Chinese brakes ........

it's a frustrating subject - but *THAT* is funny...

 

now that is having a sack

 

there still are few and to be honest the ones I know if Inwood being an example suck....

I know Lucas brakes were made here as early back as 2000 but not sure if they still are

 

I was thrown into that "loop" once also when I went to buy Tilapia (fish). It's impossible to find it not coming from China. I love Tilapia but I aint eating it from there if I can help it. Bad toothpaste, milk, dogfood, paints etc... I know the subject is parts but the problem is much broader. Heck, I see it in the iron fence field also. The quality is very poor and contractors are installing it. Be weary if your getting an iron fence people. That powder coating looks good but the metal is extreeemly thin.

 

You keep posting about "sacks"... must be a faze.

 

I've been looking at labels last few years as well... as far as I'm concerned NOW the world trade agreements were a huge mistake but it's too late. Compound that with the internet, where everyone can price-shop and look for the best deal and cut out all the distributors it's amazing how anyone has managed to stay in business thus far... the exceptions are WalMart, Starbucks, and Tim Hortons (in Canada) - pretty soon everyone will be working AND shopping at WalMart and Tim Hortons. They both have pension plans for those who can afford it...???

All the good tools and car parts are all made in China... the difference is the parent company (usually). Dewalt, Mastercraft, and Black & Decker drills are all made in China from the same designs and components - the difference is the quality of components, assembly, quality assurance and WHICH PARENT COMPANY oversees the facility in China.

Dewalt has a better factory, better build, more cost, and better end-user service than the same cheap Black and Decker tools.

Sony and Curtis televisions are also made there; except the Sony is better quality and the Curtis TV's leech formadehyde and mercury vapour when you turn them on. It won't kill you right away, but you don't have to sue Sony when you get seriously ill or your children are born with feet sprouting out of their forheads.

I buy standard Ford parts from a reputable North Van auto parts store because I always get decent parts (actually MADE in the USA for once...) rather than risk buying SOME of the JUNK Canadian Tire sells which is cheap and sometimes doesn't work (distributor caps that have microscopic cracks and frays that never quite make and engine run smoothly). And the ignition rotor that LITERALLY melted inside the distributor - charred and molten - I couldn't figure that one out because the car was still running somehow.

Real problem here is that thanks to the internet, hot rod parts are not stocked locally in many warehouses in Canada - many dealers just stopped selling all together due to internet competition. They tell me to go buy it from e-Bay. No support there... too risky and too expensive and TOO LONG TO WAIT for stuff.

I'm careful with my money - thing is, you really do get what you pay for. NS Parts always has stock and I may only have to wait 3 hours for a warehouse delivery but I pay a little extra and the parts are usually right.

At another store I saved money buying guages (EQUUS - American company, made in China, warehoused in BC) and had to wait MONTHS to get them from Calgary even though their distribution branch is right here. Wasn't worth the $10 I saved.

Tough to bite this but don't get hung up on the 'Made in China' because comsumer demand for low price and competition have forced most major companies to do exactly that. Everything is, to some extent, made in China.

BC's forestry industry is being sold to China. All that wood you buy from us will soon be made in China. At least we're still growing them here.

One thing that REALLY worries me is how this recession is going to pan out. If *WE* are suffering now (esp. the auto industry) just imagine the pressure on the CHinese to put out even MORE product for LESS WAGES or JOB CUTS...

if the product quality is that bad now, imagine what it would be like when 1/2 the people in China get laid off and the other half must double their output to keep up?

Even the labourers that earn a living by making rip offs and copycats are suffering.

gawd I write long posts, don't I?...

I guess the best thing WE can do COLLECTIVELY is use the internet to find North American companies making parts for North American cars and find THEIR DEALERS and try to give THEM your business as mush as possible..

and tell all your friends.

and tell all of us.

And avoid Walmart.


(we can't avoid hijacking your thread to include Walmart - but they are the most successful example of exactly what has gone drastically wrong with the whole process of supply, demand, and quality).

 

Interesting thread ...

China is like Medievel Europe right now, in the sense that business owners actually have more localized power than their local police...they control most anything that happens on their property. Anything they can get away with goes right now and there is very little supervision. Read a very interesting article about a US investigative reporter who was going to start whistle-blowing being held against his will by a company president, while the local sheriff was negotiating with the him to let the reporter go. It was an eye-opener.

I will agree that Korean-made stuff has been very high quality lately ... they make some really good guitars that I am quite fond of.

