Parts Quality

saabfast · Postby **saabfast** » 22 Aug 2011 21:08

Has anyone else found that the quality of parts, especially rubber stuff, is going down? At the MOT in June they picked up that a steering gaiter was split. Then I found a piece of front strut bump stop on the drive. OK, my fault that I did not use poly bump stops when I rebuilt the front suspension about 4 years ago, but the piece of bump stop got out because the strut gaiter was also split! Its only done about 2500 miles since the rebuild, parts all came from the big names too.
In comparision, I am just recommissioning the '94 Saab for my son (with stage 1 ECU removed!). This still has the original steering and strut gaiters and they show no sign of deterioration after 140k miles despite sitting SORN for the last 3 years.

Alan
Saab 9000 Stg 1
Saab 9000 2.3 FPT Auto
'81 TR7 DHC

nervousnewowner · Postby **nervousnewowner** » 22 Aug 2011 22:07

my cars done less than 50 miles between two mots and the track rod end and balljoint dust covers all split...........i know they do deteriorate but thats crazy...[B)]

Dave...

the project at birth, watch it evolve...I hope...

Underdog · Postby **Underdog** » 22 Aug 2011 22:42

I know this doesn't help but the same sort of problems exist with MG stuff. My B was done in the early 90s and most everything was made in the UK. Today most repo stuff comes from India or Taiwan with mixed results. Some things are OK and others are crap out of the box. I had a set of made in India rack gaiters that leaked before I got the rack back on the car. Found a cross reference to a set of NAPA ones that are heavier and seem to hold up well. Buying new parts today is like shooting craps.

Jim Underwood
72 MGB BRG
80 TR8 Persian Aqua
If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

TimD · Postby **TimD** » 23 Aug 2011 01:20

Now you guys tell me. I just bought rack gaiters to replace a split one, maybe I should save the time and effort and just duct tape it. It will probably last longer.

FI Spyder · Postby **FI Spyder** » 23 Aug 2011 02:23

It's a crap shoot. My gaiters and bump stops are still good (checked last month) after 4 years and 10,000 miles. When possible I always buy brand name parts, for instance British Parts Northwest gives you an option of no name or TRW brand brake rebuild parts for a few bucks more. Some cases you don't have a choice. An example is the TR6 heater valve, leaks after a few years but dealer says that's all they can get.

- - - - TR7 Spider - - - - - - - - 1978 Spitfire - - - - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - - Yellow TCT

Cobber · Postby **Cobber** » 23 Aug 2011 05:09

I've worked with Indian made industrial equipment and all I can say is it's absolute bloody rubbish! It seems to be put together by bloody monkeys. I know they have a very large population of monkeys but they also have a very large population of humans too. So why don't the give the poor bloody humans a go at making stuff because the monkeys don't seem to have the aptitude for it. [:D]
About 5 years ago I built a chlorine plant. all the steelwork for the cracker tower, all the machinery and pipe work came from India. The design was seriously flawed. In fact we took one look at the first tower they sent out, it was so wrong it was sent to scrap and they had to fabricate and send out a second one.
They had absolutely no idea of simple concepts like a stair case let alone anything more demanding.

A stairway with the first step about 1200mm(4ft) off the ground.
At the top flight of stairs about 1/2 way up there was a beam going across so you had to clamber over it to get up to the top.

Steel that was as soft as butter except where it'd been welded, then it was as brittle as glass. The bolts although marked as hi-tensile had the tensile strength of cheese.
None of the steel work fitted, when I asked the engineer they sent out to check the measurements, he did so with a tape measure (made in India) that was 5mm out over 750mm! no two of their tape measures would read the same! No wonder nothing fitted.
The tower had large water traps in the main supporting columns, all the better to rust it out.
The pipe work was horrific, on the PVC pipes ( carrying lovely toxic chlorine by the way ) instead of using proper socket elbow fittings to go around corners they simply cut a mitre in the pipe then butt jointed the pipes together using adhesive.
I spent many hours arguing with these idiots that it wasn't up to standard but they would just say "This is how we do it in India" I have no idea how they got the EPA to give it a license to operate. Maybe sugar bags of money changed hands. I don't know and don't want to!
I left the project before it was commissioned as I didn't want to be anywhere near it when they fired it up.
The plant owner appreciated my efforts of trying to lift the standards that he paid me a healthy bonus.
To this day I won't even drive past it.
I've shied away from anything made in India ever since.

Generally I find the Chinese listen and learn, every time you get something from China it's a little bit better than last time. My experience of Indian made goods is that they would rather argue than improve quality.


80'Triumph TR7, , 73'Land Rover (Ford 351. V8),
'89 Ford Fairlane
85'Alfa 90, 69'Ford F250.
76' Ford F100

FI Spyder · Postby **FI Spyder** » 23 Aug 2011 15:04

Your story reminded me of a number of tears back when India tried to crack the computer hard drive market. They were quite a bit cheaper but as it turned out had something like an 80% failure rate in first year. A school board in Vancouver had bought a bunch of them because of their price. Not so cheap.

