This is the last time, I am going to say this. We all understand and acknowledge that the J's is a good product. But, you are still comparing Organic Apples to say Pesticide Sprayed Apples (thought I was going to say Oranges?). It's not the same when comparing costs. Of course you can get it for $1400, cause J's probably paid a lot less because they didn't have to do anything beyond rebadging a stolen design. How hard is this to understand?

Think of it this way, Mugen Intake $1500 or Ebay Mugen Style Intake for $500? Same design, still uses CF. BTW, I've seen that in person as well and it's not that bad. Didn't try the fit but I'm sure it's decent enough. You basically have to admit that you bought a Mugen "Style" J's hood. It's really the same thing just minor changes.


As for the fitment of the J's compared to Mugen. I had no problems at all fitting my hood on so that's a non issue. You had no problems because, they stole Mugen's design so if your new J's hood fit well, you need to Thank Mugen.

 

Btw, ok so you got yours for under $1400, then that makes this statement even less relevant. You know why? Because then that means J's is ripping a even bigger a$$ out of their customers for their $2600 price. So that means that the J's isn't anywhere near the worth of their retail pricing. I think that escaped your sense of monetary value.

 

OH SHIT! did he jus say that?
damn he did and thats a damn good point

 

They are making money then. They didnt screw me out of money. Did they? Its not my problem that they are screwing other people out of money. I agree with you it looks similar but the quality of the Mugen IMO just isnt upto par. Maybe I got a really good hood. I dont know. Just telling you what I have. Thats all.

 

[QUOTE=JsAP1,Oct 19 2004, 02:58 PM]Its not my problem that they are screwing other people out of money.

 

chris- your car is one of the nicest on the boards.
and im not knocking you for ur hood cause imo i woulda did the exact same thing you did getting it for that amount. you would be stupid not too
i know what u guys are saying about the hoods, but i personally havent seen a j's up close. now as for the mugen c/f, people always seem to have issues w/ it as i first did when i seen it on my intake, but ill definitely still buy it.

 

I really should stop, but I have a stupid need to explain points. You see none of us would be arguing with you, if you actually did do just that. Could have just posted pics and stated that you thought the quality of the hood was top notch. But instead you decided to tell people that Mugen's hood was a rip at it's price and should be worth a lot less. A statement like that needs to be explained and explored totally.

 

The aftermarket auto parts industry fascinates me.

How it is that one company can produce another company's design, and not be sued for copyright or patent infringement? Companies like Seibon produce replica JDM parts, and Mastergrade makes CF parts using the OEM design. Perhaps if there is any minute difference, it can be considered a different design (?).

First there was the Amuse Hood:


Then J's came out with this:


[The similarity of the new J's hood to the Mugen hood is already being discussed in this thread.]

The Weber Sports bumper was out long before the J's S-type bumper, and the air intake looks like the Mugen design:



So is J's just copying other company's stuff? It's interesting because J's is always competing with the Spoon and Amuse S2000s, so IMO, whatever parts they use, must be functional first.

Perhaps J's was unable to come up with a more efficient hood design than the Amuse, so to win races, they needed that hood. Since they didn't want a competitor's product on their main promotional tool, they took the hood to the wind tunnel and did track testing to make small improvements. Now it's a J's hood, and it might be better than the original Amuse hood.

I guess it's the same way with most products we buy, with all of the companies trying to one-up each other. As a consumer (without sponsorship) I don't have company loyalty. I want the most for my money, and if J's makes the same hood as Mugen, but better quality - I'm buying the J's.

Man, the business world is cutthroat.


-Pete

PS - If form follows function, and J's amd Mugen are using the latest available instrumentation, could it be that they arrived at the same design independently?

 

I haven't seen J's state anywhere that they do wind tunnel testing. Pete, I think you are missing the part where J's doesn't even make this hood. The found a company that makes a Mugen clone and rebadged it to their name.

 

If you're sponsored by J's, wouldn't you tout the superiority of their product over Mugen's too?