zarmstrong92

I recently purchased a set of "OE" exhaust hangers for $14 from a eBay seller in China. Better yet, I had a few $10 eBay Motors coupons so they only cost me $4 each vs $65 each to buy from the dealership.

Shipping took forever as they came on the proverbial slow boat from China.

About to install them and I notice something weird: They are OEM parts..... They just filed off the Audi/VW logo. They even took the time to shave off the logos on the rubber hanger just above the bottom hole.

I like to imagine there is a factory worker that is running home with pockets full of assorted parts every night and putting them on eBay.

So $28 vs $130? I'll take it.

Calimus

Chances are, they used the OEM originals to make the mold for the knock off, hence filing off the audi/vw logo's so that they don't get sued or blocked from selling on e-bay for copyright or something else. Then again, maybe it's as you say, OEM factory worker pocketing some from the line and selling on e-bay. Either way, costs less and as long as the parts hold up, thats all that matters

snagitseven

Unless they are in fact stolen which would be illegal. And if so, against the rules to be discussed on the AW Forums.

zarmstrong92

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Audi/VW logo was definitely hit with a die grinder/rotary tool. There's no way that was from a mold.

I ordered OE and received OEM so no complaints.

Certainly didn't want to create any legality issues on this site! Just wanted to point something out to us DIY'ers

xanmato

Probably came out of the Changchun factory, or just pulled off an A6L, there are tons of them over there.

Fahrer

It's my guess that the company that casts these metal parts are also selling them through other, non-authorized channels. This is not that rare a practice in many places.

Robert Schirmer

Sorry to say but those are just reverse engineered. A look at the letter/number fonts is a good indicator. Chinese company's are famous for that. Hell, they could reverse engineer your kid if you would let them!