30 replies to this topic

[minitomfoolery]

Is because all people are interested in selling in the uk is cheap crap made for the least possible money, hence why the quality of spares for minis is getting worse. In japan people actually have pride.

what?? and your basing that on one link to one company?

Well said, if you want to spend peanuts you get something made by a monkey, doesn't matter whether its in Japan or England.

that and id hardly call the likes of MED, specialist components cheap crap

They're hardly your avererage mini spares supplier though are they mate, they're precision engineers i.e not the kind of compay you pop into for a bit of sill trim or a wheelarch.
The quality of engineering in this country in general is excellent thats why you pay out the arse for it.

Edited by minitomfoolery, 10 March 2010 - 11:33 PM.

[Kam]

Is because all people are interested in selling in the uk is cheap crap made for the least possible money, hence why the quality of spares for minis is getting worse. In japan people actually have pride.

what?? and your basing that on one link to one company?

What link is that? What company? What have I missed here?

Theres more than one place I wouldn't buy from again or try in the future.

Pride would be nice everywhere but everyone here dont have it, just a dollar sign in there eye?

Edited by Kam, 10 March 2010 - 11:34 PM.

[CobraV8]

I bought my Mini as a used import from Japan. It had been a circuit car, but the race motor and cage had been removed. Some of the pretty trim bits etc also gone, but I ended up with a great base to start from.

It also had a chrome oil filter with magnets etc - Auto Delta brand (kept that on the shelf).

I for one am very pleased that the Japanese are so keen on Minis, as I have ended up with a really good car.

Remember there are not as many Minis there - but a lot more people, and the ones who are interested in Minis are ultra enthusiastic and spend a lot of money on their cars.

Comments like 35 pounds for the cup holder is too dare, id pay 20 etc - that is why Japan has the supply of fancy bits and the UK doesnt - they are willing to pay more.

[mab01uk]

The largest part of the classic Mini market in the UK is still for later Mini's, often as a cheap young persons first car run on a shoe string or student budget. The majority of busy traders at any UK Mini show are selling high turn over cheaper parts, some are selling poor quality rubbish but there are many inexperienced owners who think they have picked up a shiny new bargain until it rusts or breaks soon after fitting. The other smaller market in the UK tends to be perhaps the older owners with more to spend on their hobby restoring the valuable Mk1/2 /Coopers, etc they previously owned in their youth.

In Japan the Mini has always been a cult hobby car rather than basic cheap everyday transport, so the owners tend to be the kind of people with more money to spend and demand unique quality products. Unfortunately after shipping and marketing costs, selling these parts in the UK would still not result in enough demand to bring down prices much if at all.
Example: Minispares have recently bought in the Japanese 165/10 Dunlop R7 CR65 replica tyres from Japan, they sell here for £88 each but are around £50 in Japan. Judging by the reaction on TMF whenever I have mentioned this tyre recently, few UK enthusiasts know about it or care at that price, so they will only sell to a small minority of enthusiasts who want the genuine classic 60's look and can afford the price in the UK.

http://www.minispare.....65/70/10 TYRE
Description
These Dunlop R7 165/70/10 radial tyres are a faithful reproduction of the classic 1960s Dunlop Racing CR65 tyre. The perfect tyre for using with our classic Minilife and Rose Petal alloys.
£74.75 exc vat
£87.83 inc vat

Edited by mab01uk, 10 March 2010 - 11:48 PM.

[the-green-monkey]

There are some very nice wheels on that site

[mini93]

Is because all people are interested in selling in the uk is cheap crap made for the least possible money, hence why the quality of spares for minis is getting worse. In japan people actually have pride.

what?? and your basing that on one link to one company?

What link is that? What company? What have I missed here?

Theres more than one place I wouldn't buy from again or try in the future.

Pride would be nice everywhere but everyone here dont have it, just a dollar sign in there eye?

i meant while theres the company in jap which, from what we can tell seems very good, but again i cant read it so i dont know, the quality might be high but remember quality is directly compaired to cost, you get what you pay for. parts in the UK arent neccesarily low quality, but they are also addapting for the market where people may choose between either high quality more expence or lower quality and cost, ie tyres great fantastic sticky yoko's great quality ordinarily compaired to budget tyres where you slide off the road when someone crys and a tear drops on the road a mile away.

i just dont think he worded it right weather that was how he meant it or not, so say all people are interested in selling is cheap tat isnt right (though some shows it does appear that way ) i think alot of mini spares stuff is generaly good, not rubbishy plastic or badly chrome plates bits n bobs

[pockets]

Thing is what price are these bits in Japan? hugely expensive even over there no doubt whereas alot of UK suppliers regardless of car think that UK customers generally will only pay a certain price point for a part even though this is generally untrue.

