Opinions on Cinese 'quality' parts

[ford4v429]

I had started a thread in here after hearing Ford was considering sourcing forged aluminum wheels for heavy duty trucks from China in place of the tried and true Alcoa forged 'made in USA' wheels, and as others chimed in, see a trend in opinions here...just how many folks in here trust high-stressed parts made in China, and how many folks in here think Ford could be shooting themselves in the foot by doing so? imagine if things of 'Mattel toy quality' start appearing as wheels/control arms/crankshafts, etc...is it inconceivable that a recall just might be highly more likely with mediocre Chinese quality parts- to the point it could push a needed US manufacturer further towards bankruptcy- or at least assist in evaporating market share?

Look at the 'QQ' cloned Chevy's safety rating compared to what they stole the patterns from- well gee, it looks like the same car till you wreck it...isnt that odd? Look at the cloned GMC 'colorado' pickup- I actually thought that was funny in a sad/pathetic way...GM sourced too much of it from over there, next thing they knew, a near exact copy hits the market for less money...funny how much cheeper things can be when you dont pay for engineering...order a set of stamping dies from China, they make a spare set to sell to ching-chang-chong company down the road...but thats ok, I'm sure GM saved a few bucks on the dies- HA...serves them right in a way, and shoulda been a wake up call, but instead hardly a mention...guess its just the accepted price of admission to all the 'savings' offered by china...yep, they'll make your component for half price- but dont complain when they start reproducing your assembled finished product under a new name for pennys on the dollar...yeah- we really NEED to teach them to make safe/strong forgings for wheels/crankshafts/etc- that will be a smart move...oh, dont worry- they are too backwards to ever compete with the likes of Ford on finished automobiles...

 

Ask a Machinist if he'd rather have a American made 'bridgeport' mill or a EXACT LOOKING 'millport' mill- anyone wanna guess which one he'd prefer? Notice that Bridgeport finally went under(think Hardinge just bought up their remains) but the clones are still popping up from all over the world. hmmm...how could that be...duh.

In this race to the bottom, just exactly WHAT is there to win? to build ever cheaper crap that still cant be afforded by folks without jobs? Is the long term affects of the short term solutions EVER considered?

[whereswaldo]

Is the long term affects of the short term solutions EVER considered?

 

 

NO.....

[Bored of Pisteon]

I would totally abandon any plans to buy any new 2008 and up model year vehicle made by Ford if they ever decided to buy parts in China! ALUMININUM RIMS? You gots to be kiddin'!

 

That's right assholes go ahead and put cheap Chinese made shit on your bread and butter F-Series lineup. It's already bad enough you use Hankook tires on your new products!

[Pioneer]

Hey, Bored. Ford already uses many parts on their vehicles sourced from China.

[Davew]

I would totally abandon any plans to buy any new 2008 and up model year vehicle made by Ford if they ever decided to buy parts in China! ALUMININUM RIMS? You gots to be kiddin'!

 

That's right assholes go ahead and put cheap Chinese made shit on your bread and butter F-Series lineup. It's already bad enough you use Hankook tires on your new products!

 

Yu no rieckie nice John Hancook tiyas we makie fo yu Mr. Yankee?

[Bored of Pisteon]

Hey, Bored. Ford already uses many parts on their vehicles sourced from China.

 

Why do you think I am no longer shopping for a new car? This shit is nothing but disposable garbage on a grand scale... OVERPRICED CARS, you also pay too much for car insurance and license plates.

 

And don't get me started on service at dealerships!

[ford4v429]

Hey, Bored. Ford already uses many parts on their vehicles sourced from China.

 

something i wanted to kinda re-mention...everyone uses Chinese parts these days, BUT when things like tierod ends/balljoints/steering knuckles/axles/forged wheels and other myriad other high stress items that require near perfection in the invisible properties of alloying/heat treating/etc, one 'less expensive Chinese equivalent' just might have a lot higher chance of killing someone if it fails. Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but I cant help feeling it would be a huge mistake to junksource critical high stress parts from China...not that they dont have a impeccable track record in the eyes of the American consumer... sorry couldnt resist that one

 

I feel sourcing high stress items that 'only kill the engine' like con rods/cranks would also be a big mistake, but thats just one that would turn me away for perceived durability reasons, not worry about a out of control crash like the stuff I mentioned above.

 

People that buy the heavy trucks ESPECIALLY need to have the sense of security that the truck will get the job done and not break- first time some Chinese crank would blow out of the pan of a 60K truck, or a shiny Chinese forged wheel fails in a way the rim separates from the center, one of Ford's 'world leading' products is gonna get a wallmart quality reputation attached to it- but unless they want to sell at a wallmart price I think this is one of the biggest mistakes they could ever make.

