2004 Ody EX body part question

Had a fender bender in our new (3wk old) Ody and the body shop is trying to
push us towards a 3rd party (KJT) replacement bumper. Says its better than
the OEM part. I am still leaning towards the OEM part especially since this
is a new (<1500mi) vehicle. Has any one had any experience with this brand?


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http://www.collisionconsulting.com/imitationparts.html

 

I purchased an after-market hood for a VW years ago. It fit poorly (had
to make custom shims to get the hinges to fit) and the steel was both
thinner and softer than the OEM. Cutouts for windshield washer nozzles
were of the wrong shape, so the nozzles won't stay put.

When Honda makes bumpers, they do a design, create a mold and mold the
bumpers. The bumper does not come out exactly as designed due to
manufacturing tolerances (actually, mold design is very complex, the
mold is not an exact negative of the desired part, rather the mold is
slightly distorted to compensate for the fact the the parts distort in
the molding process). The after-market manufacturers do not have access
to Honda's original design, they have to reconstruct it from a few OEM
bumpers they use as samples. So the mold they come up with already has a
generation of tolerances in it.

I'd stay with OEM.

 

Bad idea. With a new car, stick with OEM and make sure they use OEM paint
properly applied and cured.