Go Careful out there!

[Texas]

 

[scudney]

Well done Texas,just goes to show how people are being taken to the cleaners in search of cheap parts,my garage won't even order parts from a popular and well known parts supplier for the same reason 👍👍

[Britprius]

Another very common part that is counterfeited is headlamp bulbs particularly HID bulbs. Boxed as known manufacturers bulbs they can be £90 each while cheap HID bulbs from China are £10 for two bulbs.
Now being honest I have used the cheap HID bulbs without problems, but I bought them at the low price knowing the were not OEM were not packaged as such.

John.

[noby76]

42 minutes ago, scudney said:

Well done Texas,just goes to show how people are being taken to the cleaners in search of cheap parts,my garage won't even order parts from a popular and well known parts supplier for the same reason 👍👍

in other words if you not buying from a dealer the likely hood of you getting a fake part is high.. i can understand the R&D which goes into manufacturing a part which then reflects on its cost but are car manufactures not a bit to blame for all these counterfeit parts on the net.. the prices of some parts are ridiculous.. and i'm not even talking about Luxury/premium car brands even brands like ford/ renault/ vauxhaul do not charge peanuts for parts at the dealers anymore..they are all over priced.. you dont know what you getting anymore when you dont buy from a dealer.. its scary

[scudney]

It's a disturbing and sad fact that you just don't know anymore,and includes some otherwise respectable  businesses 🤔

[Malc]

looks to be a minefield sadly 

Malc

[Linas.P]

I kind of knew eBay is high risk, but in my experience I have received fake part from amazon and even EuroCarParts. For example I am pretty sure eurocarparts brembo brake pads were fake.

Few years back when fitting new discs and calipers I had to change pads. I had spare brembo front pads from amazon, but I hat to replace part worn rears anyway - ECP or carparts4less (which is same as ECP) had 50% discount that weekend for I got set of rear pads from them. 6k miles later I get red warning from dealer during the service - my front pads are still good, where rears are totally gone, like literally to the metal and wear indicators didn't even screeched - they broke right off.

Now, that could be just my negligence.. but I know for a fact rear calipers were not binding/stuck, they have been just freshly refurbished and greased. Rear pads and disk usually last at least 2-4 times longer than fronts. For that reason I rarely check rear pads... most of the times only when changing fronts and they generally are ok. Basically, it is not possible rear pads worn so quickly if they were original brembo. What I found as well.. is that outside pad was completely worn, but rear got chipped off in chunks... still had like 3mm in places, but the rest just chipped off. That scored rear discs as well - they not exactly designed for metal on metal action.

In short I am sure the pads were definitely fake! Since then I do not buy sefate related parts from online sellers. I mean you can buy EBC pads from EBC, but eBay, amazon and even ECP are out of question.

On the other hand sometimes there are no other option, especially in UK! e.g. my A/C pressure sensor failed - from Lexus the part alone is £287.40+VAT - that is because they only sell pressure sensor with entire charge pipe with goes around the engine and compressor. You cannot buy just a sensor - for £23 - I am 99% sure it is fake, but for £287 I can fit sensor and service A/C 3 times and still have money to spare. So far 2.5 years and fake sensor still kicking.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/A-C-Air-Conditioning-Pressure-Switch-for-Toyota-88719-33020-499000-7141-NEW-/264116809084?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l10137.c10&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true

As well - the dreaded headlamp washer covers! If you lose one, it will most likely fall with small plastic clip - the cover is actually decently priced directly from dealer ~£25 and comes colour coded straight away... the clips is different story! It is part of headlight washer assembly and you have to get whole assembly for £142.50+ VAT... optionally you can get two clips for £9 from china - which one you will go for?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-NEW-FOR-LEXUS-IS-250-350-220D-2005-2008-HEADLAMP-WASHER-CAP-MOUNTING-SET/173674515239?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

So I guess rationale is - counterfeit or pattern parts are ok... as long as they don't make part of your engine, gearbox, airbag or any safety related system... and as long as you know they are substandard and it does not matter for the application.