There are some fabulous parts that are made in the UK that I'm sure are the envy of the Japs like KAD/Specialist Components/MB Racing etc etc.

Incidently that headlight switch looks just like the ones found on a Rover SD1 I shall see if I have a spare set of SD1 stalks tomorrow.
 01301740_4b63f09a2bba1.jpg   63.24K   2 downloads

[Kam]

i just dont think he worded it right weather that was how he meant it or not, so say all people are interested in selling is cheap tat isnt right

He didn't word it right, it does read as everyone but hopefully people will know he didn't mean every single producer in the UK rather than one or two he has problems with?

There are more than one top notch mini pioneers here so its all good

[shedonwheels]

I think it's just that Japan has products that are fresh and interesting to our eyes, but I'm sure it's the same for the Japanese with some of our products that they can't get.

I want this!


Link

but it's about £175!

[olds_kool_lews]

is the shipping expensive from japan? would love a set of them wide 10" spilt rims!

[mini93]

i just dont think he worded it right weather that was how he meant it or not, so say all people are interested in selling is cheap tat isnt right

He didn't word it right, it does read as everyone but hopefully people will know he didn't mean every single producer in the UK rather than one or two he has problems with?

There are more than one top notch mini pioneers here so its all good

i think everyone has those one or 2 suppliers they would rather not visit

[Ethel]

The light switch was also used on Mk1 Metros.

[p.park]

Better?
Don't know about better but they certainly are darn expensive!

https://www.mini-del...detail1836.html

this plasticky cupholder costs
£140!!!!!!!!!
what the f?

https://www.mini-del...detail1438.html
and this standard stock bumber costs £90! and That's with the 25% discount!

Edited by p.park, 11 March 2010 - 02:15 AM.

[yat_yu]

The largest part of the classic Mini market in the UK is still for later Mini's, often as a cheap young persons first car run on a shoe string or student budget. The majority of busy traders at any UK Mini show are selling high turn over cheaper parts, some are selling poor quality rubbish but there are many inexperienced owners who think they have picked up a shiny new bargain until it rusts or breaks soon after fitting. The other smaller market in the UK tends to be perhaps the older owners with more to spend on their hobby restoring the valuable Mk1/2 /Coopers, etc they previously owned in their youth.

In Japan the Mini has always been a cult hobby car rather than basic cheap everyday transport, so the owners tend to be the kind of people with more money to spend and demand unique quality products. Unfortunately after shipping and marketing costs, selling these parts in the UK would still not result in enough demand to bring down prices much if at all.
Example: Minispares have recently bought in the Japanese 165/10 Dunlop R7 CR65 replica tyres from Japan, they sell here for £88 each but are around £50 in Japan. Judging by the reaction on TMF whenever I have mentioned this tyre recently, few UK enthusiasts know about it or care at that price, so they will only sell to a small minority of enthusiasts who want the genuine classic 60's look and can afford the price in the UK.

http://www.minispare.....65/70/10 TYRE
Description
These Dunlop R7 165/70/10 radial tyres are a faithful reproduction of the classic 1960s Dunlop Racing CR65 tyre. The perfect tyre for using with our classic Minilife and Rose Petal alloys.
£74.75 exc vat
£87.83 inc vat

yeah the markets is totally different between Jap an UK as said by mab01uk. basic cheap tansport in Japen is more like a civic/corolla those kind of domestic cars. And Japen had long been proud of their high standard craftmanship, um....not sure after the toyota thing. So i totally agree the japanese parts are a lot higher quality than the UK stuff, and Japanese had lot more creativity as well whereas UK markets just stick to the traditional stuff.

[Dan]

my point it, the Japanese mini market is much smaller than ours

Remember there are not as many Minis there

That simply isn't true. There is a massive market for Minis in Japan, it was the largest sales market worldwide for Rover for about the last 15 years of production and if memory serves Germany was second with the UK coming third. Mini was introduced in Japan from very early in its production and stayed popular there throughout. If it hadn't been for Japanese sales Mini would have been discontinued in the '80s. If it wasn't a big market over there, Rover wouldn't have been selling a unique specification car there with several territory specific systems. After all, similar territorial requirements were the reason they pulled out of Australia and the US. There are several companies over there each with their own massive catalogue of special parts. My grandad always says that he made far more dashes to send to Japan than anywhere else in the world, the company couldn't believe how many they were selling. Japan has several of their own Mini racing series and the KAD spaceframe series was based there. Just because the UK market is what you know about first hand and seems massive, doesn't mean it's the biggest. There wouldn't be IMMs if the car wasn't popular internationally. The car has always been a status symbol in Japan and they love anything British over there, it's very popular indeed.