According To You: Automotive Products That Are Worth Every Penny

Brandan Gillogly

Last week we asked the Hagerty Community about products they believed were worth every penny that was required to purchase them. I suggested that gasoline was one such product, but you chose items that weren’t low-hanging fruit. And I thank you for that, as your additions were indeed priceless. Perhaps that suggests these are priceless automotive products, as they keep our passion for motoring alive and well.

What did you come up with? Have a look below and chime in with more suggestions in the comments!

Replacement Parts That Aren’t Junk

A factory part coming in an Autozone box? Nice…right?Sajeev Mehta

Jeepcj5: Electrical parts (ignition coils, starter solenoids, pickup coils, points) that actually work. Too many are bad right out of the box these days.

Gary B: OEM or aftermarket parts at least as good if not better than the original. Finding parts that are lesser than the original is all too common these days.

Isaiah: I’m so happy if a part fits right and works well just by bolting it on. Heading into the garage to try to spend hours fixing a bolt-on part: rumble seat hinges, as either the trunk deck mounts are off, or the Vintique holes and angle are off. Either way, I can’t get all the screws in and they are hanging down into the trunk at a weird angle.

Tires

2024 Nissan Z NISMO wheel brake detail tire dunlop
Nissan

DUB6: Years ago, I remember being pretty happy if I got 30,000 miles out of a set. Recently, I replaced a set with just over 60,000. For “miles-per-dollar spent”, I view tires as worth every penny. Yeah, I know that the type of tire, type of vehicle, and type of driving will affect the math, but I also think that tire compounds and designs have improved hugely in the last 40 years to where it’s fairly easy to get twice the life out of them than we used to.

hyperv6: I agree on tires. Many people today don’t understand that you used to get several flats on a trip out of state. This is why some cars had more than one spare. 10k miles were great. Today with computer designs and up to three compounds on a tread face they are very advanced. Yet today they are still assembled by hand, each and every one.

Another is the metals used. Piston rings and bearings were 30k miles in the 30’s. The metals in the cars to make them stronger but add less weight. These materials are very advanced.

Aftermarket Fuel Injection

Holley Sniper EFI small bore kit
Holley

David C: About a dozen years ago, I updated my BMW 2002 with electronic fuel injection using Megasquirt as engine management. It’s probably the best modification I have ever done. It’s made the car more usable and efficient in all weather. It’s not for everyone, but for me, it’s been worth every penny.

Battery Jump Pack

jump pack for toolkit
Kyle Smith

Carol S: A battery-powered jump starter.

Kyle Smith: I’ll admit I didn’t understand how handy battery jump packs are until I bought one. Now I make sure it moves to whatever car I’m driving regularly. They are very handy.

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Comments

    Working in the parts industry I have to laugh. Many say they want better quality but then when someone does that they go out of business due to higher prices.

    Kind of like Walmart. Everyone complains about Walmart but then they go and still shop there due to prices.

    As long as it is reasonably more for a better part I will do the better and pricier part. I think many of us are just praying for it works right the first time.

    No good answers. There needs to be something good that you can buy without having to go to the stealership or have to have custom parts made. Most of the time the dealers don’t have it anyway except for the newest or the most troublesome parts they use a lot of. OEM Manufacturers have lock on the specs for parts, but once they are no longer producing them, they should sell the info to the aftermarket for a reasonable cost so that the aftermarket doesn’t have to guess or reverse engineer a product. Those companies still won’t make low volume parts and so we have to rely on the restoration market at higher cost and hope the stuff fits because it is dependent on what they used to make the mold from. Vehicle manufacturers don’t have to maintain parts for vehicles after the warranty is out (an sometimes they don’t have the parts PERIOD, warranty or not). People that are hoping to make their newer cars into future classics will have the worst time as the electronics will be the weak spot and the fact that the days of the same parts being used for decades is over. Those of us with ‘orphans’ are in a world of hurt.

    You have made some good points. GM used to keep a 10-year inventory of commonly used parts. After the bankruptcy, you are lucky to have car parts built last week. I can buy a heater fan at any chain auto store for my 70’s/80’s cars. But when it goes out in my 2018 Buick Regal, a month-long wait is necessary. Thank goodness for seat warmers in winter! I have a Monday appointment to install the heater fan at the dealer along with the “register”, which must be a dealer exclusive part?

