substandard quality of modern parts rant!

[dryden]

Last summer(??) Just before Le-Mans classic, I decided to tidy up a few bits to make it shiny,so I spent a week polishing my T- slots, purchased a new petrol filler cap, and fitted it, which required cutting and shutting the tube, and the cap alone was £60.00, but the old one had oxidised under the chrome, and was scabby. A s was the Tex door mirror, so I got a new one of those as well. Polished the whole car and went to France. That was July last year. I gave it a spring polish today, and both items are as bad as the originals !!! Absolute rubbish that is by no means up to the task it is manufactured for, is therefore toxic waste! The filler cap and mirror are cast from some cheap muckite alloy,( but subject to the same manufacturing process as a good one with a better ouality mazac alloy,) and then chrome plated! what is the point if it is only good for six months! All that manufacturing energy! The size of the plant capable of it,s manufacture! the warehousing and distribution! JUST TO MAKE AND SELL JUNK!!

Phew... Ranted...

[Slow M]

Mazac was crap too!

Best,
B.

[pridaux]

Where is the car stored Chernobyl my tex mirrors are fine and one has been on her for 6 years and is as good as the new one i fitted the other week.
Andrew

[dryden]

My O/S door mirror is probably original, and still good! I hope your new one lasts longer than mine did! However, I do use the car every day on the wet salted roads of Chernobyl-On-Severn, but I wash the salt off, and my T-slots are still shiny........

[dryden]

Slow M said:

Mazac was crap too!

Best,
B.

True Bernard, but it was better than this stuff they use now!

[pridaux]

dryden said:

My O/S door mirror is probably original, and still good! I hope your new one lasts longer than mine did! However, I do use the car every day on the wet salted roads of Chernobyl-On-Severn, but I wash the salt off, and my T-slots are still shiny........

Good point mine is kept in the Bedroom with her blankets keeping her warm and cosy dont go out in winter unless its a cold dry day but use her as much as i can 3000 miles last year and will do double that this year with the LBL Rally, Zolder, Spa Classic and Goodwood and Pre 80s plus general runs at the weekend.
Andrew

[Moto]

I'm with you Clive. Products are getting crappier by the day. Quality brands are following suit too and I blame Accountants. They look at their spreadsheets and determine that if they can shave a penny off the manufacturing cost then they'll justify their jobs for another year. Trouble is, all too often they don't know or care about the product, service or the customer. Worse still the boss's who employ them, 'cause they should know better! Funny how that little rant makes me feel much better

[Slow M]

dryden said:

True Bernard, but it was better than this stuff they use now!

I think the chrome is thinner than ever. I'd hate to find out that cheapskate manufacturing has found a less expensive casting metal. Sorry to know you've been sold poor quality parts. Anything should last longer than a couple of years, at the very least.

Have you tried returning the parts?

Best,
B.

[Slow M]

pridaux said:

Good point mine is kept in the Bedroom with her blankets keeping her warm and cosy dont go out in winter unless its a cold dry day but use her as much as i can 3000 miles last year and will do double that this year with the LBL Rally, Zolder, Spa Classic and Goodwood and Pre 80s plus general runs at the weekend.
Andrew

I thought you simply start rebuilding stuff, as soon as it doesn't look brand new.

Best,
B.

[Fiscracer]

Moto said:

I'm with you Clive. Products are getting crappier by the day. Quality brands are following suit too and I blame Accountants. They look at their spreadsheets and determine that if they can shave a penny off the manufacturing cost then they'll justify their jobs for another year. Trouble is, all too often they don't know or care about the product, service or the customer. Worse still the boss's who employ them, 'cause they should know better! Funny how that little rant makes me feel much better

Its Chinese manufacture. Lovely samples and then get the order and quality goes through the floor. True of all sorts of parts - rotor arms, brake discs, oil pumps. Just wait until they're onto the safety critical parts.........

Go for a known brand with known manufacture otherwise you're f*****

[pridaux]

Slow M said:

thought you simply start rebuilding stuff, as soon as it doesn't look brand new.

Best,
B.

No just replace as they fall off LOL

[pridaux]

Fiscracer said:

Its Chinese manufacture. Lovely samples and then get the order and quality goes through the floor. True of all sorts of parts - rotor arms, brake discs, oil pumps. Just wait until they're onto the safety critical parts.........

