What ebay parts are good and worth the money, and what ebay parts are total crap?

 

I got my cold air intake and short shifter from ebay and they are both pretty good quality. Also, make sure the seller has positive feedback and remember that you get what you pay for.

 

Um, well think about it
no name brands vs name brands with a good reputation, it's a risk and sometimes you run into good deals, and most of the time you run into pieces of crap
Ex. If you go and buy a header from let's say 'Type R S racing' or whatever name, you may run into problems such as a part that doesn't fit, a part that doesn't even look finished, etc.
Where as if you buy a DC Header then you are guaranteed you are receiving a quality part with a warranty.
Some parts, like intakes for example, are up in the air. Some people say they are great and had no problems with fit issues and all that, where some have said that theirs wouldn't allow their hood to close, some didn't have a hole for the sensor, etc.
In either case, i personally would rather have a quality part on my car, but that's just me. I'll spend the extra $200 or whatever for the name. Because I don't want to have to pay for it twice

 

name brands have been r&d therefor your paying for proven horse power. all the knock offs do is that a name brand product look at it and make one that lloks the same. not to mention knock offs dont exactly have quality control. well with that being said:

-short shifters i would say are ok dont go ape sh*t in them the the saft part of the shifter is welded to the ball and not run through it like the biger companies ie b&m, skunk2

-intakes its hard to get it wrong. if you have emisions where you live get an aem or nice one that is carb stickered

-i got my racing seat brakets they looked really good nice strong welds i'd say ok

-i'd say strut bars are ok. actually the performance shop up the road from my house has ebay strut bars on his shelf, he says there cheap and work just as well

-projector headlights or clear tailights i had both worked just as well as many off the shelf much more expensive ones.

- i bought a rebuild kit and it works great. i spent a 100 or150 more bucks and got the one that had names i've heard of just to be safe.

really just dont be stupid. only buy from power sellers. thats how i do it they got like 30,000 positive feedbacks and are 98.5 or better. read the feedback. i'll go through pages looking for the part im looking to buy just to see what someone who bought and recieved thinks of it

anything to do with aftermarket body panels i'd stay away from. i've seen to many people buy bodykits and spend more money to have it fit than it would have cost for a nice kit. my buddys $600(ebay price) carbon fiber hood came with a cracked corner and would not respond to his emails. i had a set of f1 fender that did not come close to fitting.

i would not buy a turbo kit there are to many variables that go into a turbo kit and these people just slap crap together and call it good. well when the wastgate fails and your boost spikes to 28lbs say bye to you motor.

also dont forget ebay also sells r&d products such as skunk2, greddy and others throughmany power seller ebay stores at a fraction of the price you will pay at your local performance shop.

unfortanattly you've wandered into a hobby that is most likely going to be the worst investment you'll ever make (from a business standpoint). and take it from alot of people on here and everywhere it is an EXPENSIVE hobby.

 

I myself would never buy an off brand performance part.

What about stuff like grills and lip kits. Has anyone had experience with those?

 

Those are ususally pretty safe
Again, like scott said, look at the sellers feedback

 

if it aint name brand its most likely sh*t products. but any tme you use Ebay you take a risk.

 

Yeah. eBay projectors vs Anzo brand projectors. They look the same, but my eBay projectors had some fitting issues, but nothing too horrible that I couldn't fix, the light output is okay.. But some spots it shoots light out like a disco ball >_<.

But I guess thats what you get for buying $100 headlights, right? I know Anzo is a good brand and their headlights are nice, and alot better to the eBay ripoffs.

 

some of the headlights for sale on eBay are Anzo. I had Anzo lights and generic eBay lights and they both sucked.



Anyway, you should stay away from things on ebay with no name that affect performance of your vehicle, with the exception of a couple things. Intake's are fine if you put a better filter on it, and short shifters are fine but they break easier than a name brand. Strut bars are fine, it's just a piece of metal.
No-name headers tend to crack or not fit well, and it's a complete risk buying one. eBay test pipes rust and sound raspy. eBay exhausts rust easily, look stupid (fart cans), and are loud. eBay springs and coilovers are junk. eBay sellers like to put the acronym "JDM" on everything to trick people into thinking it's JDM. So stay away from that.

Basically, on eBay, if the price is too good to be true, it probably is.

 

i got my intake off ebay and it was no where near fitting
buthooked it up so itworks fine now