[CrazyWookiee]

I like to go the "JDM" route because I feel that because we are love our cars so much and we're so into them, another person who knows nothing about the car can walk into a dealership and buy something that looks the exact same as what you have. I want mine to look different, to display something special that doesn't resemble all those driving around me.

It sounds cheesy, but when I change some of my parts to factory JDM, such as an emblem swap or changes that others can see, those who share my same love and same background in cars can look and say "That owner knows his stuff. He knows the cars history, what the car is about, the original manufacturer of the car and the struggles of the engineers/project employees that have worked hard and fully appreciates that car every time he gets behind the wheel." And if nobody thinks that when they walk by or see the parts, I myself know that, and it makes me feel better. When I say JDM in this case, I refer to OEM JDM.

Some of you guys are referring to JDM as in Japanese Domestic Market AFTER Market parts. I understand the feeling some have. I use to be a huge endorser of the JDM movement and putting my money to those companies, but if we take away all the culture, all the naming and all the price differences. In the end, as members of this community, we all have to agree that this stamp doesn't have any association with the quality of the part. There just isn't. There's no scientific proof, and any opinions on a certain market having a certain quality are biased views.

I mean, we have HKS exhausts cracking and Greddy exhaust's rusting on the forum. If I am to defend any "JDM" I'd defend the OEM JDM, but I can't fully back the JDM aftermarket. I use to be able too. Maybe back then, JDM did mean quality. But in today's present market, I can't put the JDM = Quality stamp on things anymore. I use to be one of the biggest JDM advocators before, but I can't do it anymore. It's a biased/old fashioned view that needs to change.