CHEAP JUNK FROM CHINA - WARNING !

[Brit01]

Same goes for Brazilian parts.

New Bosch distributor cap (made in Brazil - felt like a really cheap light version of my original German one), I did make a comment in the shop but they said 'no these are just as good and we've had no complaints'. No German ones imported!

10 minutes of running and the car started to jutter and then started stalling.
Never expected the new cap AND ROTOR to break.

Luckily had my old original albeit a bit worn and got her running again smoothly.

Well they don't give refunds!! (what a surprise).

Getting new original German ones sent from Europe.

Beware Brazilian made = Chinese made!

[n2oxide]

I'm watching all replies and will respond when the responses die down. I have further news but lets see what you all have to say for a couple more weeks.

Perry

[Guy Croft]

haha, everyone has stopped posting now Perry. We're all waiting for your next bit!

Fickle things - people, forums, what??!

G

[n2oxide]

I'm warming up...............

Perry

[T. Christian]

I could host a television series for crummy U.S. made stuff. I took a lovely picture of THE SECOND bad air filter this one proudly says Made in USA right where a hole in the seal to the moulding would let a bug waltz through. It was a local purchase from a giant chain. Its a stupidly simple failure of QC.

I also sent a new oil pump back to AISIN certain it was a chinese forgery since it failed instantly. They were excited to get the chance to get it, a top exec got the an internet auction site member's name from me, etc. Turned out it was theirs, no explaination or replacement for the failed unit.

Not sure if even in fairness that I should include here stateside we have some phobias for a number of European and British automotive brands as a whole. Lucas, ZF... Nevermind.

Many parts manufacturers are buying Asian made CNC, which I have seen work flawlessly. But I am confused to where they draw the line with "OEM" and "Original OEM". Same factory but the ones that didn't QC high enough for the original client? I guess they just sell them to the "Original OEM" box manufacturer and then ship 'em.

I was examining a motorcycle starter that didn't have a part number, or even any kind of casting marks (factory signature). It was sanitary of any information or designation except for the Made in China Sticker. Beautiful work too. Any bets how it fails?? It may not. We get good results if you get the products without that Baby Food they use for lubricant.

We American's don't have a corner on the market for ability and the Aisian manufacturers don't have a corner on the market for failure.

It would be interesting to see a Chinese Marque WRC team.

[Alex RP]

Here are some tips how to tell original from (current) counterfeit MSD boxes:

http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28350

Link posted with GC's kind permission.

Alex

[turbofiat]

I'd like to know where all the parts made of rubber for our Fiats are coming from.

I replaced the original 14 year old doughnut coupler on my Spider just for the heck of it because it had cosmetic cracks. Then one day I was having exhaust work done on the car showing the guy what I wanted done and noticed chunks missing from the coupler! And it was just 4 years old! You would think I would have felt a vibration or thumping with half a coupler missing. Just recently I've heard a complaint of control arm bushings failing after just 4K miles as well.

[Guy Croft]

yes, I wonder. There was a (nice) time when OE part packaging stated - 'all parts marked Fiat are made in Italy'...

G

[MinorTC]

Half of the trouble is ludicrous political correctness/green lobby laws, which make for substandard products, e.g., many modern electronic products use lead-free solder, which is inherently brittle, so will be inevitably bound to fail far quicker than the normal leaded solder.

Also, many items are produced from recycled materials, which are usually not as pure as an originally sourced material.

This practice is highly prevalent in the motor industry - practically everything gets recycled!

[Brit01]

We have the equivalent to bad Chinese products here in S.America.

Made in Brazil or Argentina.

I just managed to find a supplier after months of searching that sell MANN oil filters original from Germany. The difference in quality is significant. Same company, same model but the difference is an embarrassment to the company. The quality should be standardized worldwide but is evidently not.
Likewise for Bosch here. Had to import a Bosch distributor cap from UK as the Brazilian version was like a thin plastic bottle top.

[turbofiat]

For what it's worth. I picked up an MSD Blaster 2 coil today. The package said "Made in China". So either O'Reilly auto parts is selling knock-off MSD parts or MSD is outsourcing their ignition coils but not their electronic control systems or their higher end ignition coils. The coil and packaging looked better than an Accel coil.

[kbe00]

I have read this thread with great interest. I too have fallen victim to "what a great price" on some item only have to replace it with a quality item. So who is the greater fool...

I encourage everyone to read a great book on the "cheap" culture that has become dominate in our world. In the US, Walmart, most auto parts stores, many chains like Harbor Freight (great name) and others have been selling absolute junk yet constantly advertising "made in America" - lies upon lies. As American become dumber and dumber (low IQ families have twice as many children as high IQ families) marketing efforts are pushing low cost over value.

The book was given to me by a good friend and I am forever grateful. I have never, ever bought anything from China, Brazil, or even some American companies after reading this book.

Cheap, the High Cost of Discount Culture

Ellen Ruppel Shell

You will be amazed as what the author has uncovered and hopefully you too will not buy any junk ever again. But most importantly, you must spread the word or we will all suffer the fate of nothing but junk available to purchase. Companies will only produce what they can sell. We must take back our culture that used to shun and laugh at cheap - and valued and commended those that bought high quality. Since reading this book, I have never stepped foot into the local Walmart Store -I will drive an hour to a store that sells quality - or purchase from Europe online. It takes extra effort but the payback is huge.

Thank you for your time.

[4v6]

Guy posted something a while back that stuck with me, which was that eventually you'll lose the freedom of choice to pick a product made in a country other than china, simply because everything will end up being made there.
So can you imagine DCOE's or Rolls Royce's made in china and the subsequent loss of quality such a move would entail?
Thats whats coming if people dont stop with the "I want it cheap" attitude and understand the concept of "quality costs".
It smacks of double standards to me, consumers want cheap products but thats always at the cost of quality and they dont see the admitedly hard working chinese doing it for a pittance, yet these same consumers who want it all so cheaply would never lower themselves to produce goods for such a low price.
I particularly dislike chinese rip off/copycat products as theyre always inferior to established brands and in a lot of cases entirely unfit for purpose.
If you go to a certain video website and search for "continental vs chinese tyres" you'll find a video of a tyre test that neatly demonstrates what both I and others have said.
Also search for "landwind crash test", the vehicle involved was a Vauxhall Frontera clone.

An eye opener for anyone thinking of buying "cheap".

[Guy Croft]

Yes Tony, the

'Death of Choice',


G

[Alex Donner]

It´s almost unbeleaveable what happend two weeks ago on a testbed...
The testbed engineer called me to come to the rig, he told me something like "Houston we have a problem..." After a few minutes inspecting the engine we found the reason for the intense fuel smell - a broken fitting in the fuel line.

000005k.jpg (21.43 KiB) Viewed 762 times

After cracking the part for detailed analysis we were shocked by the catastrophic result...

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The wall thickness was less then 0,2mm, the inside shows traces of a drill operation driven to deep into the radius. After contacting our supplier we found out that the part was delivered by a company in the UK.

I have learned that you have to be careful where ever you buy your parts, dont take the risk of losing your engine by saving a few euros for cheap parts without the reliabilty you want (or need). It was nothing but luck that we got away without major damage of the engine or testbed, but think about what could happen if this occurs in the vehicle.

Grettings
Alex