ronarndt

Unfortunately even old traditional USA name brands are now made in China and are lower quality. My top down ride on a beautiful day in my 68 convert today was spoiled by my Holley (not made in USA anymore) fuel pressure regulator crapping out on me and requiring repairs in the parking lot of the local supermarket. When I installed it a couple weeks ago, it read over 18 psi on my fuel pressure gauge. A little high for my 4 bbl carb, so I attempted to back off the adjusting screw. I had to back the screw out to the very last threads to get the pressure down at all- best I could get was 9 psi. Well- today whatever was holding up the adjustment in the regulator finally freed up and when I started the car in the supermarket parking lot it ran briefly and died. would not re-start. After checking under the hood I noticed that although the electric fuel pump (also a Holley) was running with the ignition key on, there was zero psi on the fuel pressure gauge. So I turned the adjusting screw back in and voila! there was now pressure. I got it set at 6 psi and drove home to make sure it was fixed. Sure enough, now adjusting the set screw actually made the pressure go up or down. Damn Chinese probably put a rice grain in there to foul things up.

randy ransome

A friend of mine replaced the front suspension of his daughter's 2006 Mustang yesterday. He paid a little extra to get MOOG suspension part, they were made in China. All their parts use to be made in USA.

jb78L-82

Just an FYI that I use many moog suspension parts on all my cars and they are made all over the world depending on the part. I have not come across China Moog parts but Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, Mexico and many USA parts...depends. Do not buy Moog R series parts (the cheaper line) but only the problem solver series which I have found to still be excellent quality...hope that helps!

If Moog offers 2 of the same parts (check rockauto), always buy the more expensive one versus the cheaper Moog part.

3JsVette

It's a shame that manufacturing cost is priority over quality.
Quality with a fair price has taken a back seat over profit.

cv67

saw a pic of a new C7 air filter and it had a big "made in Thailand" stamp on it. Made in USA...blah blah

cagotzmann

Well we need to tell the companies to make better quality parts.

When I mean tell the companies is to phone there head office and let them know.

China can make excellent quality parts just provide better specs (cost more to the company go for it. )

This means the corvette vendors need to step up as well.

So instead of taking the easy way out and getting replacement parts, rebuild your original parts if possible.


The best example are brake calipers. Even USA based companies have most of the work out sourced over seas. And most of the marketed new calipers leak in 4-5 years while the original OEM units lasted 15+ years.

Taijutsu

Many parts are illegal knock offs. They look perfect until compared by someone knowledgeable!
They had Edelbrock parts that were fugazi!
When we buy something at half price on the web, buyer beware.

R

7T1vette

This is really the issue. When a replacement part cost is much lower than expected, you are probably buying JUNK. And, the American vendors are buying 'cheap junk' BECAUSE most folks have their priorities set on MONEY instead of quality.

The old adage is still true today:

"You get what you pay for."

I always ask if there are optional choices for a similar part. And, I NEVER go to 'The Zone', unless it is for some incidental part that is identical to what everyone else sells. If you want "cheap", that's what you will get. Then when it craps out, remember that it was YOUR choice.

Rescue Rogers

I looked online for a master cylinder for my 68. It was made for a 68 vette,........with rear drum brakes!!! Really???? COme on man!!When wsa taht an option, 66?

cagotzmann

ok More and more American vendors have gone the make in china route and still charge the made in USA price. Why is this ? You cannot go by the price alone anymore.

You need to ask many questions, such as how its made, what materials, and most important what warranty is provided.

The fact that few provide a decent warranty means they are not confident in their product.

Why is it that Car builders don't provide a warranty like the auto manufactures do. I never heard a car building providing 60k 4 yr warranty on any build. Why because they don't have the same equipment / process to engineer and build a reliable car.

Same goes for the US companies farming out over sea's. Copy the looks but don't worry about the engineering and QC. Yet they will charge the made in USA Price.

I don't think made in "USA" is any better for all products, and more and more made in USA is just average.

