For the most part, I've generally used motorcraft parts where it makes sense, and aftermarket parts where there was no appreciable difference between Ford and "other".

Anyway, yesterday I took my front fenders off my 93 F350 crewcab to clean up and weld in new metal (if necessary) to make the fenders nice and new again. Turns out, while taking each fender off, I, the ultimate *******, forgot one screw/bolt whatever right at the top of each wheel well, so what was a minor rusty crud area is now a stretched out, torn nasty area.

And yes, I didn't learn from my mistake and did the same to the other side. I claim mechanic's block.

Anyway, the path of least resistance is to just replace both fenders, they are cheap enough, however there is a 2x price difference for the "CARP" part numbers, which seem to indicate Ford acceptable, or insurance company acceptable, or something along those lines.

Anyone have any idea what that means?

I expect that the $70 a fender type pricing means its "approximately" stamped in Taiwan and not sanctioned by Ford, but I am curious if the "CARP" designation means anything other than double the price.

Thanks in advance...

 

Oh, and not that relevent, but an interesting thing to note. If you are doing body work on your truck, make sure you "tear in" and really scruitinize things other than what is obvious. While my truck is relatively rust free, and jsut the front fenders are starting to show, I did discover my radiator support is pretty much missing, due to rust.

I have been assuming my 284K crewcab "just squeeks" because of its age, and it turns out that the radiator support is so badly rotted, everything moves "just a little". So, I'lll order that as well. Thats going to be fun, I see two body mounts underneath it, so I'll have to support the cab somehow while I replace that part. I may even tack weld on some 1/8" flat to avoid this problem for another 300K.