Detroit Speed recently shared these photos detailing the difference between genuine and fake. At first glance, the counterfeit lower control arm looks legit. Get closer, though, and the differences quickly jump out.
Story by Matt Cramer, Photography as Credited
Copycat products have been a fact of life in the performance parts industry for decades. And for a long time, makers of these knockoffs ranged from above-board to sleazy yet legal. There was an ethical line in the sand that even the shady manufacturers just didn’t cross: pretending the fake parts were the genuine articles, taking advantage of a brand’s reputation for quality to sell a cheaply made clone.
But in the past 10 years, we’ve seen far more crooks willing to cross the line and build actual counterfeit performance parts instead of mere imitations.
Ever wondered just who is making these knockoffs? So did we, so we tried to get some information straight from the source: the counterfeiters themselves. They were surprisingly willing to open up about their operations, sometimes going so far as to provide pictures of the factory floor. It may have helped that they thought we were running a crooked speed shop and looking to place an order that never came. Our undercover investigation turned up a couple of surprises.
Could you spot the fake? The fuel pressure regulator on the right is a counterfeit; the genuine Aeromotive piece is the one on the left.
First, those blatantly illegal businesses aren’t nearly as underground as you’d expect. Finding what seem to be the real addresses of half a dozen knockoff speed part companies took us less than half an hour. These aren’t two-bit operations with a dude casting fake blow-off valves on his kitchen table, either. Many counterfeiters we’ve researched claim to employ anywhere from 50 to several hundred people; some list more than a thousand employees.
Most ersatz speed parts come out of China, but not all. We’ve run across operations based in Turkey and England as well. Some ripoffs of American companies’ parts are even being manufactured in the United States.
If these counterfeiters feel guilt for what they do, it doesn’t exactly come across in their company mission statements. One Chinese manufacturer of phony GReddy turbos touts its “core competitiveness from Integrity, Quality and Focuses.” Another stresses its “‘first quality, honesty pays’ business principle.” And at the same time, it boasts that its copies would fool anyone.
A few years back, one American company confronted parts forgers with some business principles of its own. When folks from Omix-ADA, a gigantic producer of Jeep parts and accessories based just outside Atlanta, attended the 2015 SEMA Show, they found several offshore companies openly exhibiting fake Omix-ADA parts, complete with the logos.
“Combating counterfeit product and helping members protect their intellectual property rights is a high priority for SEMA,” says Della Domingo, the group’s public relations director. That includes “working with government and industry to have strong laws and active enforcement, both in the U.S. and with our trading partners,” she adds.
Omix-ADA didn’t take immediate action, though. Instead it prepared for the following year’s trade show, working with SEMA Show organizers as well as the court system and U.S. Marshals Service. When the copycats showed up again in 2016, feds seized their displays and products in accordance with a civil complaint that claimed patent and trademark infringement.
Nearly a year after the raid, SEMA issued a follow-up release: “A U.S. District Court ruled that several off-shore companies violated patents and trademarks owned by Omix-Ada/Rugged Ridge, and had participated in the manufacture of counterfeit products.”
How does Henk Van Dongen, Omix-ADA’s marketing director, make sense of such brazen fakery? “On one hand, it is their way of showing off their manufacturing capabilities–even to the level of copying our logo,” he says. “From their cultural perspective, this is a way of showing pride in their work and capabilities. Not that this makes it any better.”
Sometimes counterfeiters make parts that don't really exist. Brembo doesn't offer caliper covers. Some quick surfing will uncover websites offering many products from questionable sources.
Rarely do counterfeiters settle for knocking off just one or two parts: Many sell several hundred different fraudulent products. Some specialize in one particular area, such as fake mufflers. Others diversify, offering everything from air filters and steering wheels to electronics and gauges.
Not satisfied with plagiarizing real parts, a few of these businesses offer counterfeit versions of parts that never existed. Two examples: HKS-branded fuel magnets and Brembo-branded brake caliper covers. Neither company has ever made such products.
Counterfeiters weren’t especially willing to open up to us about how exactly they got the designs for these products, but we found a few clues. Some advertise that if they don’t offer what you want, you can send them a sample of a product and have them duplicate it. The exact verbiage we found on one site: “Develop all parts free if you can supply us the drawing or samples.”
Others advertise that they do castings for original manufacturers. Draw your own conclusions there.
Corky Bell, longtime maker of aftermarket turbo kits, recalls an explanation he received from one Chinese fabrication firm. After Corky placed an order with the shop to produce his turbo manifold design, similar ones started turning up on eBay. The shop’s owner claimed that his brother had stolen the plans and set up his own firm.
Once a company has made a fake part, the next step is getting it to market. The internet has made it easy to sell products directly to consumers around the world, especially through larger resale venues such as eBay and Amazon Marketplace. Some quick Google work reveals wholesale opportunities, too.
We managed to get price lists from several counterfeiting operations. One was peddling fake Flowmaster mufflers for $8 to $12 each at a wholesale level. Phony HKS blowoff valves cost importers $20 to $30 each, while the real deal retails for around $250.
We also found fake MSD ignition parts selling for pennies on the dollar. One firm was offering the brand’s Blaster ignition coils for as little as $4 each. MSRP for the genuine article? About $50.
Omix-ADA used the justice system to solve its problem, but companies have protected their intellectual property using a variety of strategies–from the sneaky to the straightforward.
When Corky Bell picked a Chinese company to manufacture his castings, he devised a way to foil would-be copycats: by including deliberate errors in his design. He purposely specced holes that were too small, figuring he could re-drill them once he had the completed parts in hand. He also left off a required brace. When the knockoffs showed up, they didn’t fit properly and lacked the durability of the genuine product.
