What Replacement Parts Must be Toyota?

[Brian R.]

What replacement parts must be Toyota to really get original equipment performance from them (not high-performance or modified parts)? Compare the Toyota parts with the best available non-OEM parts, not junk.

Here are a few that I think fall under this category:
Brake pads/Shoes
Windshield Wiper Inserts
Shock absorbers/struts
Gaskets

[red-in-la]

Maybe gaskets. And only the one's that are propriatary.

I use to have a Probe and the rear window strut went out. PepBoys didn't have them cuz Ford had a corner on the market for some period of years after the car was made.

Right now I have a new master cylinder on order for my son's twin cam Neon and motor mounts for my Miata. None are OEM. Same with the O2 sensor we just installed in the Camry. Bosh.

You'll have to go to Toyota for an air conditioning Expansion Valve. Toyota will charge you over $150 for the valve. I just had it replaced on my '93 under an OLD recall. The dealer charged Toyota $39.83. They also charged Toyota $20.83 for a pound of R12. You couldn't touch R12 at the dealer for less than $75 a pound. I know these dealer prices cuz they gave me the invoice by mistake.

Moral of my story, go somewhere else to buy parts like brakes, rotors, shocks and whatever else. The dealer markup is absoultely AMAZING.

Regards

[Brian R.]

Mark-up or no mark-up. Some aftermarket parts do not do the job as well as the OEM parts. Those are the ones I am asking about.

Yes, I know the list is long about what parts are not better, I am only interested in opinions from experience on what parts are better.

[GSS123]

I think OEM struts are a must unless you have some modified performance goals you are trying to achieve. For the model year 1995 Camry toyota lists 7 pairs of struts for the rear only. Don't know why this is other than you could get in 1995 a Wagon version, 2 Dr, 4 Dr, 4 cly, V6 and so on. So toyota has a design spec for each version of Camry and will use your Vin number to match your Camry with the right OEM strut combination.

When I shopped around for after market struts most vendors either at an automotive store or online give you one part number that is suppose to be the strut that covers all the Toyota strut combinations. Either the after market folks have some of the most brillent automotive engineers on this planet or they made some rather large compromises to make one strut replace seven OEM struts. But then factor in the much lower price of after market struts and I begin to think the compromise may not be in the consumors advantage.

[Brian R.]

One exception to that rule may be aftermarket high-buck struts like Koni and others. They are serious heavy duty and adjustable so that you can customize your ride to be as stiff as you like. You will pay for that strength and flexibility.

[Brian R.]

Bump to a new set of readers...

[Toysrme]

Nothing has to be Toyota. All the OEM gaskets are Korean made anyways. I used the generic Ericsol gaskets when I rebuilt my engine. Works like a charm, even under boost!



The wagon's have the same basic rear suspension that the ES 300 has. During the model years in question, they swapped from the rechargable gas struts, to sealed struts.

Some 92-94 Camries have the rechargable gas struts, some do not. There's four parts numbers explained off the bat.




The factories use whatever they have in stock. You'll find a handful of US '94 Camries (1mz-fe) with the 3vz-fe. You see wire colors change from the specified color for no reason, between plants. Who knows why... Maybe they run out of one color spool, and can't get another quickly enough.


Same thing more than likely happened with struts. A lot of the gen3 Camries were suppose to have one strut, but got a different one. I helped someone a few weeks back trying to put a new catridge in a Camry wagon - which is suppose to have rechargable struts.


After much problems, he dropped by the house, and we discovered that it had sealed struts from the factory. One owner car - So they wern't changed.

[Brian R.]

Well, if we need to be literal, I guess the question needs to be rephrased to "What parts are recommended to be kept OEM?"

[Toysrme]

Personally, I would keep the ignition components OEM. Everything else is fair game.