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Counterfeit NGK plugs, youtube links


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and this is why I buy my parts from reputable retailers - local when possible, not fly-by-night ebay sellers.

anyone buying spark plugs on ebay kinda deserves what they get, imho. You may think that is mean, but seriously, i have NEVER even thought about buying something as basic as spark plugs on ebay - or amazon for that matter. I get them from local retailers - either the farm & home store, or auto parts store.

Things that I can't get locally i buy from known reputable online sources. eBay, Amazon, AliExpress, and others, are flooded with crooks, fakes, and junk. I will not buy parts for my Subaru  there, unless I absolutely have no other choice (and that is REALLY rare).

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I totally didn’t know this was a thing! Mind you, why would you want to buy spark plugs online? They’re reasonably priced in store and it’s much more convenient than buying online!! 

Anyone actually been caught out that are willing to share? 

Cheers 

Bennie

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Yup , they got me. I just opened this and have asked the seller for a full refund and their RMA #.

Its Chinese garbage in total copy “Subaru” script.

Had they shown the label and it’s “Genuine Rarts” I think I would have caught that. 

Yes , Genuine Rarts 

 

Edited by moosens
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No NTN or NSK , just crap. The belt looks ok but we all know it likely isn’t. Belt print looks perfect , I think , and says Subaru Parts. But the label on the bag it came in says Subaru Rarts. And all the boxes were bagged and those bags had Made In China on them. 

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2 hours ago, forester2002s said:

I'm not expert, but isn't classic Japanese script very similar to Chinese script?

I.E. could this be a Japanese product?

that is kind of like saying all (insert ethnic reference here) people look the same.. there are similarities, but there are also many differences.

and i doubt very much that the item pictured above is actually Japanese.

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Hey Paul

Right click on your photo and select "search google for image". Obviously your pic shows up but all other references to similar images (text) are Japanese related.

You might still be OK but there's no guarantee that Chinese can't print using Japanese text and you'd never catch them as easily as with your original "Genuine Rarts" image above.

Edited by brus brother
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I’m on an I phone 6 so no right click option. But hey , I’m bumping up to an 8 as soon as I make time to set it up. Maybe I’ll be able to select those options at that time. 

My thought was simply that I’ve bought these same plugs from the same dealer and now they show up with whatever oriental print on them I never had seen before.  And the color of the metal is darker than usual like the video showed. 

Anyone else recently but spark plugs from a known dealer and can post pics ? 

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Ok maybe I jumped the gun on the spark plugs and have let paranoia take over.

Here’s an older stock I had on my shelf. Didn’t realize they had that oriental print on them back then too. 

Ok now somebody match up that print and explain it. Lol

 

Edited by moosens
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That second line of text appears the same in both images. Question remains if the "new" plugs show any other telltale signs of those noted as counterfeit.

Also I made a jpg of the text in the first image and without mentioning anything did a reverse image search on Google and the response came back with reference to NGK. LINK

On that same search page there is a customer service number you could always contact. You could just say you found them on a shelf and want to identify them.

Edited by brus brother
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I went to two local auto parts stores and they brought out four each of three different part numbers of NGK IR plugs and we looked at them.

All of them had the 4 digits stamped on the hex. Most but not all had the letters centered vertically on the lower part of the porcelain. The boxes of certain part numbers did not have the Russian printing, other part numbers did.

So far it looks like the only real giveaway will be the 4 digits missing on the hex.

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