Visual difference between oem fender and aftermarket

[cochino12]

I am going to look at some 73-80 fenders tonight and was wondering if there are any markings or easy way to tell the difference between a GM fender and a repop. The guy says the fenders have the GM stickers on them still but I want to make sure that he didnt just take a gm sticker and slap it on a taiwan fender.

I assume the thickness of the steel will be different but is there anything else? Thanks

[RandyP]

Honestly, the GM stickers are darn near impossible to remove without destroying them, and you'd never get them 'restuck'. I'd say if they do in fact have the OE GM sticker on the backside, they are in fact OE. An aftermarket will probably not have any stamping on it, and the OE should have some stamp lettering somewhere on it. Then again, I'm not totally sure on that old of a part though, newer ones do though, so surely they have done it forever and ever.

[ray_mcavoy]

Hi Adam,

While preping dad's 77 for a new paint job a few years ago, I noticed the fenders had "GM" stamped about midway along the back edge (hidden by the door when installed). I don't know if GM stamped all 73-80 fenders in that same location or not though. I do know that these particular fenders are GM replacement parts that dad bought back in the late 80's.

I've also installed a few sets of aftermarket fenders on 88-98 trucks. I noticed they were stamped with the brand name along the hood opening flange area.

[whiskeydented]

All the 73-80 nos fenders I have also have that gm stamp like the previous poster has stated.

[bigarmzz]

if its jap crap adam, it'll cut ya...edges are sharp as hell

[cochino12]

Thanks for the help guys. Only one fender ended up having the gm sticker on it but they both have the GM stamp where you said it would I also picked up a new front bumper for a total of $175 !!!! I did have to drive about 3 hrs round trip to pick this stuff up but I still think I did well. I took a picture of the stamp if anyone wants to know what to look for.