Is this a Fake Sparkplug?

[7milesout]

Im still amazed someone would fake a part that cost less than 7 US dollars on rock auto and expect to make a profit.

I went to Shanghai at least a half dozen times. There are people there that make our poor trailer trash people *seem like kings. Yet, these dirt poor Chinese people are up and out trying to figure something out to better their situation. Where lots (not all) poor people in the U.S. lay around on their arse all day and try to figure out how to scam our trusty gobment out of even more benefits. Anywho - Those Chinese people could probably live a couple days on 1 U.S. dollar. Would those people get involved in something that profited 10 cents per spark plug? Oh yeah.

My Chinese coworkers (tried to) explain something to me about these really poor people. The law that said people could only have 1 child ... when a couple accidently had a 2nd (or more) child, the parents were forced to pay 3X their yearly salary in gobment fines for that 2nd and subsequent child. If they didn't pay that, that child could never be a Chinese citizen. Not being able to pay happened quite often. They're just to be a person living in China. And that person could never have the rights of a Chinese citizen. That's how they explained it but I'm sure there were things lost in their speaking English and trying to explain that. Those Chinese non-citizens were just treated like trash. They did what they could to survive, non-citizens weren't eligible for gobment benefits. So they had to stay busy. They were productive, even it if were swapping spark plugs. Wanna eat? Gotta work. That should be the way it is in the U.S. (except for truly handicapped people).

[Mark]

I don't think you would even need to fake the packaging. You just need to find a friendly dealer who could sell the packaging to you after installing the part on customer cars. Im still amazed someone would fake a part that cost less than 7 US dollars on rock auto and expect to make a profit.

Rock Auto is a nice place to start when shopping for basic car parts in North America. On some items I am willing to go the cheap route, & others not so much.

I will cheap out on items like cabin air filters. I'd rather buy the ones that are under $5 & change them out more frequently if necessary rather than spend over $15 for a single one.

To make shipping worthwhile, I will bunch up items like these, but I will spend a bit extra for an WIXX engine air filter, & I had added spark plugs to one of my orders in the past. I just need to remember where they are between now & when my Mirage reaches 100,000+ miles.

NGK 93298 (LZFR5BI-11) Laser Iridium plugs look legit from rockauto.com.

I tend to change out my engine air filter every 30,000 miles or so. Iridium spark plugs will go 100,000 miles easily. On items like those, I don't have the need to look for cheaper alternatives. One does need to keep a look out for junk copies.

Good stuff to share! Thanks!

[allrock]

7 dollars for a spark plug there in the US? thats cheap for that iridium SP based on the part no. and the current exchange rate here its 20 dollars a piece, i think common parts like spark plug are cheap on that area while Mitsubishi genuine parts are expensive because its hard to find..

[Mitz]

Current price of IR plug for the Mirage from the dealership is equivalent to USD 20.91 / pc.

I have yet to see how the packaging of the OEM plugs compare w/ that of the [cheap] aftermarket ones.

[Fummins]

Current price of IR plug for the Mirage from the dealership is equivalent to USD 20.91 / pc.

I have yet to see how the packaging of the OEM plugs compare w/ that of the [cheap] aftermarket ones.

I too use the "cheap" after market spark plugs. They're the exact same NGK plugs that come in the car when new. Buying them from a dealer isn't necessary imo. Your rules may vary I guess. The same plugs up here in Canuckystan would probably retail for around $20 from a Napa type store. I haven't bothered pricing them out though.

[7milesout]

Make sure to index them to squeeze out every last horsie-power. Ooooops, did I just open a can of worms?

[Mitz]

I too use the "cheap" after market spark plugs. They're the exact same NGK plugs that come in the car when new. Buying them from a dealer isn't necessary imo. Your rules may vary I guess. The same plugs up here in Canuckystan would probably retail for around $20 from a Napa type store. I haven't bothered pricing them out though.

agree on that.. the objective here is to find legit ones that are cheaper.

Mitsumi experienced problems using the aftermarket plugs he purchased online prompting him to post here at the forum.

The problem w/ buying online is how to spot a fake one from a legit.. there are so many counterfeits and it's really a PITA to identify w/c one is legit.. Laws are strict in the US regarding fake products.

It is for this reason that I prefer ordering from US online stores.. I got my Rutheniums (for my stock spare) from RockAuto .. inspected it and I can deduce it is genuine.

[Mark]

It is for this reason that I prefer ordering from US online stores.. I got my Rutheniums (for my stock spare) from RockAuto .. inspected it and I can deduce it is genuine.

It pays to shop around.

NGK Laser Iridium Spark Plug 93298 = $12.99/plug + shipping @ Auto Zone

NGK Laser Iridium Spark Plug 93298 = $6.54/plug + shipping @ Rock Auto

I didn't compare shipping costs, however.

[mitsumi]

Just an update, there's another user of the same type of SP i bought online had an issue after using the SP several kms after, in FB he showed the same box and same SP and said that after like 5k kms thats where he encountered a problem. Im still looking at the post so that i can share it here.

[mitsumi]

Just sharing...
The poster is saying they bought the OEM cheaper SP then needles melted in less than 5k kms.

the SP had the same needle, the one I bought.