    Nor have I. Vampiric business practices and wages so low the workers need food stamps and public housing to get by in bigger cities. Walmart’s owners are corporate welfare bums whose business model relies on government subsidies to their workers.

    I’d gladly pay more for aftermarket parts that are of reasonable quality and I’m sure others would as well. Like mentioned in the article, many don’t even fit right. The least they could do is make it fit at any price. That would be a good start for some parts. I order from Japan when the OEM parts that aren’t available in the states anymore because I know at least the parts will fit and work as expected. Too often it’s all about profit with the aftermarket industry. With too many aftermarket suppliers it appears the attitude is satisfy profit first and if there’s leftover money in the equation we’ll put the time and money into making it fit and maybe work like the original part. Or the attitude is the buyer just want’s to keep an old clunker going for a few thousand more miles so any part will do. Kudos to aftermarket suppliers who get it right or just supply an OEM part at a reasonable price. Somewhere in between the price of cheap parts that don’t work and overpriced dealer OEM parts.

    I recently replaced the entire interior in my 1971 Mach 1 ordering the parts from a well known Mustang parts warehouse. I can say that NOT ONE PART fit without MAJOR modifications. In some instances I had to use the old and new parts to produce my expected result. Itis good thing I was doing this for myself. If a customer took his car to a shop that used these parts, his bill would have been double due to the intense labor involved in obtaining the desired results.

    I don’t mind paying more for USA/quality parts but do not want to pay more for the same junk just because it’s in a blue box, like I’m starting to find.

    HOW TRUE! I went to buy a “quality” ignition coil I had used a few times and it was out of stock. I called the manufacturer and was told – “Sorry only the cheaper model is available now because nobody would buy the more expensive ignition coil even though it was made with better materials and built to higher standards.” The “cheap folks” are ruining the car hobby.

    I had a bulb go for one TSI unit. on a Mazda Miata I took the bulb out and tried to get a replacement locally. I went to the dealer and Canadian Tire and Walmart, plus others. Everyone carried basically the same Made in China product although the prices varied a fair bit. I checked the original and it was a Bosch bulb, made in Germany. The new Made in China bulb supposedly was the same product but when I put the new bulb in, the 15 year old bulb was twice as bright as the new one. Now, another 15 years later, the old bulb is still twice as bright as the Chinese version. However, both still work.

    It’s too bad when the acronym N.E.W. Stands for Never Ever Worked, and “experienced” parts are often a surer bet

    I misread the original question as ‘American products’ and realized my mistake after I posted and read some of the other comments

    Out of six modules I have installed, one failed – turns out they sent me the wrong one. I’ve never used (or even seen) a Pertronix coil.

    There was a period where Pertronix had some issues. The Ignitor II , maybe? Anyway, I installed a Pertronix Ignitor setup and coil in my Riviera many years ago. Have not had a problem. But, I keep points,condenser, and the screws in my emergency tool and “just in case parts” kit when driving it long distances to shows.

    I get about three calls a year from different clubs in my area to FIX cars that won’t run with Pertronix ignition system. Yes their ignition coil quality is hit and miss. Some never have a problem, some have early failures. I throw Pertronix coils in the trash!! The other issue is “one size fits all” instructions and part recommendations. I often find Pertronix ignitions that are not installed correctly or the wrong combination of parts are used. Once I sort things out and ONLY use the basic Pertronix Ignitor with stock coil and stock ballast, then folks go for years without any issues. Pertronix really needs a good tech writer to organize their instructions and parts catalog. When Pertronix states things like “This ignition coil is for ALL six cylinder engines” I have to wonder who at Pertronix approves this kind of silly statement. In my area there are two kinds of old car owners, those that never have a Petronix Ignitor problem (after I sort the mess), and those that state “Pertronix is JUNK that quits”.

    Mine came with 3 sets of mechanical advance springs but I never messed with them. It’s in a boat, so as long as I hit 8 degrees at idle and don’t go above 30 degrees at full bore, all is good

    Way back I installed a Mallory Unilite set up. Might not have been ll sorts of tweekability, but it sure worked consistency with no maintenance. Way better than points and was not too expensive

    The unulite works fine until the bushings in the distributor wear a little bit- then you get oil fog on the sensor and No Go. I like the NEW Pertronix that doesn’t require a magnet to be installed – it just senses the lobes as they come by. Makes for a dead simple install. Installing the WRONG coil will pretty much guarantee failure – there is a 1.5 ohm and a 3 ohm. Install a 1.5 where a 3 belongs and it is not long until the magic smoke finds a way out. A 3 where a 1.5 belongs can cause a misfire under load/at speed

    Funny no one has mentioned portable tire pumps. Lots of small and light weight units on the market.
    I usually carry one in each of my cars.
    More often than not I help out someone with a tire low on air.

