The whole OE/OEM/aftermarket parts issue is discussed in detail in this month's issue of The Star. I'm planning on digitizing it and posting it here for everyone's reference. Bottom line though; OE is Original Equipment, and is expected to be the EXACT SAME PART as you'd get at a dealer. OEM means Original Equipment Manufacturer, and means only that the manufacturer has supplied parts to Mercedes. It actually means very little, and can be loosely applied. Anything other than OE or MBZ sourced parts may be trailing in terms of being superceded, so if a part's been improved it is possible that the OEM part may not reflect the update. For all the aggravation involved in typically installing ANY part, I'm inclined to stick with the part with the Star; any such part is backed up for a year (to include replacement labor) regardless of who installed it. That alone is worth any premium in most cases, no?

Ken:

The 300E exhaust, going from the rear of the car forward, consists of a resonator, muffler, and down tube (not sure if this is the correct name, but it's the part between the exhaust headers and the muffler...it includes the Cat). If one of the pipes between muffler & resonator is going bad, to do the job correctly you'll need to replace the entire component that the offending pipe is a part of.

JCE In your case, I think if you stick with a good OEM muffler, you should be fine....that particular design has not changed ever, to my knowledge. A part like this might be a good one to save a few bucks on.


Good luck!



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Best regards, Michael
'92 500E
'88 300TE