ACDelco Product Grades

[Maverick6587]

After spending a few weeks researching shock and struts. I talked to a lot of ACDelco people and found out their product grading. I didn't even know they had more than the OE, Pro, and Advantage lines.

Here's the ACDelco lineup of the grades of their products. In order of best to worst.

1. Specialty
2. OE/OEM
3. Professional
4. Advantage
There's the refurbished line but, that's your own gamble if you want to go that route.

I assumed that their professional-grade was of better quality than the OE version but, I was continually told that the OE/OEM version is of higher quality. I wasted so much money buying their professional-grade thinking I was getting a better product. Hopefully, this helps someone out.

I'm not sure if this is posted in the right area. Feel free to move it if needed.

 

[Mooseman]

Specialty would be for stuff like towing, racing and police service. Police and OEM may be the same for certain vehicles like the Tahoe and Caprice PPV.

OE/OEM may or may not be the best if the originals were crap to begin with (think Impala for fast brake wear). They are generally more expensive than they're worth.

The Professional line is regarded as ACDelco's best non-OEM line. It's the best balance between quality and price and may even be equivalent or better to OE.

Advantage is where it gets weird. In the past for rotors, only difference I could tell was that the Pro were painted. Now, their Advantage line are coated where the Pro are still just painted. The coating is much superior and lasts better than the paint. It's even coated on the wear portion but it gets worn off where the pads rub so the coating protects everywhere else. These rotors don't even come with a protective oil film when new. I'd go with Pro pads and Advantage rotors. I wouldn't use their Advantage line for anything else you care to keep.

Don't discount their reman parts. Theirs are better than others (at least for power steering pumps) and sometimes the only choice for certain parts if you don't want Crapdone or Four Seizin'. I did have a bad rebuilt alternator from them once.