Back in the 1970's when I needed a new clutch fro the first time as a relatively green new driver we were lucky to have a good honest garage in the village. The owner asked if I want genuine parts or copies. I asked what the difference was and he said that the copies are sometimes OK but other times simply do not last, seem to remember that at the time the cheap copies were simply relined old parts.

As for price the total for the job was very little different. The labour was exactly the same and was the biggest single item on the bill. The cost saving on the parts would have been about 50%. Digging into my rapidly decaying memory cells I seem to remember that the total cost for a brand new clutch fitted was about £35 wheras the copy was about £8 less.

I took his advice, guess which I bought.

But things have moved on in the last 40 years. Last time I needed a new clutch I bought the parts from Ford. I was surprised to see that on the parts there was not only the Ford part number but also the Valeo and LUK numbers. About a year later the rear oil seal decided to leak and while I was fixing it I spotted that the clutch was a little oily, not good. Since the cover and bearing were still only a year old decided I only needed a drive plate. Ford had them on back order so went (reluctantly) to our local factors who did LUK clutches. The plate was delivered the next day and was identical the the Ford one including all the part numbers. The only difference was the price, about 2/3rds of the Ford item.