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i was just wonderin what people thought of using genuine mitsubishi made in japan replacement parts for their cars as opposed to just using a made in china replacement...

i spend a lot of time in the bamboo and ive actually seen people ask for the "the cheap one" and make comments like "na boy da too expensive"... and just recently i was driving behind a cedia lancer and i almost hit him because both his cradles broke 2 the same time and i took the time to stop and help him and i found out that the cradles on his car were both tiawanese and were changed "just recently".

i'm open to any comments...

~bess

i honestly don't care for many oe parts, always look at the aftermrkt to see what they have to offer as well and make decision from there
when i say aftermkt i don't mean upgrade i mean oe replacement such as recently i needed to change endlinks and the mitsu ones is a plastic housing with a metal ball and decided that was not gonna cut it so i went with some raybestos units, the professional grade which is a step above the service grade and its all metal with urethane boot so it should be good
in my chase it was like a dollar or 2 cheaper than mitsu units

price is not an issue for me, its the durability and the service i would get is what dictates my choice and many times its a chance informed by research and other ppl past decisions

Well Bess, you know my answer to this all too well.

well from what ive seen big brand name items meet and surpass oem standards with ease but i'm asking in terms of regular road safety and the average guy with a mitsubishi daily driver... because the situation stated before is not the first of its kind ive witnesses with "tiawanese parts"... i just wanna hear what other tuners think..

i prefer OEM or better on my baby, just like Dave said above (yuh bess be using OEM or betta in dat sweetness, especially since i eyein it)...

but from what i've seen, regular people just use whatever they can afford, regardless of the build-quality, durability, etc.

i've been to a lot of parts places look for the "right stuff" for my baby, and i've always seen people just come in and ask for a part name i.e. they never mention a brand, they never ask about feedback on its performance or even the store's opinion of the product.

once they get a cheap thing, most people are happy (nevermind that they have to change the same part in less time, effectively going over the cost of the OEM in the process)

i recently experienced a sh!tload of anguish trying to get a rear engine mount for my CS3, everyone bussin' out they MIC, MIT, even MIM (Malaysian) stuff with prices as low as TT$195. ended up begging everyone i knew at DM to get a discount, to bring it down to TT$800...

Dave wrote:i honestly don't care for many oe parts, always look at the aftermrkt to see what they have to offer as well and make decision from there
when i say aftermkt i don't mean upgrade i mean oe replacement such as recently i needed to change endlinks and the mitsu ones is a plastic housing with a metal ball and decided that was not gonna cut it so i went with some raybestos units, the professional grade which is a step above the service grade and its all metal with urethane boot so it should be good
in my chase it was like a dollar or 2 cheaper than mitsu units

price is not an issue for me, its the durability and the service i would get is what dictates my choice and many times its a chance informed by research and other ppl past decisions

X2 and there are a lot of brands/parts that actually surpass OEM specs/longevity.

I always believe its better to upgrade than replace... But then are you going to pay $1800 for aftermarket when you could get oem for $600?

This depends on what part I am replacing.

Body part - OEM as I have seen way too many taiwan parts taht are just to inferior in quality standards and they don't line up like the OEM

Suspension, brakes and drivetrain I usually prefer to use a quality aftermarket or OEM replacement, but will defer to an OEM if I put regular wear and tear on it

not teh case with teh K74 L200 clutch and pressure plate as the non-oem just couldn't take the stress of my driving and off-roading

suspension parts - OEM except for shock absorbers. those were higer performance aftermarket

with the Lancers Sakura filters never failed me, even at 10,000km change intervals

with the Sportero - OEM oil and fuel which are denso, solely for quality. A regular direct injection fuel pump is expensive to service so I ain't even want to find out the cost of servicing a common rail injection pump. air filter is aftermarket

mounts were usually OEM because while the aftermarket substitutes were cheaper than the OEM, the aftermarkets required changing more often and when calculated in terms of labour and time to change, were pretty much same as the OEM

brakes - depends on the brand, but I have found that nutten holds on stock rotors liek stock pads (sumitomo on teh lancers, Tokico on teh L200's)

OEM parts are usually expensive locally, but they aren't so if sourced online or from Simpson Motors in barbados (where i bring all my Sportero and lancer parts from)

so overall i say OEM, but not for everything

up to the a tie wraps I buy oem

power to that...

Depends on what parts and OEM Diamond Motors.

For areas such as brakes (on the advice of my mechanic ) OEM since they from my experience last much longer than non OEM.

For steering and suspension ( on the advice of my mechanic ), I can get away with non OEM once it is of a good quality/ brand. These parts tend to be much cheeper than OEM and give about the same or slightly better service life.

For engine parts such as timing belts, drive belts (on advice of my mechanic ) OEM.
For consumeables such as oil filters, fuel filters, air filters, oil, fulids etc non OEM but good brand name since price is cheeper.
On his advice though for CVT fulid use OEM.

For body parts such as windscreens, doors, light lens (on advice from my bodyshop/ painter ) non
OEM since is way cheeper and just as good.

OEM. As long as I can get em I will use em. But that doesn't stop me from going the route as per Dave's comment; as long as the part is equal or greater quality around the same price as OEM then I am willing to givve it a go.

But for reliability and longevity, I stick with the manufacturer. ( I said manufacturer eh... not Diamond Motors )

OEM as much as possible especially for stuff like sensors, etc. Other than that, the next best thing yes (of similar standard or better), as per feedback gathered.

Paid $1800 (genuine) for a Crank Sensor in November or so.
Paid $1450 (genuine) for my timing belt auto tensioner last month. And I ain't driving no Evo eh

I nearly cry when I picked up a cam and crank sensor (genuine Mitsubishi Electric branded) for my sis Mazda Familia this week for $600 total!

Oh well I think I'd rather ban meh belly and pay the price for piece of mind oui.

My $0.02