Bride Fakes - Beware!

[Antimatter]

Hi Guys

With all the ebay trauling that I do I have notice of late there are more and more copies of Bride seats making it out there. Now I am not about to start down the track of my moral position on counterfiet product... but felt the need to open some discussion - create some awareness that there is now a number of sellers that are pushing these copies into the market as the real deal.

I actually bought a couple of pairs myself a while back - and I did so suspecting that they were not the real deal but I paid accordingly - partially out of curiousity (and partially out of the same attraction one has for a $10 rolex from Bali).

Anyway - what has got me is now people are claiming these are the real deal, made in japan geniune bride - and have documentation etc. AND while they are priced cheaply - they are not that cheap for a chinese made knock off. AND they are being flogged as if they are the real thing.

A couple of things that give away a copy seat:

1. Universal sliders (bride do not package ANY of there seats with universal rails)

2. Crooked logos (though the replicas are geting better - they still seem to struggle getting the logos perfectly centred and horizontal)

3. Stitching (Genuine brides have nothing short of immaculate stitching - the copies are getting better, but still, not perfect)

4. Price (if they seem too cheap - they probabley are, Chinese knock offs are around half of genuine price)

5. Packaging (plain boxes are a giveaway - though now the copies are coming with bride stickers and warranty cards).

The copies I have found are mostly Cuga, Vios and Gias - in both FRP and Carbon / Kevlar.

I would like to put up some pics of copies vs real - if anyone has inadvertantly (or intentionally) bought copies and would like to help others avoid making the same mistake - please feel free to contact me.

I am not saying dont buy the fakes - or that everyone on ebay is selling fakes, but it pains me to think of people forking out thousands of dollars for something that is being misrepresented.

If anyone has comment to add or and experience to share please do so.

Cheers!

Edited June 19, 2009 by Antimatter

[quarkgun]

Its good to raise some awareness on this. Just out of curiosity, has anyone done some comparisons between the real and fake seats; i.e. weight, strength of joins etc? it would be interesting to see how they compare. Sure, someone who wants the best is going to buy the real thing, but i'd like to know just how good are the copies really are.

[shaunvlc]

when i was recently in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur in fact. I came across this area that had some sweet performance shops all in the same blocks. There was an interior place selling the fake bride seats. I couldn't tel the difference, had to ask and he said "copy".

The only way i eventually could tell was that where the front of the seat is the material isn't as neat when it is being tucked under the seat.

Sorry for the poor explanation, hard to explain. But yes if you look very closely you can tell. That is if you have seen the genuine product first. Not too mention the copies are cheap as hell.

[Antimatter]

That is a good point.

Bride do a number of impact and various other strength and safety tests - with the chinese copies you get none of that.

They might be ok - the ones I have seen the structure actually "looks" ok. But doubt anyone has spent the money on getting them tested (you have to destroy the seats to do this) and even then, if they change something in the designed, you really need to test them again. Bride will do this - the people that manufacture the copies wont.

That being said - there are some good chinese seats out there, but they have there own ISO / QC to adhear too and are not trying to sell there product as something it is not.

I suppose when you buy a counterfiet anything you are taking a gamble. That fake rolex you buy might work for a day or for 10 years. But the diffence being the rolex wont compromise your safety in a collision.

Edited June 19, 2009 by Antimatter

[gfunkk]

good thread

my mate got sold a fake takata harness i should get him to post a pic up

has anyone brought a copy seat, does it at least feel the same to sit/drive in?

[darrinspencer]

If you are going to buy the cheaper copy seats, at least buy the adr approved ones. The seats autobarn sell, saas, drift and isolata are trimmed in the same materail, so it is is probably safe to say they come out out the same factoryand are ADR approved. As with the JJR seats, they have been ADR tested.

As for quality. I have bought in the past 2 seats of cheap seats. That is what you get. The materail does not wear well, support varies between brands

I had a seat of drift D1 from autobarn, support was fairly good, but the materail started to come apart at the seams and wear marks after 4 weeks of use.

If you want copies, there is a shop in Brisbane that sells full copies and branded and sold so, of brides, recaro's for approx $650-700 pair

They look good at first, but when I had a look at the bride's the could see the material was not up to the quality.

I spoke with a guy from Hong Kong. He said you can buy a pair of these seats for about $60US pair and can bodykits for example for, like front bars could be landed in Australia for $39 each. So you can see what sort of quality you are getting. Someone here is making pleny of money.

I am in the market for some new seats again. I will be buying original Bride's or Recaro's this time around!!!

