Factory or aftermarket?

Factory or aftermarket? The choice between the two comes up frequently. When it was my Chevelles I was dealing with, I loved aftermarket stuff. Exhaust, Carbeuration, Cams, and on and on... When I was living in MN and the subject was snowmobiles, I used both. Rotax oil was good stuff. Factory pipes were good too. Aftermarket studs were sweet. Aftermarket parts that reduced weight were nice too. Now days, with this Mercury outboard, I am in unfamiliar territory. Now, I am not looking to hop this motor up, its fine as is. I did however have the cowl (engine cover) that needed cleaning up. It was scuffed and scratched and looked rather beat. Some scratches are too deep to fix without paint, but they are few. This brings me back to the question: Factory or aftermarket?

I needed something to rub the scratches out of the cover. I looked at meguires, and a few other brands of rubbing compound. Never having been much of a "artsy" kind of guy, I was lost. I can turn a wrench with the best of them, but ask me to do body work, paint work, etc...and I just don't have the eye for it.

I decided to start with factory stuff, and move forward if that didn't work. So I bought some Mercury Precision Care Cowl Finishing Compound. Earlier this afternoon, I brought the cowl in and let it cool down. Being in the sun all day, it was HOT!! After it cooled down, I started on it with the cowl finishing compound. The Mercury brand stuff was, in a word, AMAZING. It took out scratches that I did not think would come out, and left a VERY nice finish. The new decals will (hopefully) be here tomorrow. If so, I will put them on, and get some pics up of the worked over cowl. It won't look factory perfect, but it will look pretty damn good compared to what it looked like when we brought it home.

So folks, in this case...Factory may or may not be better then aftermarket, but it IS plenty good enough to get the job done.
I also have a spray can of Mercury Phantom Black, for some touch up...its test will be coming one day soon.

Stay tuned.