[rbryantaz]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

All of you saying OE = OEM; it's not true.

OE stands for "Original Equipment", which is the same as saying "Genuine BMW".

OEM stands for "Original Equipment Manufacturer" which refers to any company who have made any part for any automotive manufacturer.

For example I have a Febi intake manifold on my M57. Febi are an OEM. They even make/made OE parts for BMW. But Febi never made the M57 intake manifold - Markiv Automotive did.

So if you happen to know which OEM actually made/makes the OE part then I think it's often fair to say that the non-OE part from that manufacturer is the same as the OE part but without the logos. But we can't prove or guarantee that it's identical or has gone through the same QC measures etc, so we can't say for sure.

I'm just making this point because many OEMs and retailers market parts as "OEM quality" etc, but 99% of the time that is pretty much meaningless and has no bearing on the actual OE part quality.

Yes that is an important thing to watch.

It is important to know the OEM for a specific part not just that they are an OEM for some parts.

In some cases it can also be possible that the OEM makes a slightly different part as the OE part. And then has their own version for their branded parts but I find that to be more rare than it just being a rebranding. The Michelin tires are a good example but it is also fairly clear if you look at tirerack where they usually sell both versions.

An OEM might also have a premium line that is the same as OE where their value line is not.

I haven't seen many cases where logos were removed because they were "seconds of lower quality" but it is possible that some company would do that. I have not experienced that from the major OEMs though. For me I have always felt that it was the same exact part with the logo removed due to branding so I will usually buy OEM instead of OE unless it is somewhere that the logo is in plain sight and ground off or something like that....

Most of the time OE is just paying for a logo but there are some exceptions.... Some sites like rmeuropean.com which I use quite often have a (OEM) note on a part by part basis that denotes which company was OEM for that specific part.

-Rich