personally try to stick with OEM but if price difference small and part is PITA to replace - I go for OE/dealer part. In this particular case I would go (and did go) with Victor
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