Aftermarket vs Original door carrier
 

Hey everyone,
Here's the story, I didn't move X5 out of my dad's way in the driveway. So in the morning he grabbed the keys to move it out.
Comes back later, wakes me up and says your door didnt work, car is in the garage.

I look at the door, the handle sticks out, doesn't close all the way, yet feels like it still has connection to the door actuator with the cable.

I get home that night and immediately start working on it. I did my passenger side twice already. Doesn't take long until i have everything out, the carrier is original at 95k. weird how the part that moves, one of the hinges in broken. Looks like the old man has strength and broke my door carrier.

I think its not a problem as I already have an aftermarket carrier ready.
I start putting it in, but its a pain to alignment everything correctly. In the end, I say screw it. The next day i go to the dealership and buy the original, its 122$ but i asked for a discount and got it for 105$. Win

As soon as i get home I put it in place and it fits perfectly. no need to alignment anything, Yet the carriers look exactly the same. I guess that .000 measurement throws everything off.

So don't be cheap buying aftermarket unless you want to spend hours playing with it to alignment . Good Luck.

good advice, i have read the same things that most of the aftermarket ones just arent quite right.

Agreed. There was another thread recently in which we discussed this at length... Long story short, the aftermarket units just done seem to measure up to the OEM.

agree with Alex on this one...

There is a huge market on the secondary industrial machinery - there are even catalogues, auctions etc... as the original factories retool their lathes, cranes, robots for new models of "things (cars, door handles, etc...), they sell old equipment and buy new one... sometime original equipment is leased, and once the lease is over, it goes back to the original owner who just sells it... The buyers are usually from China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and other places where the labor is relatively cheap... Sometimes entire factories change hands and locations... Now, a factory that used to make those door carriers as OE for the brand is located who knows where and continues to manufacture the same door carriers... The problem, however, the materials that are used are no longer of the same quality, the workforce is no longer trained to the same standards, and the equipment is NOT maintained to the same strict standards of the OE manufacturer, resulting in 0.0001 mm deviation form the original spec (I am being nice here, sometimes it is 0.1, or even 5mm), which compromises the fitment and quality of the final product... This is how we see Chinese made X5, Chevy Silverados, Ford 150, Opels, etc. that use those inferior product as their OE parts... they do not perform even at the half of the level of the Real McCoy but cost a lot less, which has its own appeal - I've seen some folks in Brooklyn that have nothing to their name wearing $20 Rolexes and be as proud as they were real...

check the crush videos of Chery Amulet, that is a knock off of another car - the original was doing OK on the tests... see for yourself, how the replica did...

On a bit of a tangent with regards to product quality, did anyone else hear about BMW cracking Down, handing out cease and desist letters to makers/suppliers of replica wheels?

Totally agree! I had a major issue trying to fit an aftermarket carrier in to one of my rear doors. I returned it and bought an OEM.

So it seems it was my time to finally do this job. I went with OE as I wanted this done NOW and I didnt wanna wait for a mail order item.
So I took out the OE and the cable is still perfect, even with the metal broken. Is this part worth saving for anyone else to use or is it ALWAYS the metal that breaks?

I have only heard of the hinge braking.

Did mine yesterday....bought a cheap one (29.00) with a lifetime guarantee. Yes, he screw at the locking mechanism did not line up...after fooling with it for about 20 minutes I noticed the factory screw has a tapered end, allowing it to line up on its own....the cheap one did not. Held the locking mechanism and screwed it in. Worked well for me.

I installed a $45 aftermarket carrier on my driver's door a few weeks ago. Did not look like it would line up until the very last turn of the screw and then it did, finally, line up. However, like you it only worked with the original screw. The aftermarket screw did not even come close to working.