Countries have to ramp up their quality as they learn to match quality with production with competitive pricing. As did the Koreans with their Hyundai Pony etc. which was cheaply made but now their cars are on the most reliable lists. China can do it if and when they want. India still has the lesson to learn.

- - - - TR7 Spider - - - - - - - - 1978 Spitfire - - - - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - - Yellow TCT

wedgewa · Postby **wedgewa** » 23 Aug 2011 15:34

Hmmm, I wonder how my brand new steering rack from Argentina is going to hold up.

busheytrader · Postby **busheytrader** » 23 Aug 2011 17:58

I can't comment on Indian made industrial plant but I reckon I'm changing the rubber dust covers on my TCA ball joints every 18 months now.

They just split all over the place. Brushing them with Waxoyl once fitted probably stops them falling apart after a year.

Adam

TR7 V8 DHC Jaguar Solent Blue. 9.35cr Range Rover V8, Holley 390cfm, JWR Dual Port, 214 Cam, Lumention, Tubular Manifolds, S/S Single Pipe Exh, 3.08 Rear, 200lb Spax & PolyBushes all round, Anti- Dive, Strut-Top Roller Bearings, Capri Vented Discs & Calipers, Braided Hoses, 4 Speed Rear Cylinders, Uprated Master Cylinder & Servo, AT 14" 5 Spokes or Maestro Turbo 15" Alloys, Cruise Lights, S/S Heater Pipes, Replacement Fuel Tank. No Door Stickers. Mine since July 1986, V8 from 1991 courtesy of S&S V8 conversion and big brake kits.

supercass · Postby **supercass** » 24 Aug 2011 00:34

They just split all over the place. Brushing them with Waxoyl once fitted probably stops them falling apart after a year.

Adam

Waxoyl is high in solvents, opinion now seems to be that you should avoid using solvent based products on rubber or plastics. There are plenty of water based rubber and plastic preservers / treatments if you search the internet. supercass

busheytrader · Postby **busheytrader** » 24 Aug 2011 13:59

I'll give that a try. I'd rather have the proper dust covers that don't go brittle in less than a year. They're bought through the proper suppliers, not a local dodgy motor factor.

Adam

Underdog · Postby **Underdog** » 24 Aug 2011 15:37

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Cobber


A stairway with the first step about 1200mm(4ft) off the ground.
At the top flight of stairs about 1/2 way up there was a beam going across so you had to clamber over it to get up to the top.



80'Triumph TR7, , 73'Land Rover (Ford 351. V8),
'89 Ford Fairlane
85'Alfa 90, 69'Ford F250.
76' Ford F100

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

If you were stepping off your elephant, that would be about the right height.[:D]

Jim Underwood
72 MGB BRG
80 TR8 Persian Aqua
If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

Jolyon39 · Postby **Jolyon39** » 24 Aug 2011 20:04

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Underdog

[quote]Originally posted by Cobber


A stairway with the first step about 1200mm(4ft) off the ground.
At the top flight of stairs about 1/2 way up there was a beam going across so you had to clamber over it to get up to the top.



80'Triumph TR7, , 73'Land Rover (Ford 351. V8),
'89 Ford Fairlane
85'Alfa 90, 69'Ford F250.
76' Ford F100

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

If you were stepping off your elephant, that would be about the right height.[:D]

Jim Underwood
72 MGB BRG
80 TR8 Persian Aqua
If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

or for the barman at the Humpty Do Hotel where one of the bars is rather high up (So you get a drink when on your horse).

Yes there is a bar like that around Darwin but I think they are PC there now and no longer have the caged off area for Abbo's to drink in so maybe the horse riders bar is gone too.

Jolyon

jeffremj · Postby **jeffremj** » 25 Aug 2011 16:11

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Generally I find the Chinese listen and learn, every time you get something from China it's a little bit better than last time. My experience of Indian made goods is that they would rather argue than improve quality.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">The main problem in India is corruption:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12769214

It seems to be the norm, whereas in China they seem to execute corrupt officials.

Note that IMO, the UK is now tending towards a corrupt mentality - only the crooks seem to do well in the UK [:(] - bankers grasping vast bonuses for zero added value to wealth, politicians fiddling expenses and deliberately allowing inward migration to gain new votes (left wing) or cheap labour (right wing), overpaid local government officials with gold plated pensions and incompetent police passing secure info to newspapers. Scary stuff. No wonder there were riots. We could talk more on riots, but the UK Police state might class it as incitement and lock us up - 2 already in jail for 4 years each and now this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-14652867

Thought crime anyone ...

windy one · Postby **windy one** » 25 Aug 2011 16:43

Me personally...I buy from Vic Brit, which is also LMC-truck, where I do buy stuff for my trucks as well. But from what I have been getting (at least the last year or so...)I am not too happy [:(!] . Most of the rubber products I have been getting have been made in taiwan and india....havent fit well and the quality just aint what it used to be..

Johnny

Anonymous

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