 

As most auto part business owners opened industrial shops in the north east 50 to 60 years ago, the unions got involved over the years. I love to buy american products but hey why should I have to pay 3 times as much because some 5th grade drop out works for a union and wants to make 50K a year. As far as Im concerned the unions killed this country and thats why every business owner is moving out of the states. If you own a business and looking at paying people 50K a year vs. 5K a year times 50 employees thats a big difference.

 

I agree to a point. I also feel the unions had a large part in killing the economy but business men in general started it way before the unions did. They treated Americans as Slave labor. Poor working conditions, unfair wages etc... If they would have been fair in the first place the unions would have never come along....so it is a two way street. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Union workers hold companies hostage with the give me more cry me a river routine that just chaps my ass. My younger brother worked for Ford and another Union shop. He went from a hard working guy to the I deserve more because the union brainwashed me type of guy. He lost both jobs. Reality has sunk in and now he agrees he was wrong. He would have gladly taken a pay cut to help ease the burden on the company. I expalined to him as a Mechanic or Manager in the auto repair business I have had years where I made 10k less prior based on the economy. It sucks but it is fair. How can a company be expected to pay more and give more when they are losing money.....Anyway I bet 95 percent of union workers who were selfish are starting to come around....If not they will lose everything.....but I got faith it will get better for them and all of us.

 

The man I used to work for had a sign above his desk, and he lived by it: The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten."

 

One of my jobs is the film industry (in BC) and FORTUNATELY for us the Unions made concessions to keep the business alive amidst unsteady economic climates - we agree on each show to take the pay cut and work as much as we want.

Apparently, Ontario's film industry was killed by over zealous unions - the US market just packed up and went home. They've barely gotten it back.

My OTHER job is in the Hospital - where the local unions may have tried to take too much, so the government fired everyone and all our good medical staff left Canada and went to the US.

Now everyone is underqualified and underpaid; many facets of hospitals are not up to snuff like they used to be - but who cares when you can clean up blood and barf in the E.R. or expose yourself to filth and hazards in hospital laundry all day - or just go and make donuts and coffee in a clean restaurant for the same wage?

An old student from Germany told me that the new German cars are way overpriced crap now (high strung, complex engineering, fast yet unreliable) - and he thinks it was their unions that brought a drop in quality and now - with the recession - they are seriously hurting like GM and Chrysler. Wonder if German car parts are made poorly as well?

I'm amazed at the sheer number of BRAND NEW cars on the road with one brake light out and the LED 3rd light not working (those 60 gazillion hour LED bulbs that never stop working don't seem to be able to handle bumps I guess). When I got my Comet every bulb in the car was totally dim and black and silver with age - some looked original - but EVERY ONE OF THEM was still working.

AND BTW - I just "re-installed" the original points and condenser back into my car because the new set seemed to be misfiring when the engine gets really hot in traffic. The condenser was incorrect. Dunno what the issue was but maybe they have different capacitance ratings?

And I always try to look at both perspectives - imagine all the people in China making car parts when they probably don't even know what the part *IS* that they're assembling - and frankly, most of them will NEVER own a car, much less drive one.

I'm thankful I still have 2 jobs and two cars and can eat 3 meals a day... and whatever caused this recession is now acting globally where every country on the planet seems to be involved - at least it's all just money now - didn't the 1930's recession create massive loss of food and loss in life...? - so now the trillions that governments are committing to reorganized will hopefully (trying to be an optimist) restructure every aspect of every economy. We'll be in debt forever, but hopefully lifestyle, work, and quality will return.

Imagine that to "balance things out" in a global marketplace means that CHina's wages and standard of living must go way up - so the cost and quality of all those goods must go up as well, and maybe some of the outsourcing will HAVE to come back to North America.

And the skinny is that Americans and Canadians may have to realize, as you mentioned, that the wage cuts and union concessions must be taken with a percieved REDUCTION in what we view as our entitlement to live in the most luxurious, safe, resource and equal-opportunity rich countries on the planet. Cheap goods and services can't stay cheap for everyone to stay in business.

(back to Walmart driving their suppliers out of business just to make a buck)

We might all have to become a little bit "poorer" for things to get better.

ok... I gotta go research an (American made) electronic ignition for my spark starved six.

 

Maybe I don't understand what a recession is... It seems to me that I am making more money now than 6-8 months ago. I'm paying less for gas, i'm waiting in longer lines (even at wal mart), there is alot more traffic out on the roads. I see people spending on stuff not necessarly necessity. Dudes, I just ate some cream puffs 5 minutes ago lol. I felt those were a necessity tho...