 

Its bad enough Ford has been sourcing cast auto wheels from China for at least 10 years(I put a set of 96~98 crown vic w/'handling package' rims on our '65 galaxie- with made in China stickers on them...) but its kinda hard to screw up a casting- forged/heat treated/alloyed metals- no way should that crap come from China, and NO WAY should we EVER assist them in doing a better job over there.

like I mentioned before, the biblical 'teach a man to fish' could be applied to things like 'world leading highest quality heavy pickups' if Ford and the others get too greedy. the old 'if you cant beatem, joinem' is fast becoming 'if you cant beatem, help them beat you tomorrow for a few dollars today'

 

sorry for writing a book again, but this whole Chinese sellout of corporate America is something our grandkids are going to HATE us for allowing- and deep down I think even the whiz-bang accounting gurus who try to justify it are well aware also...Personally I bet both Henry Ford and Sam Walton are rolling over in their graves over what their dreams have evolved into...

[Pioneer]

something i wanted to kinda re-mention...everyone uses Chinese parts these days, BUT when things like tierod ends/balljoints/steering knuckles/axles/forged wheels and other myriad other high stress items that require near perfection in the invisible properties of alloying/heat treating/etc, one 'less expensive Chinese equivalent' just might have a lot higher chance of killing someone if it fails.

 

There are already forged parts used in the driveshafts of the F-150 that are imported from China. If that isn't a high-stress area, then I don't know what is.

[Local1111]

something i wanted to kinda re-mention...everyone uses Chinese parts these days, BUT when things like tierod ends/balljoints/steering knuckles/axles/forged wheels and other myriad other high stress items that require near perfection in the invisible properties of alloying/heat treating/etc, one 'less expensive Chinese equivalent' just might have a lot higher chance of killing someone if it fails.

 

 

How about Tie Rod Ends / Ball Joints from Luxembourg, yep.

 

It's a Global market. People do not care where it's from in the US, they just want a cheap price. What about the people from India, that studied here and go back home. Today it's China, tomorrow it's India. Guess I should qualify that, you don't see Indian Doctors returning home do you?

 

What are the major vehicle line's being sold? Compact and sub-compact cars. Your first vehicle you purchased new (if you did), IF you were pleased, you probably looked at that manufacturer again. How much in-house does Rolls Royce do?

 

You have to remember, we and this site are biased opinions. I do not have a clue how to win customers back, but I do know that constant doom and gloom about Ford is not helping anyone. I also expect if I wasn't associated with the company, I might just give their vehicles a passing glance til I found something I liked. IF I had a lemon from them before, I don't think I'd give a rat's ass about them now. All we can do is put out a quality item, period. Today's young buyers are copying their parents who drove the first Asian cars from the 70's.

[Furious1Auto]

something i wanted to kinda re-mention...everyone uses Chinese parts these days, BUT when things like tierod ends/balljoints/steering knuckles/axles/forged wheels and other myriad other high stress items that require near perfection in the invisible properties of alloying/heat treating/etc, one 'less expensive Chinese equivalent' just might have a lot higher chance of killing someone if it fails. Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but I cant help feeling it would be a huge mistake to junksource critical high stress parts from China...not that they dont have a impeccable track record in the eyes of the American consumer... sorry couldnt resist that one

 

I feel sourcing high stress items that 'only kill the engine' like con rods/cranks would also be a big mistake, but thats just one that would turn me away for perceived durability reasons, not worry about a out of control crash like the stuff I mentioned above.

 

People that buy the heavy trucks ESPECIALLY need to have the sense of security that the truck will get the job done and not break- first time some Chinese crank would blow out of the pan of a 60K truck, or a shiny Chinese forged wheel fails in a way the rim separates from the center, one of Ford's 'world leading' products is gonna get a wallmart quality reputation attached to it- but unless they want to sell at a wallmart price I think this is one of the biggest mistakes they could ever make.

 

Its bad enough Ford has been sourcing cast auto wheels from China for at least 10 years(I put a set of 96~98 crown vic w/'handling package' rims on our '65 galaxie- with made in China stickers on them...) but its kinda hard to screw up a casting- forged/heat treated/alloyed metals- no way should that crap come from China, and NO WAY should we EVER assist them in doing a better job over there.

like I mentioned before, the biblical 'teach a man to fish' could be applied to things like 'world leading highest quality heavy pickups' if Ford and the others get too greedy. the old 'if you cant beatem, joinem' is fast becoming 'if you cant beatem, help them beat you tomorrow for a few dollars today'

 

sorry for writing a book again, but this whole Chinese sellout of corporate America is something our grandkids are going to HATE us for allowing- and deep down I think even the whiz-bang accounting gurus who try to justify it are well aware also...Personally I bet both Henry Ford and Sam Walton are rolling over in their graves over what their dreams have evolved into...

