Zoom Engineering Fuel Lid

greenltd · Postby **greenltd** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 8:45 pm

Goes to say that often cheap is not a substitute for quality and a higher price

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 10:20 pm

Dupain wrote:Your car is steel. Twice the price is simply not worth it.

Yes, and it will eventually rust, as does everything made of steel (apart from stainless)

Aluminium is a more expensive material than steel, depending on the grade, but I agree with you that twice the price is a bit rich.

Guy asked if they will rust, I said it depends on what they're made of, which having seen both brands in person I can say that the Zoom is aluminium, the OBX is a different metal, possibly steel.

Is the Zoom one worth more? well yes, it's manufacturing quality is higher. It's casting finish is neater, and it works as expected.
The OBX one has softer casting edges, and on the ones I've seen have had issue with function, since the spring supplied by OBX is too weak to lift the lid above the catch when the release is pulled. (since it looks like the spring is a direct copy of the Zoom one.... which is designed for the lighter aluminium lid)

So, the OBX is a good product, but does have a design fault, and not as good of a finish.

As for price, depends on the buyer. Personally I don;t think the difference is worth the extra.

greenltd · Postby **greenltd** » Mon Aug 25, 2014 5:48 am

The point I was wanting dupain to think about was to consider the quality of materials used in each. I know these are not a safety item and are only for looks. But if the cheap one begins showing rust spots soon after installation what's the point in buying it. I say this because I bought bonnet locks some time ago that looked great in the package but rust spots appeared in the chrome within weeks. If they were on my 5 I'd be pissed.

green_comet · Postby **green_comet** » Mon Aug 25, 2014 8:27 am

I had an obx fuel lid on my old NA for years and never had a problem. If you don't want to throw the extra cash at a zoom fuel lid the obx is fine.

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Mon Aug 25, 2014 12:55 pm

Well GC provides feedback and that sounds good.

I can tell you a little about process. The products that you see are probably castings ( pressing from steel is very hard when complex shapes are involved) and probably not steel and maybe zinc / alloy. These can be done either in a simple poured casting or in a injection casting die. You would use a zinc injection if the volume supported it otherwise use something that might be labour intensive but cheap to tool up. You can polish a die casting and it does not need to be chrome plated though it can be. If the product is made from steel it has to be plated i.e. chrome plated. Good quality chrome plating is not easy to do and harder in some places because of the restrictions on products used in the process. Dies castings often develop microscopic or worse bubbles or cavities in the skin and when they products are plated this is where the plating can fail. A maker may simply polish the die casting and examine and only plate those with no obvious inclusions/ imperfections that cannot be polished out. Bottom line if it looks ok and you don't ay a lot of money then go for it. The material content is I might add not going to be much of a player at all insofar as the selling price is concerned. The metal lid on the standard MX5 would be sold to the maker for probably under a dollar.