jfontana

Can someone tell me the difference in quality and composition between the CLK spoiler sold over a dealer parts dept. versus one made in Taiwan of ABS plastics? I own a 2004 CLK 500 Conv. without a spoiler from the factory and would like to ad one. Dealer price painted Brilliant Silver is $900.00 . eBay Taiwan piece painted same color is $80.00 with free shipping from Los Angeles.

eteller

I'd be more concerned with the quality of the paint. FWIW I have one of the Taiwan ones I picked up on here from JBSpeed last year. Quality is great and paint is holding strong.

Amir_AMG

If you are worried about quality I will sell you an oem one painted black off my amg for 75 plus shipping

irokdastar

I bought the same one from Taiwan and had it for a year and its great . The material is the same and 900 for a spoiler is crazy . You are not going to go wrong with the 80 dollars one .

megacrazy

It depends on what your standards are. The OEM one is 600$ painted, not 900.

If you go aftermarket fit won't be nearly as good and the paint most definitely not for 80$ haha. You can probably have it repainted for about 200$ if you want it color matched perfectly. So aftermarket for 300$ with meh fit or OEM for 600 with perfect fit.

Also, 600$ is about average price for an OEM spoiler, painted, for most makes out there.

irokdastar

Megan $200 to paint a spoiler ? That's a lot . And also it doesn't matter who paints it as long as there painting with the correct color code . If you think about it how much does it cost to make an abs spoiler ? $15 max if you add paint its another $10 . Yes it costs you more to paint it because your going to a body shop but these companies make many at a time in the same color and then ship them when there ordered . I had no issue with the fitment and no issue with the paint . but to pay $600 for a small spoiler is crazy. You might as well put a little more and get coilovers , carbon fiber diffuser or carbon front lip and still have enough to buy the $80 spoiler. At the end of the day is a 12 year old car the odds of you matching your paint that's been out in the sun and the new paint will be impossible unless you repaint everything.

ALFAitalia

megacrazy

It's a matter of what quality you expect for your car. The ebay spoiler, when compared to the stock one is probably like a 3/10. The pre-painted matching on both will be a 1/10 when put on top paint that's faded for 10 years.

I'd buy either of them and get it painted properly. Sure, you can have it painted for 50$ and the result will be again, 1/10. A decent paint job will cost money, and yes a good body shop will have the right equipment to match paint that's faded for 10 years without issues. Go to a crappy one and they'll give you the good ol..."won't match", "gotta blend into the panels" excuses. And no, a good body shop won't even bother painting your spoiler for 50$. Probably not worth their time.

The diffusers and lips are cheap, super low quality fiberglass parts with crappy fitment. THEY are overpriced if you ask me haha. Coilovers for 1000 are pretty much the cheapest ones you can find that won't explode when you use them...so yeah 600$ for a spoiler that fits 100% and looks 100% is not too much if you ask me. But again, budgets and ideas are vastly different...so to each their own.

irokdastar

Kw , D2 and god speed all have coilovers below $1000 dollars. Even bilstien is $1400 . You expect the op to pay $600 for the spoiler and another $300 to paint and blend paint for a spoiler ? First I wouldn't touch oem paint unless it was in a car accident and you need to blend it in for like a door or fender . Especially not for a spoiler . The best advise I have for you if the small difference bothers you is find a good detailer and have him polish and wax your car . This will remove all the swirl and faded look and you should have no problem .

megacrazy

KW V1 is 1800$ MSRP and about 1200$ from other spots. This is their most basic entry level system. If you want better stuff you're looking at 3-4k.

I expect the OP to do whatever makes sense to him. Don't act like ebay parts are close the the quality of OEM. They're not, and it's visible. Fit and finish on the ebay spoiler is nowhere close to OEM. Would I pay 600$ for the spoiler? No, I'd get a used OEM one for like 100$ and paint it for another 200 and call it a day.

