In general - Aftermarket pistons include pretty awful rings and dreadful circlips. 80% of the aftermarket pistons out there would be markedly improved by installing OEM or Caber rings and nice OEM (stihl, husky or echo) circlips.
That turns a $15 parts bill into a $29 parts bill but I think it is worth it. And that price difference is why they include the crappy components
If you swap good rings and circlips into your project make sure they fit the piston, some models from some manufacturers use a different thickness of ring (standard are 1.5 and 1.2mm) and some pistons have a clip groove that is a different size than OEM which may leave you clip searching for something good from an OEM manufacturer that fits.
Brad rightly mentions above that Cabers come in two "versions". The F-Cast are supposedly longer wearing by virtue of being a harder, stiffer alloy. The bad side of that trade-off is that they can be rough on a rare cylinder of marginal plating quality that you might be trying to re-use and they seat more slowly, taking longer to come to full compression. Also they are easier to break when installing, like alot easier....like make you mad and you throw stuff around the shop cause you broke two in a row.
Pick your poison, but all the builders I supply prefer the standard version.
Meteor - i like their pistons and they come with Cabers which is nice, I am not overjoyed at the variety of different circlip styles, but I dont remember eve having one come loose.
Meteor and Caber are the same company now after a merger a few years back. Meteor is the OEM supplier for some of the pistons in saws you might have in your garage, and Cabers are used in OEM applications as well.
Contractually they may not advertise which brands they manufacture for as an OEM supplier but you have heard of them for sure
They also manufacture scooter/moped/motorcycle and ATV pistons.
Their Cylinders for cylinders are on the high side of decent with only one model (MS260 44.7mm) having been crap in my experience and they pulled it from the market when we told them about it.
Always good to deal with and take care of any problems or warranty claims quickly.
SLOW SLOW slow all of italy must be on the most relaxed schedule of all time
Hyway - I have used several without problems, but not as many as other guys here for sure, they have strong US distribution (Site Sponsor) which is nice and makes communication quick and easy.
I have never heard anybody say anything bad about them.
Tecomec - used to be a great manufacturer of aftermarket stuff as far back as the mid 80's, now defunct and the stuff you see labelled Tecomec is likely knock-off junk
Farmertec - I sell a heap-ton, because they are cheap. If you need a piston to your door for less than $15.00 it is the best option. That being said there are some craptacular failures in their offerings as well. Brannain let me know the other day that the farmertec 051 piston isn't suitable to use a doorknob let alone a piston in a chainsaw. By this point most of the models they sell alot of are at least decent. Several models are actually pretty great as long as you use real rings and circlips.
For the MS390 piston which also is included in their very nice cylinder kit, the circlips suck and the clip groove in the piston doesn't take an OEM clip well either
Best option there is to clip off the ears very short.
Would I use a Farmertec piston in a low hours pro model that is otherwise in great shape? No
Would I use it in a homeowner or farm and ranch saw or otherwise less desirable saw? Yep
They also on many models do not have the detent in the clip groove set deep enough to use a pic to pull out an earless circlip, which is a big design flaw imho.
NWP - new west products from Taiwan - I love thier cylinder kits though some models are not great for porting as the Nikasil plating stops a tiny bit below the top and porting guys like to do stuff to a cylinder that makes that a hassle.
I sell fewer of their pistons than Farmertec because they are nicer and more $$ In general very clean without the flash boogers you sometimes see on cheaper pistons.
NWP - Baileys house brand - as far as I know and have been told Baileys (site sponsors) have the USA trademark for "NWP" and the products you get from them are not New West and can be literally anything they want to label that way.
That makes me nervous and though I have bought from them with great results I have never used a piston or cylinder from them.
Forester - Golf and a billion other names (including some Farmertec models for sure) are really just that NAMES. They are not manufactured by these companies and the parts are bought in large bulk from the cheapest bidder for what the supplier needs at any particular time. Remember when Golf had a run of great pistons and everybody loved them and then a few months later the same piston in the same box was crap? Well that's why. And it doesnt happen all at once because all of them run out of different product at different speeds. They might buy the same piston three times in a row and have a two year span of reliable pistons and then go in the ******* when that manufacturer is out of stock and they buy something elsewhere.
Many times in dealing with "Brands" overseas I get the feeling that they buy or manufacture parts without ever seeing, running or working on the product the part is for at all.
If you tell them the circlip is of poor quality and bends easily, they will apologize and are then pretty likely to send you free replacements tat are identical to the originals or different but just as crappy.
I hear good and bad about Raisman, but haven't used or sold any of their products that I know of.
That's my .46 worth
DD
