Tomei Parts Counterfeit Warning

[RSi]

More realistic prices perhaps?

Im all for genuine where its needed and knock-off where its not....

And I would say that MOST people on this forum are the same...

As for china - yeah they build some crap, but the quality can be / is there if needed. They will build to a price point.

[RBdreamer]

This is terrible, especially considering Tomei is being targeted.

Tomei is a market leader not only in parts, but in trends as well and are by far the #1 Japanese parts company in my books because I feel they got it right. They have grown as a company and with that, have adjusted their pricing to meet the current trends which many companies have not. Lowering profits by 30% in order to drive your business up 40% was a great move (I am just estimating ofcourse).

Tomei's prices are (what I consider) the most affordable for the quality of parts being purchased thanks to their pricing restructuring over the last 2 years or so. Tomei also continually move forward, but do not leave us Nissan RB people in the dust by discontinuing products as so many others have. I feel Tomei actually care and are not forgetting the platforms or older cars that made their company what it is today.

Unfortunately affordable is not always cheap enough in some people's eyes and they will always look to knock off parts for their builds.

[RBdreamer]

OH, wanna know the easiest way to tell if you have receveid an authentic Tomei Type-L regulator if you have purchased in the last year or so ?

Wrong from the factory
An authentic Tomei Type-L FPR has 3 threaded fitting holes (front, side, bottom).
Out of the box, the front and bottom hole are clear, with fittings supplied in a bag.
The side hole which comes plugged, although still 1/8" is not NPT, as the threads are finer therefore hinting at a BSP thread.
(1/8" NPT = 27 threads/inch, 1/8" BSP = 28 threads/inch).
Even the supplied plug is wrong and you are only able to get in a couple turns before it stops, although fits quite well in the other 2 holes.

See for yourself, or cross-thread a gauge, trying to make it work in the side hole

[C-unit]

People tend to forget why the knock off are cheap and the authentic ones are expensive!

The knock off company just copy the work of the real one, therefore no money need for R&D. THis is why they are significantly cheaper.

It is not because the real one are overprice, it's just the knock off one doesn't have to spend as much to produce such product.

[Daryl @ RightDrive]

Exactly C-Unit.
It's pretty easy and inexpensive for a factory with a few cheap labour workers in China to rip off other company's parts.
But look at companies like HKS, Tomei, Trust, Nismo etc., they have a large staff of engineers and top end developers whose salaries they have to pay.
They have trial and error testing sessions that cost money.
They have all the parts that didn't make the cut in development whose materials are thrown in the garage.
R&D costs a lot of money. But it's worth it to these companies because they provide customers with quality products, that are their own original designs, that they have tested exhaustively to be the best out there.
Who wins in the end? WE DO.

There is NO justification for stealing other peoples parts designs. Just like there is no justification for copying Louis Vuitton bags and selling those as the real thing.

Honestly, Japanese aftermarket car parts are not that expensive. They are completely in line in terms of pricing as other aftermarket parts for European cars etc. They are not overpriced.

I will NEVER support copy parts, because I want to have quality aftermarket parts to choose from in the future. Plus I'd be ashamed to have them on my car.

[RSi]

C-Unit and Daryl - Thats not entirely true.... Look at products like catch cans. There is hardly any R&D required (I can build a catch can from a pop bottle if I want) yet a Greddy catch can is ~$100 and a knock off is ~$30

Yeah I have a knock off. I even have a Greddy sticker on it.

Also we are talking here about cars that are 20 years old. R&D costs are long since gone.

If they want to stay alive they have to compete.

[RSi]

Also I find it hard to believe that everyone preaching here has ZERO "counterfeit parts"

I mean with all the replica bodykits, non oem belts, rims that share the same design (and therefore R&D), its basically impossible.

[MikeRWK]

All the failure parts arent thrown in the garage they are melted down into new parts that hopefully are up to spec.

[GTR-guy]

I hope Tomei sue the crap out of that chinese knock off parts company! At least for using their name and Logos!

[Daryl @ RightDrive]

shadybeaverguy,
I wasn't referring to generic parts, I was referring to counterfeit parts.
Parts that have been copied from others.
If your catch can is a $30 generic or other manufacturer type, then I don't see a problem with that. But if it is a direct copy of another manufacturer's design then I can't agree that it's acceptable.
Direct copies of other people's designs is wrong, there is no way around it. Look at Autobahn's piping kits, the filters are direct copies of HKS and Trust. They don't even try to hide it!!
R&D costs for 20 year old cars are not gone, there are still new parts coming out for these cars.
And yes, I have zero counterfeit parts on my car. I would never put a copy part on my car.
It's just my opinion though, no one else has to agree with it!

[RBdreamer]

I hope Tomei sue the crap out of that chinese knock off parts company! At least for using their name and Logos!

How exactly will that happen ? Be realistic. China are a Superpower no matter which way you look at it and can bury Japan, nevermind Tomei. Their economic powers are only surpassed by their military strength and we have ourselves to thank for that.

Could you imagine if China ever got pissed-off and cut off supply to Walmart of all products ? Do you realize how many upset inbread Red Necks there would be without a venue to purchase rubber dog poop, $25 35cent toys and other sundries ?
The southern US would fall within days.

China are virtually untouchable.

[frankiman]

refer to my previous posts,

there is no copyright laws in China and interpol is useless there also

they can copy any shiat they want

[MikeRWK]

Anyone can copy **** and get away with it but they just blatently flaunt it.

[support@feastauto]

Daryl, I wouldn't say this is the latest threat. This problem has been on for about a year now. They are just finally publishing details. Why so late...no clue.

Quite unfortunate. Id hate to be the one running that knock off regulator to later find out it starved a motor of fuel.

[Bossman]

The main point of a counterfeit is that there is an intention to deceive. In this particular case people are selling FRP that is visually similar to Tomei's in design, colour, and the most deceiving part of all having the Tomei logo printed on the part. Now this style of adjustable FPR has been around longer them Tomei or Sard or what other company who wish to market FRP, so is Tomei actually making counterfeit FRP and marketing it as their own design? Of course not, and the reason is probably because the original patent on this style of FRP has expired, or Tomei is making this item and paying royalties to whoever holds the design patent. Like some of the responses on this topic, there will be copies of someone's design but in some cases they are perfectly legal because either the originator did not file a patent or the design patent has expired. China has laws against counterfeits but like the US government's fight against illegal drugs, they can only catch the few but many do get through.