The last commercial truck I drove was a Ford 9000 5 axle dump truck and I had a U-Joint go bad from long term wear. We replaced both the one at the carrier bearing and the one on the rear yoke thinking that the other would fail in the short term do to the fact that they were the same age. I loaded my truck with 1 heavy load and came back 30 miles on the back of a wrecker. As soon as I was loaded and eased the clutch out in low gear both of the replacement Timken Bearings (Made in China) shattered simultaneously. My boss gave me an ear full of sh-t thinking that I had done something wrong. I told him that it was those cheap Timken Bearings, and that my neighbor had the same problem on his dually. He then went to Valley Ford in Cleavland and ordered Ford OEM bearings and we never had a problem after that.

Edited November 5, 2007 by Furious1Auto

[Pepper]

China has a very poor environmental record and let's face it- they are a communist country with nuclear weapons pointed right at us. And, their human rights record is atrocious........you get what you pay for. Low prices, low quality.

 

Do we want to continue to build up China?

Edited November 6, 2007 by Pepper

[KingPolski]

China has a very poor environmental record and let's face it- they are a communist country with nuclear weapons pointed right at us. And, their human rights record is atrocious........you get what you pay for. Low prices, low quality.

 

Do we want to continue to build up China?

 

This is completely correct. Doing business or moving business to China is treason as far as I am concerned. Our government doesn't care, companies don't care and many consumers don't really care. Our government actually thinks that the transfer of technology to China is a good thing. Big business loves it - it really helps those quartely earnings. And most consumers don't have a clue.

 

Why does it now take two people working in this country just to make a decent living? It comes down to the loss of manufacturing jobs. We can not be a service oriented economy. The country needs to make things.

 

So here we are having sent so much of our technology to China only to see the continued loss of good jobs in our country while today having to compete with them for oil. Yea that's great.

 

I do everything possible to not purchase anything from China. You can't trust them. I don't trust them. And the thought of purchasing a Ford made in China or with major components made in China makes me vomit blood.

 

I don't work for Ford nor do I have any friends or family members working for Ford. I'm 39 and have always purchased American automobiles. As a recent Ford convert one of the reasons I changed was because I didn't like my trucks being made in Mexico. And I definitely couldn't deal with "Made in China" on my wheels.

[jpd80]

Just thought you might like to know:

A lot of parts on the zeta based Pontiac G8 and Holden Commodore are sourced from China.

 

Also, this Buick Park Avenue is built in China using lots of local parts:

 

[694doorbird]

I was at the local tire dealer the other day to have a flat fixed. While waiting, I was looking at the new wheels on display. There were quite a few of them that said "Made in China".

[Ford Jellymoulds]

When Hongqi Red flag start selling its copycat Mazda 6 and Lincolns cars for peanuts in the US, then the shit will hit the fan

http://www.faw-benteng.com/index.html

http://www.forbes.com/2006/08/11/cx_dl_081...thisSpeed=20000

Edited November 6, 2007 by Ford Jellymoulds

[suv_guy_19]

When Hongqi Red flag start selling its copycat Mazda 6 and Lincolns cars for peanuts in the US, then the shit will hit the fan

http://www.faw-benteng.com/index.html

http://www.forbes.com/2006/08/11/cx_dl_081...thisSpeed=20000

 

 

Yeah, I'm sure regulators will allow that to happen

[NickCarbon]

I would totally abandon any plans to buy any new 2008 and up model year vehicle made by Ford if they ever decided to buy parts in China! ALUMININUM RIMS? You gots to be kiddin'!

 

That's right assholes go ahead and put cheap Chinese made shit on your bread and butter F-Series lineup. It's already bad enough you use Hankook tires on your new products!

 

actually i think ford is already using chinese parts. I think some of the valve body's in the 6 speed transmission are from china, someone click in if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure thats what one of the service departments at a dealership told me.

[mettech]

This is completely correct. Doing business or moving business to China is treason as far as I am concerned. Our government doesn't care, companies don't care and many consumers don't really care. Our government actually thinks that the transfer of technology to China is a good thing. Big business loves it - it really helps those quartely earnings. And most consumers don't have a clue.

 

Why does it now take two people working in this country just to make a decent living? It comes down to the loss of manufacturing jobs. We can not be a service oriented economy. The country needs to make things.

 

So here we are having sent so much of our technology to China only to see the continued loss of good jobs in our country while today having to compete with them for oil. Yea that's great.

 

I do everything possible to not purchase anything from China. You can't trust them. I don't trust them. And the thought of purchasing a Ford made in China or with major components made in China makes me vomit blood.

 

I don't work for Ford nor do I have any friends or family members working for Ford. I'm 39 and have always purchased American automobiles. As a recent Ford convert one of the reasons I changed was because I didn't like my trucks being made in Mexico. And I definitely couldn't deal with "Made in China" on my wheels.

 

It's not by mistake.....

 

For global stability, that's a small price.