    We bought a 2019 Corvette Grand sport new and immediately installed Michelin All season Tires replacing the Sport Cup units which came with the car. those tires are not cheap. I wrapped them in plastic and have stored them on a shelf in our insulated garage since new. they are now approaching the 6 year old mark. i can’t give these tires away. is there an issue with age even when properly stored? many are interested but never show up or stop making contact. Anyone?

    It might be difficult to sell those tires unless at a very good price. However, I, personally would have no problem at all using 6 year old tires that were stored properly. I would love to have those tires especially for autocross use, but for even daily or for long trips, they should be no problem. Use in cold weather and snow would be a problem though. Too bad i don’t have a need for that size tires.

    Hello Mike,
    I met a police officer years ago who was an accident re-creation expert and I asked him about old tires that look to be in good condition. I had just bought a classic car that had 15 year old tires on it, but they were still soft and in good looking shape. I had thrown them out and bought new ones prior to talking with him, but he said that how it’s stored is the most important. He said if it looks good and there are no cracks and they are still soft, then they are fine to use. I was regretting getting rid of the old tires as they were very cool Michelins. I even tried to get them back from the tire shop, but they had scrapped them. In the end, no guarantees, but wanted to pass on what I had heard. Good luck.

    Curious about the jump packs. After initial charge, can you leave it in your trunk for a year and it will retain enough charge to start a vehicle with a dead battery?

    Mine have a condition monitor… I check all of them
    every 6 months… Have not needed charging, unless
    I’ve used it … NOCO Boost Plus GB40

    My lithium units have no problem – the older lead acid units need periodic charging, and generally only last a few years.

    Paul, the good ones are also compatible with the AGM batteries as I have a bunch of them on AGM’s. My truck uses a solar panel as it is parked outdoors, and I get free power for those two battery diesels. My camper and trailers use solar panels and battery tenders which sense any over-charging situations.

    It seems my luck when I carry the batter pack, it fails me. They don’t keep a charge very long. I have a big two-hander jumper and a smaller one. Neither perform better than the other except my arm doesn’t stretch using the lighter one which failed me yesterday on a completely dead Optima that a friend let die. I told him when he got the classic car, “get a battery tender and keep it on the car when you park it!” When we left the battery shop, he had a new battery tender for the car. Now he needs one for his motorcycle.

    I find it Ironic that people are complaining about the quality of points, the last cars with points that rolled of the line for the US market were built in 1975. I know there are a lot of points cars out there, but not enough for a modern factory with high levels of quality control to be turning out top quality points and condensers for the size of the market. The cars that use points tend to drive less than 5,000 miles a year reducing the market even more. If car shows have a rules that allows dual circuit brake systems, they are not going to pull open your distributor to see if you are hiding an electronic ignition in there.

    Good tires are worth the money. Had a 2009 Mercury Mariner that I insisted come with the Michelin SUV/truck tires, not the low profile “sporty “ tires the dealer was pushing. Traded it in 10 years later with 50k + and 50% of the tread left.

    Turned wrenches professionally for 40 yrs and I’m convinced that “most” parts are sourced from the same place just packaged in sellers named package/box. Cool thing is some sellers get twice as much or more for the same part based on who’s name is on the box, isn’t that special !

    Rainex windshield treatment.
    Follow the directions, drive through rain, snow, or winters dirty salty roads and discover how easily all debris clears away. Works year round! summer bugs splatter easily removed. My classic truck is equipped with windshield wipers, but I only need them in the very worst conditions. Most of the time rain just blows off.

    5 AC compressors for 72 Corvette, bear in mind these were brand new not rebuilt. Wanted to keep it close to stock as possible so went with aftermarket bolt on replacement. Entire system was replaced with new not rebuilt parts so no reason for this. Found a shop that actually sold me a kit to eliminate the stock style compressor. Worked great and still does first time. Point, there are actually good parts at a reasonable price still available, just takes some research and luck.

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