Cheap chit parts….

[Travlr]

There was a time when cars had porcelain badges on their hoods. Fired in Kilns, polished, some hand painted. The manufacturer was proud of their product. Now the plastic junk that replaced it isn't even good for a year indoors... Mechanical parts coming from our auto parts stores are not much better. With the crap coming out of our auto suppliers now, at ridiculous prices, our squares become more important than ever. This weekend I sold a new car and my 81 Square shown next to this note is my daily driver. 2WD long bed in Denver. Should be a fun winter ahead.

For the life of me I can't figure out why American manufacturers aren't beginning to give China some competition. I went into NAPA today for a cap and rotor and the cheapest ones were $45. I know for a fact that they are made in China (or where ever) for less than five dollars and shipped for less than a buck. If there is any justifiable reason for the tremendous markup it would have to be tariffs or something like them. But I really suspect importers are taking the biggest chunk.

 

[Turbo4whl]

There was a time when cars had porcelain badges on their hoods. Fired in Kilns, polished, some hand painted. The manufacturer was proud of their product. Now the plastic junk that replaced it isn't even good for a year indoors... Mechanical parts coming from our auto parts stores are not much better. With the crap coming out of our auto suppliers now, at ridiculous prices, our squares become more important than ever. This weekend I sold a new car and my 81 Square shown next to this note is my daily driver. 2WD long bed in Denver. Should be a fun winter ahead.

Buy a set of cable chains and you will be fine. Remember, top speed with chains, 35 MPH. If the snow is deep, shovel the driveway snow into the bed.

 

[SirRobyn0]

I thought WIA was Korean...damn.

No you are right they are Korean, and I knew that, but I was still thinking about Hayden when I was writing about WIA. I edited my post with a strike though and correction. Thanks for catching that!

 

[GTX63]

For the life of me I can't figure out why American manufacturers aren't beginning to give China some competition. I went into NAPA today for a cap and rotor and the cheapest ones were $45. I know for a fact that they are made in China (or where ever) for less than five dollars and shipped for less than a buck. If there is any justifiable reason for the tremendous markup it would have to be tariffs or something like them. But I really suspect importers are taking the biggest chunk.

The US government is pushing American manufacturers to crank out more and more EVs, no ifs ands or buts.. The dealers can't sell them, don't want them compared to ICE trucks, and now there is the strike. China already has the jump on EVs, and what will eventually happen, is they will overtake our marketplace. It is like cutting your own throat while trying to convince everyone your combing your hair.

 

[Ricko1966]

For the life of me I can't figure out why American manufacturers aren't beginning to give China some competition. I went into NAPA today for a cap and rotor and the cheapest ones were $45. I know for a fact that they are made in China (or where ever) for less than five dollars and shipped for less than a buck. If there is any justifiable reason for the tremendous markup it would have to be tariffs or something like them. But I really suspect importers are taking the biggest chunk.

It was made in China for 5.00 shipped for 1.00 using your numbers truckers,longshoremen, have to get paid then who ever imported it has to store it pay for their warehouse their warehouse workers,pay their salesmen, phone help etc. Now it gets to take another truck ride to whatever big chain bought it ,they have to pay their warehouse people,office workers etc.. Now the store orders it there's 1 more truck ride someone has to pay for,rent on the store,electricity,counter help etc. There's a whole Lotta people getting paid on these parts,and everyone has to make a profit along the way. Now if they have to pay American workers a living wage that cap is going to be even more,because 99 percent won't buy the American one if they can save 5.00 You also have to consider who wants to tool up and pay people to make parts for 40 year old cars that the demand is going down.

 

[Travlr]

It was made in China for 5.00 shipped for 1.00 using your numbers truckers,longshoremen, have to get paid then who ever imported it has to store it pay for their warehouse their warehouse workers,pay their salesmen, phone help etc. Now it gets to take another truck ride to whatever big chain bought it ,they have to pay their warehouse people,office workers etc.. Now the store orders it there's 1 more truck ride someone has to pay for,rent on the store,electricity,counter help etc. There's a whole Lotta people getting paid on these parts,and everyone has to make a profit along the way. Now if they have to pay American workers a living wage that cap is going to be even more,because 99 percent won't buy the American one if they can save 5.00

Yup... and yet there are places you can buy the same unit for less than 25 bucks... landed, distributed, and retailed. It's not just a middleman or two making the same cap and rotor twice as much to the customer.

And when I say "less than" $5/$1 I am fully expecting pennies on both. Would not be at all surprised if the cap and rotor was fifty cents landed.

 

[Ricko1966]

Yup... and yet there are places you can buy the same unit for less than 25 bucks... landed, distributed, and retailed. It's not just a middleman or two making the same cap and rotor twice as much to the customer.

So where is that and why weren't they your first stop?

 

[SirRobyn0]

The US government is pushing American manufacturers to crank out more and more EVs, no ifs ands or buts.. The dealers can't sell them, don't want them compared to ICE trucks, and now there is the strike. China already has the jump on EVs, and what will eventually happen, is they will overtake our marketplace. It is like cutting your own throat while trying to convince everyone your combing your hair.

People seem to forget how similar this is to the late 70's and early 80's where the government was pushing new tougher emission standards, higher fuel economy and the imports come in already able to beat those standards. And what did we get from the American automobile manufactures to compete? The Omni... The Topaz... All laughable. Maybe we'll get Topaz and Omni quality EV and we can get electrocuted just getting into our chit boxes. I'm not trying to chit all over American automobile manufactures, every single one of my vehicles is either GM or Chrysler, Nor I'm I defending EV's I don't like them either, but my point the manufactures need to think ahead rather than react after the fact and struggle to catch up.