nick300zx

I agree with supercharged z, i know its harsh on the original manufacturers but some of the parts are way to highly priced, most people cant afford them. but on the hellaflush rubbish these cars are meant to be driven hard not parked up

unclefester

Ok here's the problem.

When the cars come down to 5k in value, no one is going to realistically spend 2k on coilovers or 2k on wheels. If they can get something that looks 'similar' for 1/3rd the cost and it's available / in stock then that's what they will fit. If there is a market for those parts then companies will make them.

Are the ships that are now made in China / Taiwan 'knock offs' of a Swan Hunter vessel?

If you want to have a favourite brand that 'YOU' think is worth the price you pay then fine but don't knock the other brands that do a very similar thing for far less cost. As long as quality doesn't suffer then we all benefit from a wider choice of parts.

edit: And the original MX-5 was an unashamed copy of the MGB, Mazda themselves admitted it

Now when it comes to safety equipment such as wheels / brakes etc then I can see the point. If it it's just stick on tat and yes, Mugen make just as much of that as anyone else does then buy what you like the look of and have done with it. Mind you some of the bother people have had with Stoptech brakes for example, you have to question why anyone would ever buy anything from them - cheap they are not.

GiffS2K

LOL!!

nick300zx

like others have said im ok with running rep parts but don't try to make them look authentic with stickers and what not

lower

It was a copy of the lotus élan. A much better car than the mgb.

unclefester

Agreed and the MX5 is a better car than the MGB and possibly more useable / affordable than both the MGB and the Elan but you don't hear Elan / MX5 / MGB owners muttering about this - it's basic human nature to copy a good idea.

Now if the MX5 had been sold as the Melan or the MXGB then there'd be an issue with copyright I'm sure.

I bought Mugen castor bushes, not Honda ones - are the Mugen ones similar to the Honda ones? Yes, they're marketed as such but just a little stiffer but the bush is almost identical, it has to be and therefore it's a copy / knock off.

KFC

Your confusing a part that has a specific purpose but a different specification, with actual copying of " design" ( note inverted commas) and of course mugen is Honda sanctioned

The mx5 is very definitely a pretty straight rip off of the élan even down to the rocker cover , Mazda claimed to have copied the KGB exhaust note for the mx5. The thing is that unlike a élan or an mgb the mazda is easy to live with and cheap thus it's undieing success, oh and an improvement unlike say a vis mugen style hardtop vs mugen

I'm not entirely guilt free I have owned plenty of knock offs , rotas etc , but it is a sad fact that knock offs do as much harm as good and people with the legit stuff can prove them selves better than others ( sarcasm smiley )

E4RTH WORM JIM

In the end I just love cars and anything car related.

I spend as much on my car as I can afford. Some parts a 'real' and other copies/ cheap brands.

I paid £700 for some cusco parts (braces/ARB's), they've turned to rusty pieces of shit with a year and 1 thousand miles. I have a home made brace which was fitted at the same time that looks as good as new, but cost next to fook all.
Do the Cisco parts preform well, yes. Do they perform better than a lower brand, probably not. Would I buy them again, I'm not sure, but it certainly proves a point that not all the JDM items have quality to match the price tag.

unclefester

That's my rub with all of this - a high price does not always mean high quality and because i'm a tight northerner, I object to paying through the nose for something that's of low quality or more to the point, something that's of no higher quality than a 'copy' that performs equally well.

I get that Mugen make a really cool hard top and that it's $5k because it's Mugen and they can charge what they like ... but it doesn't 'perform' any better than OEM and given the cost of the raw materials it's no wonder other brands are making cheaper copies. Frankly anyone that spends that much money to prevent being able to drop the roof is an idiot but that's a different story. The really funny thing is that half the clowns who fit this stuff rarely drive their cars how the rest of us like to because they're undriveable on anything but butter smooth tarmac and because of that, all the performance mods in the world are next to useless if your car grounds out on small pebbles or scrubs tyres away in < 2k miles. You might as well fit the knock off, it's better value for the purpose intended.

Best value 'knock off' for me so far is the Ebay lower rear spoiler and front splitter - the total cost of both parts fitted and painted is still less than half of the price that Honda wanted for just the rear spoiler and in terms of looks, quality and performance you'd never know the difference. I didn't buy a copy Honda spoiler, I bought an S2000 lower rear boot spoiler for a sensible price based on price, looks and functionality.

Within a few years it won't make a blind bit of difference, if there aren't cheaper options available then the parts scene will dry up and die and that benefits no one. High prices of OEM parts are why so many cars get written off as an uneconomical repair and is the main reason insurance premiums are as high as they are.

chrisr111

One of the reasons why the legitimate parts can be more expensive is not because companies such as Mugen charge what they like, it's because of the R&D time and costs which must be factored in. The companies making copy hardtops or bumpers for example simply buy or borrow the part off some twunt, make a mould and start churning out knockoffs--very little or no design, R&D, testing, approval costs.

The cost of the raw materials is also a factor. Using your example of the Mugen hardtop which is made from autoclaved 'dry' carbon fibre as opposed to the copies which are nearly always simple hand layed 'wet' carbon which is a much much cheaper process. The weave/pattern, fit and finish of the carbon parts made by Mugen is always perfect unlike the copies. I agree that the Mugen hardtop does not 'perform' the function of keeping rain off your head any better than the OEM hardtop. However, it is much lighter and it's aerodynamic performance is better than the OEM part--whether these factors make it better than the OEM is up to the individual buying it.

Like you say, it boils down to the amount of money you're willing or able to pay I suppose. But I'd rather do without or buy second hand than buy a cheap knockoff copy.

Chris.