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I of course know the adage, too good to be true. BUT, on cheap auto plugs... I just never thought there would be enough money in the equation to make it worth it. Shows how naive I am. I throw mine away at annual and to date have not OHM checked them before install. I sure will now. And a close visual inspection for signs of counterfeiting.
I recently watched a detailed video on Rolex copies. It was clear that it just about took a very experienced jeweler to spot the tiny changes. A layman would not have much chance. |
I flew for an airline "over there" for 2 years. They copy everything. The state runs all cigarette production. They sell the cheapest cigarettes in the world, and some of the most expensive. And somebody makes fake copies of both. How much money is there in a 25c pack of cigarettes?
Fake parts are a problem in both the military and 121 world as well. Scary. I got scammed on Amazon a couple of months ago. I found a US company advertising carbon/kevlar hybrid cloth for half of what the going rate was. Sounded to good to be true. And it was. It was some kind of cheap synthetic cloth. |
Unless they are NOS parts, low price on anything you see probably means it's not genuine. Buy from reputable sources or directly from the OEM (some now have retail direct buy due to the counterfeiting problem).
I've seen Walbro, Bosch, Denso Siemens, Huco, Hitachi, MSD copies, cheap and total junk. Some copies are hard to detect, others pretty easy if you are familiar with what the original stuff looked like. On Ebay, they don't tolerate fake goods and you can get returns on these and probably have the vendor shut down by reporting them. You'll often see terms "xx like" or "xx compatible" or they will use an OEM part number. Real stuff will usually use the word "genuine" in the description. Use caution if your parts are shipping from the east but your brand is from the west. Some people will go as far as forging stamped trademarks on the parts and logos on the packaging. |
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This one... https://www.ngk.com ...is a distributor also known as www.sparkplugs.com |
I have a buddy with an RV-12 and his NGK plugs keep fouling, even after he completed his 200 hr. carb maintenance. Could this be his problem?
BTW, in my youth we used to call NGK plugs the "No Good Kind". |
Just plain crazy.....I'm like j-red, seems like if someone was going to count fit something the profit margin in already inexpensive parts would be slim.
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The company I work for has a major problem with counterfeit product. Because of this I've all but stopped buying things off Ebay as the problem is widespread on there.
When dealing with Amazon you have to look closely to see if it says "shipped from and sold by Amazon". If so, you're likely ok as Amazon only deals with reputable suppliers when selling things under their name as opposed to just acting as a marketplace. If it says "Sold by Biff's Discount Air Parts" buyer beware. Also, if the price seems too good to be true or way less then any others that's another warning sign. |
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in college I had a roommate that raced dirt bikes. I tagged along one time to watch. before a race he decided to change the spark plug. he pulled out an old Champion that had been scraped clean with a pocket knife a few times and the center electrode was almost hemispherical. He put in a brand new NGK of the same heat range, correctly gapped. Bike would not start. 5 minutes of jumping on the kick starter and no luck. He put the old Champion back in and it started on first kick. I swore I would never use an NGK and have not to this day. I do have Denso's in the RV-8....theyre probably no different. |
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