Suspension rebuild time.. Trying to decide what "brand" parts to go with... Now some of these companies are former customers of mine from work so I know when it comes to automotive parts moog uses their name to market an increasing rebranded lineup of other manufacturers products under their name.. I also know this is the case with ACdelco with much of it being from oversea now. As of a few years ago I had friends that worked for delphis local plants and those were still owned by GM (even though there was a stunt pulled about 10 years ago where GM supposedly sold it so they could buy chinese components instead which backfired and they "officially" took them back...(the pay checks always came from GM through the whole ordeal according to my friends)

I guess my question is, is their a clear choice here? I know companies farming out their name to others is not always all bad (timken started doing it about 10 years ago when they stopped manufacturing of their automotive product line (to focus on industrial bearings) and although the quality suffered a bit ,its still good compared to other choices as the largest japanese competitor took over the manufacturing) the other option on Rock auto is Mevotech but online reviews have not been promising. I'm specifically looking at tie rod ends and ball joints here..

EDIT just learned delphi (locally anyway) was bought by Mahl (who I thought I recently read was bought out themselves by a wealthy guy who generally closes factories in an article I read about Xerox last week).. and Delphi products now come from mexico, poland and china as well as the US.... Why is this such a convoluted and difficult thing to figure out!

 

Moog - parts actually work and last. I've done 4 cars with these parts. Get the upper control arm problem solver. It works well.

I ordered a GM restoration part, HVAC fan relay - it was more money than the others listed. Ok so what - better? When it arrived it was in a pretty GM restoration box, that had brown paper and a white box marked made in china. When I looked on the Rock Auto site it was 1/2 the price in the same white box stamped china as one of the choices.

 

Op you are correct..
again from my post i referenced..moog jumped the shark. They are nothing to me anymore..
my bushings were india and mexico.
ball joints came missing a flange.
i love how the sponsors here ( most) list made on usa or not like zip and others...
honestly i went rock auto expecting usa...but..doing it again i would buy anything usa brand no matter...if they exist..
delco is probably worse.

wonder if what brand below?

example
usa
https://www.zip-corvette.com/63-82-u...g-correct.html

https://www.zip-corvette.com/63-82-u...placement.html

 

I have a good friend who works in a parts store which shall remain nameless. He and I have had many discussions about his frustration with Chinese parts. It seems no brand is immune from the scourge of Chinese crap. Used to be you could trust a name like Moog but even they have apparently fallen victim to the lure of big profits in cheap parts.

 

Yes Moog has a rather large local facitlity consisting of over 20 building for their aerospace division and a few yers back they more or less told me their automotive division is now more about selling rebranded products... This was when I bought so cheap rough country shocks and then a moog steering stabilizer for my old truck and discovered they were from one and the same manufacturer..

I'm going with energy poly bushings... research shows so far that it was the generic stuff sold most often as VB&S brand poly stuff that was garbage and seemed to taint peoples opinions of poly bushings due to them cracking and crumbling.

I know this might not go over well with some but I'm more about buying quality with this purchase than caring where its made... It used to be that one had a lot more to do with the other but I no longer believe that necessarily always the case. if its a well made product from Mexico, Then the shady american "brand" company gets my $60 for the products they pay $10 to have manufactured I guess.. question remains what hold up and what is garbage?

 

as a supplier to most like you it sucks..I Think my idler arm was USA. There is still rough country in USA. There is a LOT of Japanese made in USA.. hell bought a Honda Ridgeline and it was #2 usa content.

 

oh I know.... I also own a 2007 ridgeline after doing some homework. Great truck until something starts to rust. Besides my 2 vetts, 4 out of five other "american" vehicles I owned were not made in the USA including a jeep, ford, chevy and dodge.. But I digress. Like I said I really am more concerned with not ending up with junk I need to replace again soon.

 

FWIW I installed poly bushings from VB&P back in the mid-90’s. I was under the car the other day and the bushings look like the day I put them in. My only complaint is they squeak.

