China Intake Pipe Kit For Your Gtr - A Review.

[Marko R1]

i can understand that you pay for what u get & u might expect the chinese kit to be 'a bit rough around the edges' BUT that the above is just...im speechless

[NZM.031]

ive just baroozed this thread.. and that is atrocious, but i will say this... i was talking to a guy in a bike shop, after looking for a new bike (treadly).. i picked up a $1300 felt s-28 i think it was... felt say they are made in the states... on the bottom its made in taiwan... ok fair enough, its a cheap bike... i then had a look at the cheapest cervelo... and it was made in china... so i have a look at a more expensive cervelo... again, made in china.. all the shimano components, made in china, orbea's... which are made in the heart of the pyrenes... are actually made in china too.

i questioned old mate about why should i pay $5000 for a bike thats made in the same factory, and same components and has same geometry and frame material as a $1300 bike.

he said the reason companies get stuff made in china is a) its very cheap and b) they have the technology to do a good job, and cope with the quantity.. like anyone, if Felt want a cheap frame, they ask for one, if they want a good frame, they ask for one, it costs much more, and is much better quality carbon, even though its made from china and the frames have the same geometry and material its not all the same shit..

hks intercooler kits are awesome... but arent always "bolt on" sometimes p/s coolers and a/c fans get in the way and arent mentioned on purchase, or in the instructions.. but they are good quality. i have fitted a few hybrid intercoolers and have not had any dramas with dodgy pipes, hoses blowing off, or things getting in the way..

with a brand name like "performance wise" and a kit name like "autobahn88"... i cant say that i would be even looking at these items.

cheers

Linton

[Beer Baron]

I picked up 14rwkw through the midrange and 12rwkw in the top end over the stock pipe work, with the T517Z's. Good quality, fit right first time and required no finnishing.

Look great too..

another reason why the trust gear is worth the money. i've now used the kit on 2 of my GTRs and love it. glad they worked well for you. though some would have you believe the stock pipework is better.... hmmm

[Marko R1]

he said the reason companies get stuff made in china is a) its very cheap and b) they have the technology to do a good job, and cope with the quantity..

fact is that a lot of things today are made in china & there is absolutely nothing with that - albeit some of their intercooler hose kits

my uncle was employed with sony as a technician for 13 years back in the 80's & then everything was made in japanese...then manufacturing moved to malaysia & china for the above reasons & initally he couldnt come to terms with it. today, sony still build the best monitors

[T-Rex]

The power point your computer is plugged into is made in china.. Yes both HPM and Clipsal! I think that if a part is proven to be good, then it doesn't matter if its made in China or Korea.

[d_liberate]

with a brand name like "performance wise" and a kit name like "autobahn88"... i cant say that i would be even looking at these items.

cheers

Linton

You should get your facts right buddy. Performance wise isnt a brand name. It is a company name.

Autobahn88 are the company that make these crap kits. performance wise merely distributes them.

I actually contacted paul at performane wise about these kits a week or so ago and he said that he is discontinuing these kits due to their crapiness.

He told me that they are too inconsistent, where some kits are ok and others are just appalling. He also recommended the HKS and Trust kits which he also distributes.

I agree with T-Rex, Not everything made in china is crap. You cant generalise things like that. I also got a set of yellow jackets coil packs from performance wise nearly 6 months ago and these are also made in china. They are very good quality and about half the price of splitfires with the same warranty and performance.

[d_liberate]

...... i have fitted a few hybrid intercoolers and have not had any dramas with dodgy pipes, hoses blowing off, or things getting in the way..

FYI.....performance wise also distributes HDI/Hybrid intercoolers....Also made in china.

And performance wise has the second highest trader feedback on this forum....... cant be too bad a company hey?

[Yeedogga]

You should get your facts right buddy. Performance wise isnt a brand name. It is a company name.

Autobahn88 are the company that make these crap kits. performance wise merely distributes them.

I actually contacted paul at performane wise about these kits a week or so ago and he said that he is discontinuing these kits due to their crapiness.