Again, budgets and ideas are vastly different. However, head to any dealer and 600$ for a spoiler is not something to be amazed by.

irokdastar

I agree with you something like bumper or a major part I would only get oem but spoilers are all ABS and not much difference in quality . You can see my spoiler on my other posting . it fits and matches perfectly.


https://mbworld.org/forums/clk-class...y-exhaust.html

megacrazy

Here are the differences from OEM:

- 3rd brake light dimple not perfectly centered on spoiler.
- Size is different than OEM
- The side edges don't match the curvature of the trunk
- The sides of the spoiler are different. OEM extends out to match the trunk. Aftermarket is straight, doesn't flow as well with the trunk.
- The top edge (looking down on it, the top edge) is not beveled consistently across the spoiler. Some parts it's wider, some thinner.
- The top edge does not lay flat on the trunk like OEM.
- The flat top part of it is not perfectly flat like OEM, gives off curved reflections instead of clean, straight reflections like OEM.

That's what I noticed when I saw a couple of these in real life. But again, for 80$ you can't really complain.

The OP asked for differences...and for a small piece of plastic...there are quite a few.

eteller

Pick up one of the JBSpeed ones. The paint on mine is perfect. As for the quality of the part itself you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between it and OEM. BTW no affiliation to JBSpeed just a happy customer.

megacrazy

For 80$ it's clearly not bad BUT:







I think that's about as much effort as I'm willing to put into this

irokdastar

I guess to each his own . Are all these small diffrences worth $520 more ?

jfontana

Thank you to everybody for the info on the differences. The car is a 20K mile 2004 CLK 500 Conv. that has not seen much weather an garage kept. The quote I got from my local MB dealer was $900.00 VS the $600.00 you guys talk about. I guess I need to shop around if I decide to do OEM. I did figure there would be differences for the money. The car is just too nice to cheat it, so I need to shop.

irokdastar

I dont think you will be cheating anyone but yourself if you pay $900 . I have the same car mine had about 60K miles when i bought it and it was a garage kept car . for $900 you can put that toward a much better upgrade . There is one used on ebay for sale that needs painting there asking 185.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2005-MERCEDE...9Vy~ro&vxp=mtr

jfontana

Made an offer for the eBay one. We'll see if he wants it.

lowpost

20k miles on a 2004?! Damn.

I'm at 220k

lowpost

FWIW I'd only buy oem. But I have OCD when it comes to my car. I'd be thinking about those imperfections every time I look at my car. That's worth 6 bills to me.

megacrazy

Well that's the question I guess. People have different budgets so they'll make different choices.

Is the spoiler worth 600$? No haha...But is your peace of mind worth 600$ every time you look at that spoiler? I know it would **** me off.

MarcusF

One option is to buy Amir's used OE black one and paint it. If you have a garage and don't know how to paint a spoiler, that's a good piece to learn with. If you have already done bodywork, you know this is dead simple. Scuff it, prime it, sand it, paint it, shoot the clear, mount it, wait a month and buff it. The used spoiler, the correct paint (MB brilliant silver is #744), and other supplies will run you about $150 total.

Terrified of paint? Someone will paint it for $200. That puts you at less than $300.

Those that can, do. Those that can't, pay.

ALFAitalia

The example above is a very poor example. The better ones are a straight copy probably moulded from a original one and therefore are just about impossible to tell apart. So let me change that to "those that are gullible with more cash than sense pay, and those with more sense than cash and who would rather spend it on parts that will make a difference don't". Lol. For what it's worth I would find a cheap used one and spray it if I could find one....but if not I would be more than happy with a quality copy.

megacrazy

You're the one who's gullible. You really think they are made in different places? Somebody in China made a mould, albeit a poor one and several places are reselling them. 500$ is dealer price on a Mitsubishi spoiler. 600 for a Merc one is not expensive.

Why don't you post some pics, close up, of the areas that I pointed out in the pics of one of these better copies.

Also, let's not even begin discussing that the spoilers are different shapes altogether. I'll post more pics when I have time.

waveterrorist

I can't speak to these parts per se.

What I can say is that I bought a pre-painted flexible spoiler from Taiwan
5 years ago and the paint work and the color match were and remain perfect.
I threw away a perfectly good oem rear spoiler as nobody wanted it.....