One electronics company told us it put misleading markings–ones that were downright silly–on its circuit boards to prevent anyone else from figuring out how to correctly use them.
After seeing a round of fake 6AL ignition boxes on the market, MSD introduced an updated version. To keep the counterfeiters busy, the MSD team also completely redesigned the housing.
Sometimes simply educating customers is the answer. Detroit Speed, builder of quality speed parts for domestics, recently sent out an email comparing its Camaro and Nova lower control arms to an available fake. “While the pricing is significantly lower than true Detroit Speed control arms, so is the quality and design,” the release states. “Customers report that once installed, clearance issues with the brake rotor arise.”
GReddy’s own website includes a pictorial comparing its blow-off valve to a fake. The Counterfeit Report (thecounterfeitreport.com) also explains how to tell real products from phonies, covering everything from Ping golf clubs and Yeti tumblers to MSD ignition boxes and OE BMW parts.
The company representatives we talked to generally consider it a waste of time and money to try to sue a knockoff operation in China–unless it literally crosses the wrong line. Once it sends employees over the U.S. border to promote bogus parts, a forger’s crimes fall under American jurisdiction. That’s how Omix-ADA was able to move in against the counterfeiters at the SEMA Show.
U.S.-based companies that import–or, rarely, manufacture–counterfeit parts are easier targets. American laws leave these outfits vulnerable to both civil and criminal charges, and ripped-off companies that want to press charges can get help from SEMA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the federal government. U.S.-based internet service providers can also be taken to task for facilitating the sale of counterfeit goods, and they usually prefer to get out of the way before anybody has to bring lawyers into the dispute.
Two last tricks to keep from being duped: Stick to authorized resellers, and remember that if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Detroit Speed recently shared these photos detailing the difference between genuine and fake. At first glance, the counterfeit lower control arm looks legit. Get closer, though, and the differences quickly jump out.
I'm really glad you wrote this article about counterfeit parts. It's a topic that needs to be addressed more. I'm beginning to believe that about 25% of the parts I buy ( i have more than one collector car) are counterfeit. I judge that from the number of returns I do or just suffering with poor fitting or poor performing parts. I don't know if that is because of poor quality control or counterfeiting but I sure wish it could be improved. My first choice in parts is from American made. Then my second option is from well established specialty suppliers but that does not always solve the issue. Anyway, keep up the good work. Dave.
As someone who is in the aftermarket/performance parts industry is crazy how many counterfeit parts are out there. We get a TON of returns of people returning fake parts.
I have the regulator on the right on my car, minus the aeromotive name. I figured it was only a matter of time before they started etching the name on them. FYI the boost reference port does nothing. And i pressure tested the eff out of my lines because it was set at 155psi from china factory, and i had to run it almost out of adjustment to get 60psi at the rail.
Good article. I would never buy a name stamped piece from china.
We've had a couple of parts knocked off but never sold as counterfeits - luckily. This could be because we don't use many Chinese suppliers and because our parts aren't available though major channels like eBay, Amazon or Summit. It's probably only a matter of time, though.
If you ever want to make sure you're getting a real FM part, get it from FM or from a reseller that we suggest. If the price is way too good to be true, it's not.
And then there are “real fakes”. I learned about that from Roberto Saviano’s work about the mafia controlled mom and pop shops in Italy. A company with a solid name and reputation will approach a shop to build a number (say 1000) of a particular thing. The shop’s owner complies but instead builds 1000 extra that they sell on the black market. Built in the same shop by the same hands that built the “real one”. In these cases not even an expert can spot the difference. I’d never thought about that before.
In reply to A 401 CJ :
Hell Bizzarinni made more whole cars after AMC bailed on the AMX/3!
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2013/08/30/one-of-six-amx3-comes-up-for-sale/
This is happening with bicycle parts too. On my current build I have actually knowingly bought knockoff parts from China for it. These are mainly carbon fiber components like handlebars, forks, etc. Some of the parts I've bought have legitimate trademark violations with their branding like copying the names of other companies, or slightly altering brand names. I guess I'm part of the problem now that I'm buying this stuff, but from the consumer perspective, these parts offer an amazing price/performance ratio. The set of carbon handlebars I bought for roughly $30 would be about equivalent to a $200 pair of bars.
Hello all,
I believe there is a strong parallel between counterfeit parts and the drug trade.
As long as there are buyers willing to purchase such products, there will be shady operators ready and willing to meet the demand.
As consumers we should all pledge to support legitimate businesses and resist the urge to go to the dark side for knock-offs.
For the AMC challenge car, I bought a no name fuel pressure regulator. Just like the one in the article. When it was delivered it had Aeromotive stamped on it. It wasn't the greatest as far as adjustability and quality go. I tried not to purchase knock-offs whenever possible and still do to this day.
freetors said:This is happening with bicycle parts too. On my current build I have actually knowingly bought knockoff parts from China for it. These are mainly carbon fiber components like handlebars, forks, etc. Some of the parts I've bought have legitimate trademark violations with their branding like copying the names of other companies, or slightly altering brand names. I guess I'm part of the problem now that I'm buying this stuff, but from the consumer perspective, these parts offer an amazing price/performance ratio. The set of carbon handlebars I bought for roughly $30 would be about equivalent to a $200 pair of bars.
That's a short term strategy. The knockoffs don't have any testing or development behind them. If the companies doing that work can't support themselves, they go away and R&D for your parts dries up. Give the price disparity, I suspect that the knockoffs you bought also have some serious shortcuts in the manufacturing process, such as the substitution of a different type of fiber or fewer layers. Something to think about.
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