Originally Posted by 00SPEC (Post 8274380)

i can post some pics up of mine when i get a chance

lots and lots of wires, lol

Originally Posted by FDNewbie (Post 8341701)

I'm sure you guys have heard me say for years now how I don't and won't sell replicas of any parts still currently in production... And I'm sure you've read concerns over quality & fitment of replicas vs. originals... Well I thought I'd share with you another hard lesson/difficulty I've experienced just recently as a result of the FD community buying replicas of other company's originals...

If you check out my vendor subsection, you'll see I'm always engaged in one Group Buy or another at any given time. Many of them are on parts from JDM companies. One of the most recent was the Fujita Engineering (aka FEED) Tow Hooks...and now I was setting up a GB on the FEED combination lights (halogen or HID) and combination light lens covers, both of which were made specifically for the FEED Type-R Version 2 front bumper.

I was trying to figure out why the guys at FEED were giving me the run-around on pricing for the combo lights & lens covers pricing, so i got impatient and made sure I got someone on the line...at which point I had to receive a hailstorm of anger from the FEED guys. They're SUPER pissed that there are TONS of orders for accessories for their Type-R Version 2 bumper, yet they KNOW they haven't sold that many bumpers... Ie, they KNOW someone is copying their bumper and selling it, and were taking that frustration out on ME. Now whether they suspected the person copying it was me or not (which to their perspective may very well make sense) is unclear, and that's something I now gotta spend a good amount of time smoothing over...

Also, I gotta see if they're gonna be willing to even sell all these combo lights & lens covers to me, because they're so fed up with dealing w/ the "super copy artist Americans," given that's all they've received when dealing w/ us.

So my point of sharing this w/ you guys is beyond all how it's wrong to replicate parts that aren't yours, and how originals tend to fit better and be of higher quality than replicas. But I WILL try and impart 2 lasting points with you guys...

1) By making - or even buying - replicas, you make it harder and harder for ALL of us to get original parts from these companies in the future. I have heard it SOOO many times from different JDM companies that they REFUSE to sell to ANY Americans because they know "all we do is copy the parts and sell them." So the consequences of our actions extend far beyond the seemingly small limits of our individual transactions.

AND...

2) When you don't buy the originals, and you buy the replicas, not only are you supporting the guys who make the replicas in ripping off these JDM companies, but you're also HURTING these JDM companies, by stealing from income they originally were banking on making. This is VERY important, because if they find that they're losing money and not making enough sales, it'll quickly come to a point that it's just not financially worthwhile for them to stay in the game...and they'll just quit the FD game altogether. Lets be real; it's not like we exactly have a plethora of companies still making parts for and supporting the FD, now in it's 15th year. And Panspeed (for example) has told me MANY a time how they are barely staying afloat as it is.

So yea...there you have it. Thought I'd share w/ you guys some of the "behind-the-scenes" drama we're now dealing w/ because some ppl are simply too friggin cheap to pay for the real deal (yep, I said it, cuz really, there's no other reason or explanation for it).

~Ramy
FDNewbie Imports

PS: I'm also ignoring the HUGE fact that sooo many of us in the FD community are specifically staying AWAY from many of the kits & parts that used to be oh so rare and prized/valued, cuz once they were copied and sold for dirt cheap in large quantities, their rarity and value to us was lost pretty much altogether...

Originally Posted by gotemyaww (Post 11582798)

how does it look like?