In a message dated 2/17/05 8:51:21 AM, kenwilfy@comcast.net writes:

<< Just because it has the VW emblem on it doesn't make it any better in my
experience.  I don't believe in high priests, or blessings with holy water.  If
the same manufacturer is making it to the same specs, then the parts are the
same.  That is the case with these brake parts. >>

Ken, my man, please correct me if I say anything which is in error.

You have none of the intellectual property which goes into the making of
parts from both the OE and the aftermarket operations of a vendor.  You have not
backward engineered any of the offerings from the both the OE side and the
aftermarket side of any vendor as way of a comparison of the two.  So, all you can
really say about the two is that they look similar and sometimes even that
resemblance is rather tenuous.  Anything else is anecdotal, at best, and all you
have to go on Blind Faith (great album, by the way).  The problem with Faith
is that the OE part is Billy Graham while the aftermarket part might damn well
be Jimmy Swaggert.

By the way, you shouldn't dismiss Holy Water until you have drunk of It.

George