[JABCAT]

Originally Posted by kudos

I don't mind paying a premium for a CF part if it's

1) good enough quality

and most important

2) unique to the company and not something everyone is gonna have some replica of like 99% of spoilers and front lips people have now

Most of these guys are just distributors, they don't produce these parts. They get them from the same Chinese vendors you find on Ali Express and just mark them up 500%. All of the cf pieces I've purchased from Ali Express for my wife's X3MC have been high-quality and match the oem cf pieces.

[Hypori]

Originally Posted by azlightning213

Like everything, the market dictates all. There's folks out there with enough $$ that will pay the premium on cosmetic carbon. Humbly speaking, I do not sit in that camp. Being 27 in the Bay Area with an M2 is already expensive enough.

That being said, it is refreshing to see more and more folks post here about outrageous pricing for these carbon parts - good for vendors to also take note - but they'll likely do nothing about it... margins are fat I'm sure.

I'm 100% with you bro

[bimmerstar]

most of the stuff on aliexpress is the copy. some copies are good, but most I have found are not good. The reason all the big companies charge more is to cover the R&D and mold cost. Not to say they own every mold or they aren't reselling anything but China is very good at copying, not as good as being original.

For example, Autoteknic and AutoID both have the corsa or csl style g87 grill in carbon. I dont see anyone out with that right now. But give it a few months and I am sure china will be right on it copying then all the resellers, etc. putting all the companies in a pool as buying from china/AliExpress is naive. but its good to check it from time to time. what is the premium worth? well the market decides, but im not going to let $50 be what causes me to risk buying poor quality from a knockoff vendor