Looking to change the valve cover on my N14 engine. See oem cover for everyone from $300 to $700 bucks. See them on eBay and other sites from $100 to $200 bucks. I am gonna assume that that the later are knock-offs.

1) Has anyone compared these to each other?
2) OEM or will the knock-offs work? This is about a 2 or 3 year car for my daughter.
3) From who should I purchase the oem from? Best price and good service?
4) From who should I purchase the aftermarket from? Best price and quality of part?


Thanks, Jeff

 

Just go to ECS tuning and they got the whole kit at a reasonable price

 

1) Has anyone compared these to each other?
Not that I'm aware of.

2) OEM or will the knock-offs work? This is about a 2 or 3 year car for my daughter.
Mecaplast is the original equipment supplier....I believe that there is a Chinese manufacturer on ebay (or UK ebay), but as far as I know, no one on NAM has bought one.

3) From who should I purchase the oem from? Best price and good service?
OEM and Mecaplast are literally identical. Note that the MINI badge (if you have one) is an extra cost item (about $25 - $30 I believe) in either case

4) From who should I purchase the aftermarket from?
Best price and quality of part? I'd check out Detroit Tuned, ECS Tuning, Outmotoring, Pelican Parts, or WMW. I've purchased from them all, and they are great vendors (and they support NAM!).

 

I purchased the ebay knockoff and using right now. Looked comparable to my OEM. Figured I try it since it was only less than half the cost of a real OEM version. So far no issues, but I've only had on for a few thousand miles.

-nels

 

 

I bought one off ebay for $119. When I got it, I compared the molding marks to the factory original one, every one was exact. The only difference was the injected manufacture date/prod info. I've had no problems at all.