 

I think I saw your comments on this in another thread.. after reading multiple old threads rehashing bits and peices instead of one coherent thread on the subject due to "old threads" being discouraged... The same "wheel" I sometimes saw reinvented numerous times was mention of the VB&P bushing being identified as the problem more than once in some of them others just seemed to leave a bad opinion of poly in general due to this. If I had to guess? either they switched suppliers for their "rebranded" products (hence my concerns) or there was a bad production run of poly bushings for a while that multiple vendors sold which is also likely (again reason for my post looking for testimonials on choice experience from others here)

 

Some American brands have a 2 or 3 tiered parts line. So, even within brands, you need to check where the parts are made.
Japanese or even Korean parts would be much preferable to chinese, if you couldn't get USA made.

 

yes Rock auto has these tiers listed... but they dont have the origins. I was trying not to pay extra for that info since I have a discount code to use for rockauto from a recent purchase. I guess if the teirs actually relate to quality my choice would be easy, but too often Ive paid much more for the same product in a different box to know thats not always true. I have also run across this often in my line of work as well as other hobbies. Im just hoping for some feedback from others who have gone down this road since you dont always pay for what you get.

 

Guldstrand used to sell heavy duty ball joints, tie rod ends and an HD adjustable idler arm that were much better than common replacements.
Don't know who made them , but would bet it was the old MOOG.
His poly bushings after many years have yet to crumble for me.
Unfortunately that knowledgeable source is long passed.

HOWE sells upper ball joints that fit a C3 but not lowers.
They have lowers that could be made to work but would not just bolt in.
Their tie rod ends however would fit a C3.
They have an interesting looking idler arm but not Corvette specific.

Made in USA, adjustable, rebuildable, and different stud lengths available.
They cater to circle track racers , don't know what the long term effects of street use would be.
And of course they are not chain store priced.

I would like to know of a decent source for rubber bushings and seals that last.
The additives and modifiers for rubber are expensive and you can't tell they are not there until they fall apart.
Not likely to happen where the parts are now sourced.
I would certainly pay more for a properly made part that didn't fall apart.
Especially when the installation time and labor cost is way more that the part itself.

Ever walk into a Harbor Freight and wonder why it stinks?
It's all the cheap imported plastic and rubber turning back into oil.

 

zip has USA an ball joints.. paragon lists same for 79 as imported.. at least they list them.. the other on paragon ball joint is unknown mfr.
i already listed the bushings above.. my moog were indian and mexico

i support vendors who tell you up front.. rock auto .. forget it.. better know exactly what you want..no human contact at all..
i cannot find another vendor with up front origin consistently as Zip.. imagine if Amazon would do the same..menards search engine allows you to filter made in USA..
Paragon Corvette Reproductions - Upper Ball Joint Kit

 

Who knows where any of it comes from anymore.

Bit the bullet and bought a new blower motor for my 02 1500 from the dealer figured they sell a better level of Delco
Makes the same noise the 20 yr old original did, wasnt cheap.

 

I made the mistake of buying a suspension kit from a corvette supplier, made in USA parts they said. The lower ball joints went bad after after a few thousand miles

 

These days you never know what you will get. Regardless I will still use Moog for all my suspension parts because they have not let me down. More and more delco stuff is coming out of china, so it is no longer at the top of my buying list. I use Rockauto for all my Moog stuff unless it is heavy, then I get it from Amazon to save on shipping. I have not used Delphi in a while, but consider most of it Delco.

 

Yeah I've posted that more than once. Apparently VetteBrakes had bad bushings for a while. The point is poly bushings aren't all bad. Frankly if I was doing it over, I would probably go with rubber. The poly are noticeably better, but its not enough to convince me I should put up with the squeaking.

 

I just did a full rebuild on the front suspension of my '75 convertible. After doing some online research, and reading about the decline in Moog quality due to the off shoring of production to China, I decided to give ProForged a try. The company has a good reputation with the pro-touring crowd. I purchased their upper and lower ball joints, control arm bushings, sway bar end links and tie rod ends. Quality appears first rate. Products are manufactured in Taiwan. Time will tell on how well they hold up.

 

good find.. i have no issues with Taiwan

i tend to think advice given is accurate but sometimes due to time passing is not so true..anymore

 

I hate squeaky bushings too.
I added grease fittings to the control arm bushings when I switched to polyurethane.
But a large part of the squeak comes from the large washers on the pivot.
Back off the pivot bolts and grease under the washers.
Buy a tub of the white super sticky synthetic grease for polyurethane.
After installing Nord-Lock washers those bolts have never loosened up for me.