Alwyn678

I try to Never buy Any parts made in China or other foreign countries
. I have (in the past) purchased parts that did Not work straight out of the box.

I hope that Trump can bring the manufacturing jobs back to the U.S......Please

cagotzmann

You sound like a Canadian

Have the government do something for me.

It's simple the people have the power. If everyone upset about this stopped supplying these companies with money they would change.

leadfoot4

While I fully understand what you guys are saying, about "Made in China" parts, and I try to buy "made in America" parts as much as possible, you have to understand that a CNC center, which is now widely used to make parts, doesn't care where it's plugged in. Therefore, if you can plug it in in China, and pay the operator $3/hr, versus the $15/hr that the American worker wants, and without having to pay the 25-30% American tax on top of it, you can understand why manufacturing is going offshore.

And if top quality steel, or whatever material is required, is fed into the CNC machine, the end result is essentially the same......

76strokervette

While I agree cnc equipment is available everywhere it does not guarantee perfect results. You still must understand machining processes and proper fixturing etc... The reality is most commercial applications never see what really can be done due to the aerospace and defense industries getting the bulk of the interest from established manufacturers.
We can revitalise our manufacturing base but must use a different sales point than the cheapest price. Imo top quality at a fair price is the way to get there. If customers demand the best and will support the sales someone will step up and deliver. I will never make a part that I would not be proud to put on my own car.

Dynra Rockets

This

Its about QC. I source parts made oversees in my job all the time (as well as USA made). The Engineering Check samples, the Manufacturing Check samples and the Production First Article samples are almost always excellent regardless where made. Its after having been in production for 6 months to a year that things go haywire. As a company if you are not forcing them to do end of line testing, doing spot checks and holding your supplier accountable for ppm and epidemic failure rates then the issue is you. I check my sourced parts for quality regularly and stop payment and hold shipments all the time, both USA and foreign made parts.

Rescue Rogers

a guy that imports mills, drills and lathes told me that where his machines are made, top quality machines all the way down to harbor freight quality are all made on the same floor. If you want higher quality materials or steel gears instead of plastic, its all there for the ordering. Now when the import taxes go up to bring the Import prices back up to the domestic prices, hopefully m anufacturing, jobs and some quality will come back. The days of consistant 20-30% profit margins are hopefully going to be a thing of the past. I also had a friend in the medical library business said thats all the bosses wanted, was consistant 30% profit. they had to lay everyone off until just he and 2 other managers where left and they shipped all their business to India. When the Indians new they had telemarketing cornered they upped their prices. My buddy again had to outsource to pakistan, then thailand, then the phillipines. I lost contact with him so I don't know if he even has a job anymore

7T1vette

Two major problems with cheap foreign knock-off parts:

1. The materials used are rarely equal to the original parts. Whether it's metal that doesn't have the strength/durability because of improper metal mixture, or whether it's rubber/plastic that doesn't have the properties of original stuff, the parts don't stand up to normal use. Better materials cost more and since you can't SEE that difference, you end up with a poor quality part.

2. 'Working' metal parts require careful and precise methods of heat treatment, which requires more time and heat energy to process the part correctly. Again, since you can't visually detect such processing, it either gets shoddy processing or none at all. That's why chintzy cams, steering joints, ball joints, etc. wear out quickly.

marshal135

Please.... don't get me started on repop parts.
I'm sure we all work hard for the money and when we have an afternoon off we would just like the part to fit.
I've had repop parts last a month.
I would rather buy a Napa made part than from some of the distributors that have a foreign clone boxed as "corvette only"
Because its a hobby and many never drive em the problem rarely surfaces so the complaints are minimal.

If we are going to have pattern parts made may I suggest sending the drawings to the Lexus company. They still take pride in their product.
I'll pay for that
Marshal

leadfoot4

And you can thank the "green weenies" for driving the EPA's draconian anti-pollution measures, which, in turn, drove the manufacturing, such as steel mills and heat treating facilities, out of the USA....

RonR80

THis was installed by a GM dealer in Ottawa on the 70 I have now

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