He told me that they are too inconsistent, where some kits are ok and others are just appalling.

If Performance-Wise knew this and was concerned about their customers, they should not have sold them in the first place. Caveat emptor is all very well, but IF the kits are being advertised by Performance Wise as 'bolt on' and they clearly aren't, then the goods are not fit for their intended purpose. Fair Trading Act and all that jazz.

Rev210- IF, when you ordered the kit, it was advertised as 'bolt-on' and the instructions were not on the website (as they are now) I believe you should pursue the refund.

Its true, not everything from China is crap, and you pay for what you get. But it is my concern that suppliers (sellers) are NOT held to account for inaccurate or false representations in their advertising. It happens far too often now and eBay has made it very easy for sellers to shirk their obligations.

Just my 2 cents

Good luck

Edited June 17, 2009 by Yeedogga

[d_liberate]

If Performance-Wise knew this and was concerned about their customers, they should not have sold them in the first place. Caveat emptor is all very well, but IF the kits are being advertised by Performance Wise as 'bolt on' and they clearly aren't, then the goods are not fit for their intended purpose. Fair Trading Act and all that jazz.

like he said, some were good some were shit. He dropships them from China so I imagine he doesnt inspect them all.

I guess he had a few too many complaints so he decided to stop selling them?

[Bakes]

Horrendous quality!!

HKS FTW:

[mad082]

i bought a dump pipe second hand of a forum member cheap that had an alignment issue with the wastegate pipe, but i just hit it up with the die grinder and fixed it so i didn't mind.

but i have a lot of dealings with chinese made products through work (bike industry) and it seems to be not so much of a quality control issue but an issue with the client (person buying from the factory) wanting it to be nice and cheap rather than a bit more expensive and better quality, or may also be a case of simply not shopping round with different factories to find one that does it at the right price that is also decent quality. in the bike industry a very large portion of spare parts are made in china or taiwan. a lot will actually come out of the same factories. in some cases you will get identical parts (design, finish, quality all identical) yet one will be half the price as the other simply because 1 has a good brand name on it and 1 with no brand on it. on the other hand you may get a different brand item for the same price as the cheaper version but from a different factory that is absolute rubbish. the same goes for big W bikes. yes they are made in china, but i have $1000 bikes on the floor made in china as wll but the quality difference is astounding. now a lot of the parts on the bike will determine the price, but if you take off all the parts that contribute most of the cost and look at things like frames or rims, there is still a massive difference in quality of materials, welds, paint, etc despite both being made in china. the difference being that big w (well pacific brands who supplies the bikes to big w) has gone into the factory and said that they want a bike with the cheapest of everything put on them with a frame made out of the cheapest grade tubing they can get away with.

it is kind of like how if you were to go into a panel beaters and say you want a very basic respray, the cheapest job they can do, you can't then say that that place is crappy if you compare it to a show car paint job done at another place. if you had paid the first place more you would've got a better job. this seems to also go for stuff made in china. but then occasionally you will get stuff ups that you just can't understand. a mate of mine who imports bike parts has had a few of these recently. basically just to do with packaging, not the quality.

[s13_Skyline_inside]

man that cheap pipe kit is, well there must be a better word that really really crap, and those trust and hks kits are just beautiful. its not that its made in china that makes it crap, its that its made to a price, you can go to a chinese factory and say to them to make something to a price and thats what they will do or you can ask them how much it will cost for them to make said part to a quality and specify which materials they should use and then pay that price and you will have a good quality product.

anyway yeh some stuff good some stuff bad but once again YUK at this specific kit

[Marko R1]

Horrendous quality!!

HKS FTW:

what did u pay for the kit? looks awesome!

ive heard it can increase turbo shuffle so im not sure as yet if i should do this

[Bakes]

I paid $1592 for mine. Its the full kit, hard pipes both sides (model 1302-SN034) but that was when our dollar was BIG against the Yen. It is probably over 2K now???

Had turbo shuffling when I put bigger turbos on at first. Got it tuned, no shuffling at all.

[baboo]

ARC FTW! LOL!