I heard about that before but I never paid much atention to it, but it is a very well made point thanks for sharing your knowledge man.

 

remember in times of yester-year, when the import market was just starting to hit somewhat mainstream (i'm talkin' early early 90's here), when ALL body kits were insanely priced? even for the hondas, toyotas, nissans, it didn't matter what car you had. EVERYTHING was expensive! with any new car or trend, things are going to be a bit over priced. i think we all know that by now (you know, the whole supply and demand thing for you economics kind of people).

hell, the way i look at it, it's like today's real estate market. everybody wants a house, the manufacturer's, lenders, and agents know it, and they charge accordingly. >$500k for a teeny little lot, in a "nice" neighborhood in so cal is median price, YECH!

anyway, to make a long story short, all i'm sayin' is give it some time. prices will drop off eventually when the manufacturer realizes, "hey, no one's buyin' my stuff anymore." i mean c'mon, they hardly keep the stuff in stock, and it always takes 6-8 weeks to get anything from japan (since they have to make it). obviously there's no high demand by any means. i mean if there was, they'd be producing at the rate of wings west or ground designs (just an example).

i agree with silverbolt that price doesn't always mean quality. it normally does, don't get me wrong, but if there's a good replica, then why not get the better deal? because with a replica, it'll always be a gamble, hands down. if you want the GENUINE stuff, then great, go for it. it just gives you guaranteed fit, great quality, and bragging rights. like all things, remember you get what you pay for (mostly). god, did that whole paragraph just make any sense? besides, i really doubt they do air flow tests on these things (i know stillen doesn't).

sorry for the long rant, jus' my $0.02 is all.

ps-i don't like the rear bumper, yech, it makes the car look like a spaceship, zooooooooooooooooom.....

 

I always thought it looked a little like a ferarri

 

hmmmmmm......i don't know..... it's a stretch, but i guess i could see it.

 

Its a mutated Ferrari bumper on steroids

It would be alot cleaner if it looked more like the Ferrari... with the center part not going as high

 

that's what i was thinking....the rear bumper is al ittle too gawdy for me....

 

i guess i'll chime in here, and try to stay as neutral as possible. this thread is like the pepsi vs coke, democrat vs republican, religious debates... ahaha..

anyways, here's out take on this debate, but before i do so, let me preface this by sayinig that while we do sell some replica products (the replica products that we sell are one's in which we know that the general quality/prep/fittment is pretty good), the greater majority of our products are authentic. having said that, we cannot, and save face, dismiss replica products all together. when i bought my z, it actually had (and still does have) a seibon ts style hood on it. the ends the list of my replica mods, however. lolz.

i think we've seen a couple different schools of thought here, which makes for a healthy debate. name calling and such is childish, but i'm no angel either!

1. economics.

it's obvious, that replica's are cheap(er), and in the long run, you do save money. as a shop, in the last 6 years, we have seen "good replicas" and "bad replicas" come and go. good being that they were good fit/prep, etc from the get go. bad meaning, well, opposite! when it's good, it's rare, but then, it happens. we have an off-site body shop that does anything and everything. from painting body kits, to painting, repairing cars, to custom wide body kits, and show cars. as a rule of thumb, we rarely paint or install replica's. occassionally we do for customer's that know the cost will be greater than doing an authentic product, but those customer's are hard to find. it's actually great to see here that there are alot of people that realize/recognize the fact that replica prep/paint/installation will cost more than an authentic kit. that's refreshing. at least you know going into it, that you will be paying more for the job. in the end, as some have made the point, you will save a considerable amount of money.

2. authenticity/status

having gone over the economics side of the argument already, leaves the other side of the coin. obviously, it's cheaper to buy replica right? the other side of the coin say's "who cares if it's cheaper? i want the real deal". now, of course the counter argument is, well, if i can get the replica cheaper, why shouldn't i? let me answer my own question:

A. people buy original because they don't want the hassle of fittment issues from the start. original's generally are made of higher grade materials and stand the test of time better as well.

