Buying sensor from AliExpress?

Pique

The headlight levelling sensor is kaput on my car. Dealers want €260 to replace it (€215 for the sensor!). I found the exact part on AliExpress for $12. I've ordered it for the craic anyway without expecting much (although one reviewer gave it 5 stars and wrote "I came quickly" so maybe I should buy a few, ya know, for science!).


Has anyone had experiences buying electrical parts like sensors from AliExpress or other Chinese site? What happened?

Del2005

I wouldn't put it in my car. Way too many counterfeit items sold on Ali, I bought a pair of Airpods for €20 sound was crap.

L1011

For that price its guaranteed to be fake. Doesn't mean it won't work, but...

twin_beacon

electronics are very hit and miss on aliexpress. I got my current dash cam from ali express, 4 years later, no complaints at all.

For an actual car component, I'd be looking in a scrap yard before I'd look in aliexpress

Pique

Yeah I bought a legit one from Germany anyway. I figured the AliExpress ones would be **** but thought what the hell.

corkgsxr

One thing to bear in mind when buying online.

Let's say OEM is 250.

Spurious in motor factors is 150.

Online is 120.

Ali express is 20.

If OEM Could make and sell the part for 50 they probably would. The spurious should be fine for cheaper but might not be as good. Or last as long.

20 quid Ali express is too cheap to be similar quality. It's not even in the ballpark of pricing for making something similar.

That's my take. Go racing. You'll find out very fast why one part is 50 and another is 250.

blackbox

I replaced an external temperature sensor that was reading incorrectly. Replacement from AliExpress working perfectly 2 years later.

Truckermal

Bought a good few in the last 5 year's and never had a bother only waiting on delivery.

mickdw

Worth a try with the cheap one. I know my audi headlight levelling sensors from new were muck.
Went through a few secondhand ones.

CelticRambler

Had numerous faulty original Renault parts on my Mégane, most of which feature regularly on the "known issues" list on the Mégane forums. Two particular problems
- window motor Temic controller (subject to recall): 400-odd to get two of them replaced at a dealer; about 150 to get the same, probably faulty, from a scrapyard; 24€ delivered from China. Fitted, worked perfectly, still working perfectly (and at that price, I replaced all four).
- broken clockspring: 400-odd to get it replaced at a dealer, with the assertion that the whole unit had to be replaced; 180€ to buy the unit new from a reputable on-line dealer; 90€ to buy an unguaranteed unit from a scrap yard; 12€ to get the clockspring and housing from China, none of the rest of the unit needed to be scrapped.

At this stage, I (and others in my entourage) have had so many OEM parts fail or be subject to a recall that I don't put much stock anymore in the value of the "original part" tag.

redcup342

It should be called AliExpress "Roll the dice"

Seriously though I've gotten plenty of stuff off their, a lot of the things you buy in Europe from Amazon are bulk bought via Ali Express anyway.