Best aftermarket brands

Ribbedroof

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Sep 14, 2004
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Depends on what you're talking about.

Realistically, on most body/trim parts, there are only 1 or maybe 2 manufacturers...but many marketers. What I'm saying is that you just need to shop for delivered price on most of it. With the limited demand (big picture) for parts for these cars, not a lot of manufacturers are going to get interested in making something that is already on the market.
 

78elk

Dragway Regular
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Mar 6, 2014
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Thanks. I am talking about the sheet metal, fenders, doors, hood, and tailgate. I was wondering if one manufacture was better than another?
 

Ribbedroof

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Sep 14, 2004
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My experience with the aftermarket fenders has not been good, but it's been a while. Hoods I think are pretty good. OE Doors are still somewhat available around here, but the reviews I have read on the new ones sound like they're pretty good. No idea on the Camino gates, but judging from the number of used-up originals, I would hope the repros were tooled to a close tolerance, since I think they would be good sellers.
 

78elk

Dragway Regular
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Mar 6, 2014
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Thanks. I know of Sherman and Goodmark. Is one better than the other? Are there other manufacturing companies?
 

Ribbedroof

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Sep 14, 2004
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Goodmark is not a manufacturer, to my knowledge.

Most of these parts are stamped in China by Golden Legion and others. Typically, these would be the same stamping plants that do the late model crash parts.

Like anything, the time and money spent on engineering and tooling directly affects the quality of the parts produced. The Chinese CAN produce decent stuff, in fact a LOT of late model OE parts are produced there. From what I read in the industry magazines/papers, the key is that you have to closely supervise the resultant product to ensure the quality remains at an acceptable level.

Goodmark, Dynacorn, Ecklers, Tamraz, etc are all just distributors/retailers of panels produced by a handful of overseas stamping plants.

Even as popular a part as 70 Chevelle fenders have had issues with the "repros"...which I believe was corrected by reworking the tooling. Have to figure there are a lot more 70 Chevelle fenders that will be sold than 78-81 Malibu/Camino fenders, so I would assume that the QC isn't as stringent for the latter. As I stated before, last time I tried an aftermarket fender on a Camino, it was not even close to fitting to an acceptable gap.

There are stamping operations here in the US that do vintage car stuff, but I don't think there is enough $$$ in G bodies for them to get interested. They stay pretty busy with tri-5 Chevy stuff, as do the Asian suppliers.
 

78elk

Dragway Regular
Thread starter
Mar 6, 2014
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Mountain Home Id
Thanks. I assumed that Goodmark and Sherman were the manufacturing, due to retailers advertising them. Again thanks for the great information.
 

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