Cover graphic for used Japanese car parts across five categories, each with real yen prices and the trap that comes with it. Left to right: wheels and tyres at ¥3,500-48,000, where a listing saying four pieces does not mean wheels and tyres together; headlights split between bulbs at ¥1,250-3,280 and whole units at ¥10,500-35,000, both of which the same search returns; exhausts at roughly ¥700-10,000, where the Japanese search term also brings back motorcycle parts; RECARO seats at ¥850-9,800, which may turn out to be a child seat, a pad, a sticker, a seat rail or a cover rather than a seat; and MOMO or NARDI steering wheels at ¥400-4,500, mostly fittings rather than the wheel itself. Below is a checklist to run before ordering and a note that parts generally ship to Thailand except car batteries or anything still holding fluid.
Before You Order6 min read

Used Japanese Car Parts: What 5 Categories Cost, and the Traps

Yen prices off real listings across the five used-parts categories Thai buyers order most, and what makes people order the wrong thing — headlight bulbs at ¥1,250 (about ฿260)–3,280 a pair sitting beside whole assemblies at ¥10,500 (about ฿2,200)–35,000 in the same result list.

Type a well-known tuning brand into the search box and the first page fills with bolts, stickers and adapters — not the part you were after. The whole category behaves like this, and it is why people end up with the wrong item here more than anywhere else.

The first question is usually whether any of it ships. Cars are on the prohibited list, but only as whole vehicles. Parts and accessories ship as normal, apart from an item that is itself a car battery, or one with fluid still inside it. The full list is in the article on the 11 items we cannot ship.

The prices below came off the Tama-Chan search page on 11 August 2026. Yen, because that is what the seller set and it is the same whoever looks — the baht figure comes from your own membership rate, and none of it includes the purchase service fee or freight. Used listings are one-offs, so the ones quoted may already be gone; use them to place a category in its bracket. The baht in brackets is a rough conversion at about ฿0.21 to the yen, for scale only.

Five categories Thai buyers order most, and what goes wrong in each

In every one of them the mistake happens on the results page, not on the item page.

  1. 1. Wheel and tyre sets of four

    The range runs almost tenfold, ¥3,500 to ¥48,000 (about ฿740–10,100) for a set of four. At the bottom are steel wheels on well-used tyres; at the top, genuine alloys named for the car they came off — 17-inch Corolla Touring wheels at ¥48,000, a Delica D5 set at ¥18,000.

    What to watch: some listings are four bare tyres, some are tyres already mounted on wheels. The 4本 in a title only says there are four of something. It does not say what.

  2. 2. Headlights

    One result list, two completely different products. Bulbs run ¥1,250 to ¥3,280 (about ฿260–690) a pair — an H4 LED pair went for ¥1,300. Whole assemblies, the housings pulled off a car, run ¥10,500 to ¥35,000 (about ฿2,200–7,400) a pair: an Aqua NHP10 at ¥10,500, a Lexus LS600h at ¥19,800, a Celsior 30 up at ¥35,000.

    Tenfold apart, from the same search, on the same page. If a pair of headlights at a bit over a thousand yen looks too cheap, almost every time it is because you are looking at bulbs, not housings.

    Two Japanese words come up constantly. 純正 means the part the car left the factory with; 左右 means it is sold as a pair, left and right. Neither tells you bulb or housing — the price and the photos do.

    A model code in the title, NHP10 or Celsior 30, is the car the seller took it off. It is not a promise about what it fits. If a listing is vague, send the link to an admin on LINE and have them ask before you order.

    One result list. The top row is bulbs; the black units below are complete assemblies — different products, several times apart in price.

  3. 3. Exhausts

    マフラー in the Japanese second-hand market is mostly motorcycle exhausts. A Zephyr ZR400G at ¥4,000 (about ฿840), a KLX230 at ¥7,000 (about ฿1,470), a CB750F at ¥7,400 (about ฿1,550), an Address V125G at ¥4,100 (about ฿860) — they fill the page.

    Car exhausts are in there too, a Jimny JB23 at ¥9,500 (about ฿2,000) and a Vezel tip at ¥8,500 (about ฿1,790), but you have to scroll for them.

    The whole category sits between ¥700 (about ฿150) and ¥10,000 (about ฿2,100), so price tells you nothing about which is which. The model name in the title does. If it is a bike model, no price makes it the part you wanted.

  4. 4. RECARO seats

    RECARO is known for car seats, but the brand also makes child seats, and in the Japanese second-hand market there are more of those. The two dearest listings were both child seats: a RECARO J3 at ¥9,800 (about ฿2,100) and a Zero One ISOFIX at ¥7,200 (about ฿1,510).

    Most of the rest are not seats at all — seat pads, covers and logo stickers, ¥850 to ¥3,000 (about ฿180–630).

    Only one listing was actual car hardware: a Legacy seat rail at ¥3,800 (about ฿800), the bracket that fixes a seat to the floor, not a seat. Three to nine thousand yen in this category does not mean you are getting one.

  5. 5. MOMO and NARDI steering wheels

    Search these two brands and almost the whole first page is not steering wheels but the parts that go with them. M5 bolt sets run ¥400 to ¥740 (about ฿80–160), a 12mm spacer ¥2,480 (about ฿520), a quick-release boss ¥4,500 (about ฿950). That ¥400–4,500 range is the hardware, not the price of a wheel.

    The word to know is ボス, boss — the adapter between the wheel and the car’s steering column. A different object from the wheel, and the one that fills the results. See NARDI at ¥400 (about ฿80) and what you are looking at is a bag of bolts.

    Search a famous steering-wheel brand and the whole page comes back bolts and adapters, not the wheel.

Work out what the listing actually is before you compare its price

All five go wrong at the same point: comparing a price before knowing what the listing is. Bulbs and housings, bolts and wheels, bike exhausts and car exhausts all share a result page, and the number alone does not separate them.

Size is the other thing that sets this category apart. A set of four wheels or a full exhaust is not priced on weight alone — a light item in a big box is charged on the volume of the packed box. Compare sea and air on the shipping page.

New stock lands daily; see what is listed now on the Japan shopping page. The other categories Thai buyers order just as often are in the five most-ordered article.

Frequently asked questions

The only information available is what the seller wrote in the listing. Tama-Chan does not verify which part fits which car. If the listing does not give the model or chassis code in full, send us the link and an admin can ask the seller on LINE before you order.

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Related keywords

  • used Japanese car parts
  • Japanese car parts
  • second-hand JDM parts

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