hi all -- i am trying to do a story on the hottest aftermarket parts of the car world, only i don't usually mess with four wheelers that much.
what are the ohlins and termignoni of the car world? what aftermarket products are so great that manufacturers sell them with their OEM vehicles for big markups?
any help?
depending on car, ohlins has a few . .. usually bilstein, akrapovic, ansa to some extent, borla, . . koni, spax, I know I am forgetting some, but, those, I use a lot
Penski
Tubi exhaust (which used to make HPE exhausts for motorcycles), Ohlins does make suspension for some vehicles but as mentioned Bilstein are more common, Brembo for carbon ceramic brake systems BMC air filters, BBS makes OEM performance wheel models. Those are what come to mind.
ohlins, koni, bilsteins like others have previously mentioned. The top of the line suspension gurus are JRZ (if you can afford them).
Neuspeed, H&R, as well as what was previously mentioned on the boingers side of things..
There is also Cobb that does some of the other stuff...
APR Motorsport & HPA Motorsport for the VW/Audi crowd. Hennessey Performance for the good ole USofA vehicles.
Dinan for BMW. Good enough that many dealers offer their products. Akrapovic is also widely loved as far as exhaust for BMW.
Don't forget Rousch!!!!
I've see Brembo on cars before
Kings/Fox/Icon/Camburg for off road suspension
For parts that are sold in cars from the factory the only one I really can think of is Brembo. They put brakes on plenty of cars and even sometimes without the "Brembo" label on the caliper (my Dad has a 2013 Range Rover Sport and it has Brembo brakes but says "Range Rover" on the calipers). Most of the time car companies only buy aftermarket for stock cars if they are an upgraded sport model (Mitsubishi Evo, Volvo S60R, Subari STI?, etc) or if the manufacturer is not large enough to make their own parts. You would have to do some research to find direct examples.
As for aftermarket parts there are a ton, but the best wheels I can think of are probably Ray's Gram Lights (something like 400$ a wheel).