Spiral cable

Can anyone explain the big differences between the $50 spiral cables and the $250 spiral cables?

 

They have a higher rate of failure. I’ve seen many aftermarket cables fail in the first year.

I feel like they exist to fix the problem just long enough to sell it.

Im thrifty but wont cheap out on that particular part.

 

I tried to cheap out, part didn't work properly out of the box (Airbag light wouldn't turn off). Still ended up buying the $250 part and it immediately worked

 

My $50 spiral cable lasted about 4 years. I have replaced it with another $50 spiral cable, they take like 10 minutes to change.

 

My $50 spiral cable also lasted 4 years.

 

$200.00

When I installed cruise control in my base Taco, I had to replace the clock spring because after installing the stalk and running the wire to the ECU, it didn't work. Diagnosing and pulling the clock spring showed the trace for the cruise to have worn through. I ended up getting OEM because I wanted to make sure I got a good, known quality clock spring because IF it still didn't work, I can at least be sure of what it WASN'T (yes, I tested the contacts before install). If there were other issues besides the clock spring, it could have been a plethora of other things, so I didn't want to deal with the possibility.

That being said, if I was just replacing the clock spring, I PROBABLY would have gone aftermarket. For example, I trust Standard Motor products, and I can get the Standard clock spring for $85 on RockAuto - yes, there are even cheaper options, for example the SKP is $30 on Rock. There are also Ebay options, etc. But in MY CASE, I was able to find an new OEM clock spring for $100 which I thought was reasonable enough. Many times Standard also sources from OEM suppliers - I have gotten parts that had Denso in the box (for example).

There really isn't much to a clock spring to go wrong - it's a long, multi-core flat cable with connectors on both ends. Yes, there can be variability in quality if you go with no-name brands so it might not last as long, but changing a clock spring is really not a big deal and doesn't require any special tools - like on a difficulty scale it's MAYBE 2 out of 5 (to me) if not 1 out of 5. So if it blows out in a year, I know to get something better the next time. If you get it from someplace like RockAuto, and it's borked out of the box, it's an easy return.