B. people buy the original because, for the most part, they will get the money out of the kit (assuming they dont curb it...hehe) when they sell the car. i know that this point goes back to economics, but it's intertwinded here as well. tasteful, high quality, original mods will always warrant a higher resale value in the car, allowing you to recoup a greater majority of the monies that was put out in the first place. it's an investment, albiet not a great one like buying real estate, but, if done correctly, it is possible to get the majority of the monies back when the car is sold. as a shop that sells cars, we've seen this strategy work in real life time and time again. now, i'm not saying that if you have a replica this or that, that you wont recoup your loot either. probably even more so because of the lower dollar investment of the replica. i think that the point here is for comsumers that realize the resale potential of their authentic products, it's worth it for them to throw down the cash now to be able to enjoy the product until they recoupe the monies once the car is sold.

C. people buy original/authentic for status. duhhh.. ahahah. It's great to be able to say that you have authentic veilside/kenstyle/impul/ings, or whatever. for most, the sense of pride that the owner has outweights the fact that they coulda saved money. from reading here though, apparently there's a sense of pride achieved when you save money by buying the replica too. i personally have never looked at being "cheap" as something to be proud of, but therein is the debate right? when i buy a $90 pair of jeans, it's because nordstrom had them on sale from $150.. hehehe.. plus, i like having the inside of my zipper read "lucky you".. girls seem to dig it! (i personally find it very sick of 7 jeans to have their logo state "for all mankind", when only the top 5% of the world can afford them!)

i'm sure that my post hasn't solved anything, or brought two competing views together to hold hands and make out. that's not my intention. as i implied in the second sentence, this debate is partisan. these are my perspective from having sold both authentic and replica's. one thing though, that should be obvious: you guys all own cars that, when new were purchased for high $20k-low $40k. this isn't a civic. spend the money, do it right, whatever you do.

on a side note: contrary to some opinions stated thusfar here, authentic kits, regardless of price, sell like hot cakes! veilside does not stay on the shelf long at all. we just received 3 authentic kenstyle kits on friday, and i guarantee you that they will all be gone within a couple of weeks. maybe sooner! carry on gentlemen!

 

so lets get back to what this forum is really about. helping one another by answering questions that others have.

i have a kenstyle replica front bumper that i just got. It did not come with fog lights. anyone know where I can get some that fit? None of the online retailers will split up a kit to sell just the fogs.

 

This is the one i bought for my replica KS...it will fit...its made by a company called PILOT...model number 1093W...

http://www.trucknvans.com/3_in_1_Dri...p/pl-1093w.htm

 

now that's what i'm talking about! thanks. you got any pics of your ride with the fogs?

 

Haven't install them yet...but check out the post by G352NV....its got the picture of the PILOT foglights installed on the replica bumper

https://g35driver.com/forums/interior-exterior/52684-first-review-now-fitment-fogs.html

 

A great sum up of everyones point of views.

When I first started fixing up cars (mid 90's), the whole "having pride of having an authentic parts" was a big deal for me. It was major bragging rights for me, and also a big deal since I used to compet in car shows. Later, as I became more involved in the aftermarket industry, I learned more about replicas. In some cases, I have even seen some replicas have a much better quality and fitment compared to the authentic ones! After I stopped showing my car, and started to drift away from the whole car scene, I looked back and saw how illogical my "pride" was. I saw that pride is just an illogical, emotional state that, in the end, holds little to no value... especially when it for something cosmetic and has no real function (I saw that authenticity only mattered when competing at car shows). Where as money has value (duh lol) and is universal. A penny saved is a penny earned. I saw that I would rather save that money, and spend it on something more important... such as engine mods, rims, tires... quality in those, matter MUCH more than it does on a bodykit, especially since quality on a bodykit can be modfied. If you buy rims and tires, thats what you get... theres really no modifying it to make the quality better.

Someone might come up to me and say "Hey Silverbolt, I have the same bodykit set-up as you do, but mine is authentic!". I'll just in turn say, "Good for you! Mine is a replica of yours, but no one would have even been able to tell ours apart... except I was able to afford my wheels with the money I saved and/or I have much better tires than you do"

The pride of buying a replica isnt so much about saving money... but its more about saving the money to afford other parts for our cars where quality can not be sacrificed or modified.

 

^ Amen

 

How about now?

 

but i like saving money!! it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside!