Hi, i want to change belt and other stuff on my A6 2.7. Because i need to strip down complete front end i wanted to put the best aftermarket parts i can find. Because of that i wanted to ask You witch manufacture would you chose for THERMOSTAT and WATER PUMP?

And thank you all for helping me and maybe someone else who has the same question.

Best quality is subjective, but Meyle should be in there for water pump, SKF, even Febi.

Thermsotat, I tend to buy genuine, chances are it’s made by SKF or Febi anyway. Search against OE part numbers.

Well, i think that best quality would also last the longest. I had some bad experiences before. I know that OEM is the best but the price difference is 3 to 4 times. I was thinking HEPU for water pump and Mahle for thermostat. Don't know how good they are.

Hello Goran,

So called OEM is a much used term on so many aftermarket products, and really boils down to no guarantee that it is of the same quality as the component built into the car originally.

Strangely, the two components you mention, are the two I get twitchy about :- 

Thermostat - had too many inconsistent aftermarket brands over the years, so I bite the bullet and pay the extra at the dealer, based on my labour is free, so invest well! 
Water pump - same.

Please note, the logic for the above is based on not knowing who the suppliers are to VAG.

Hepu? - seems they are currently not as good as they were.

Regards,

Gareth. 

Totally agree Gareth. For those cheaper parts that are essential OEM supplier genuine parts is the way to go. I have used aftermarket in the past on different makes of cars but hated going back in to revisit a job,either through short service or failure of cheap aftermarket parts.  I do not touch FEBI now ,and they are in fact no better than Autodoc ,and are merely parts suppliers .. not manufacturers.  So i have been informed ..  !

Ok, besides the original, what would you recommend, that is, which brand did you have the best experiences with? In our country, INA is used the most, but for the water pump and thermostat they are not so reliable.

Repeating - dealer parts for these applications, for reasons given.

Not sure how I can be of further help, so I’ll leave it to others.