[PM-R33]

Yeah i've noticed how hard they are getting to tell apart. Me and my mate were looking at seats on ebay quite regularly recently and the amount of "cheap genuine Brides" is becoming a bit suspicious. Especially when they are all from Taiwan.....

eg: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/TWO-BRIDE-ERGO-II-A...%3A1%7C294%3A50

eg: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/TWO-BRIDE-CUGA-raci...%3A1%7C294%3A50

[SLEEPR85]

Yeah i've noticed how hard they are getting to tell apart. Me and my mate were looking at seats on ebay quite regularly recently and the amount of "cheap genuine Brides" is becoming a bit suspicious. Especially when they are all from Taiwan.....

eg: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/TWO-BRIDE-ERGO-II-A...%3A1%7C294%3A50

eg: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/TWO-BRIDE-CUGA-raci...%3A1%7C294%3A50

Wow, they look really good for copies..... indeed, really to tell apart from genuine in photo's.

[darrinspencer]

You need to have a read on NS.com.au

Apparently the genuine Bride company in Japan (the only place the are made and badged made in japan) has lost their Bride name. The Taiwan company grabbed it and now badge thier seats as "bride"

That is why in the ebay ad's it says "not made in Japan"

I have not seen the Taiwan copies in person, they maybe great, they might not be either.

I think someone said on NS it is covered on the genuine Bride web site about the fakes and they might be changing thier name.

Not sure how true all this is, but that is what I have read.

[quarkgun]

Far out, he's charging 2K + postage for fake seats...? thats gotta be a huge profit margin.

[Mr. Keets]

How do you lose your brand???? someone forgot to pay a bill?

fail

[quarkgun]

Haha, if you look at a few bride ads on ebay, you'll see some that say something akin to "bride is a registered trademark in taiwan".

Basically, it means that the real Bride does not hold the trademark on it's name in taiwan. It's be a legal loophole that allows bootleggers to register the name in Taiwan for the purposes of producing cheap inferior products with the same name.

Or at least that's how i understand it.

[darrinspencer]

That is the story I read.

[Antimatter]

At least those guys are going some way to divulge that the seats are not made in japan - there are others that are claiming they are the real deal (made in japan, genuine bride blah blah) and they are not.

Haha, if you look at a few bride ads on ebay, you'll see some that say something akin to "bride is a registered trademark in taiwan".

Basically, it means that the real Bride does not hold the trademark on it's name in taiwan. It's be a legal loophole that allows bootleggers to register the name in Taiwan for the purposes of producing cheap inferior products with the same name.

Or at least that's how i understand it.

[DCIEVE]

A mate recently bought some bride seats on my behalf which were later returned when we suspected they might be fake. Luckily he had his own new genuine bride to compare against... in the end we couldnt be 100% sure they were fakes but putting it next to the known genuine seat (which had made in jp tags etc) there were enough differences to make us want to return them. The quality just wasn't quite right, the material didnt look as hard wearing & appeared shiny in the pic's, some dodgy stitching etc...

We took dozens of pics comparing the real and suspected fake differences - will try to dig them up if anyone is interested.

[PM-R33]

Yeah it's crazy how close they make them to looking like the real thing. Atleast if they made them cost 1/10 of the price people would consider buying them. But if they are only 20-30% cheaper, what's the point.

[shaun123]

i read this on nissansilvia:

http://nissansilvia.com/forums/index.php?s...89&hl=bride

the HKS copies are nearly impossible to tell apart (for me anyway)

[paulr33]

thanks for your wise words

i have added them to

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Fa...tml&hl=ebay

[msports180]

I remember comparing a fake fixed back to a genuine ages ago, the noticale difference was where the side bolts to the rail, the fakes didnt have the strength structually, looked like the bolt holes would rip straight out with a slight shunt. This was enough for me to never consider a copy again, i have used some of the cheaper ADR approved seats (OBX) and as someone mentioned before the only drawback was the matrial didnt last to well.

[Antimatter]

If you can dig those photos up that that would be great - let me know if you need a hand hosting / posting them.

A mate recently bought some bride seats on my behalf which were later returned when we suspected they might be fake. Luckily he had his own new genuine bride to compare against... in the end we couldnt be 100% sure they were fakes but putting it next to the known genuine seat (which had made in jp tags etc) there were enough differences to make us want to return them. The quality just wasn't quite right, the material didnt look as hard wearing & appeared shiny in the pic's, some dodgy stitching etc...

We took dozens of pics comparing the real and suspected fake differences - will try to dig them up if anyone is interested.