Go for a known brand with known manufacture otherwise you're f*****

Exactly when i go to China and they show me samples etc they are great then they send a selection over of the production run for inspection before shipping and payment and great but when they arrive there is always some good and some bad i now understand why some larger operators have a staff member that spends nearly 6 months of the year out there supervising the production.
Even using an agent out there does not always work yet they are still growing there market share however there prices are rising very fast and soon it will be as cheap to make here again.
Role on that day.
Andrew

[heightswitch]

Sadly its not just chrome etc...

A very good tip for those embarking on restorations is to keep everything..It just becomes routine that after a good clean and de-grease it is amazing how many things like original girling brake shoe adjusters etc you find are in better useable condition than some chinese manufactured crap with poor tolerances.

Same goes for Wheelbearings and other critical parts...If they are too cheap then that is probably for a good reason...

Its the same with meat isn't it!!

N.

[heightswitch]

Slow M said:

think the chrome is thinner than ever. I'd hate to find out that cheapskate manufacturing has found a less expensive casting metal. Sorry to know you've been sold poor quality parts. Anything should last longer than a couple of years, at the very least.

Have you tried returning the parts?

Best,
B.

Chrome is very thin and most don't realise that it is porous...

English stuff is usually polished with 2 coats of nickel plate before the finish chrome plate which is why they generally don't rust.

N.

[heightswitch]

dryden said:

Last summer(??) Just before Le-Mans classic, I decided to tidy up a few bits to make it shiny,so I spent a week polishing my T- slots, purchased a new petrol filler cap, and fitted it, which required cutting and shutting the tube, and the cap alone was £60.00, but the old one had oxidised under the chrome, and was scabby. A s was the Tex door mirror, so I got a new one of those as well. Polished the whole car and went to France. That was July last year. I gave it a spring polish today, and both items are as bad as the originals !!! Absolute rubbish that is by no means up to the task it is manufactured for, is therefore toxic waste! The filler cap and mirror are cast from some cheap muckite alloy,( but subject to the same manufacturing process as a good one with a better ouality mazac alloy,) and then chrome plated! what is the point if it is only good for six months! All that manufacturing energy! The size of the plant capable of it,s manufacture! the warehousing and distribution! JUST TO MAKE AND SELL JUNK!!

Phew... Ranted...

Isn't your car stored in a damp garage though

[pridaux]

heightswitch said:

Sadly its not just chrome etc...

A very good tip for those embarking on restorations is to keep everything..It just becomes routine that after a good clean and de-grease it is amazing how many things like original girling brake shoe adjusters etc you find are in better useable condition than some chinese manufactured crap with poor tolerances.

Same goes for Wheelbearings and other critical parts...If they are too cheap then that is probably for a good reason...

Its the same with meat isn't it!!

N.

Good point will be applying that principal to the Taimar and add some Meat (horse power)

[THREEFISHORANGE]

Fiscracer said:

Its Chinese manufacture. Lovely samples and then get the order and quality goes through the floor. True of all sorts of parts - rotor arms, brake discs, oil pumps. Just wait until they're onto the safety critical parts.........

Go for a known brand with known manufacture otherwise you're f*****

When restoring my modern griffith I was made aware of the upper and lower ball joints failing. These were off a well known bidding site. I recall one fella doing a fast stint on country lanes only minutes later when slowing down it failed and buried the wishbone into the alloy wheel. But it could of quite easily fallen the other way!

[jpa]

heightswitch said:

Sadly its not just chrome etc...

A very good tip for those embarking on restorations is to keep everything..

I quite agree on this one. When I restored the vixen I had tried to revive the old brake master but it had a slight leak. I bought a new one from a well know local classic motors factors (the one that does not gather on rolling stones) and it was chinese pap! It would not bleed at all!

I took it back and contacted the other source I had been using for most of the triumph parts and was assured their part was 'genuine' and not duff. When it arrived it just seemed to be the same chinese crap but in a different box! It has bled OK but the brake does not 'feel' anywhere near as good as with the original girling.

I have now bought a honing kit and intend to try and revive the original again.

I must say though I bought a pair of Tex mirrors that are now a few years old and in perfect nick. I assume it could be either the use in salt or maybe yours were from a different manufacturer but in the Tex style?

Paul.

[bluezeeland]

Actually.....its appaling the quality you get from 'well known' suppliers. I'm not worried about mirrors and things, but all the more about 'criticals', such as engine-parts, suspension and so on... sourcing from the specialists does pay (but more 'expensive'.............but more cheap in the long run....................)

btw , dryden' garage is dry (!) bar the two feet of water..............

[dryden]

heightswitch said:

Isn't your car stored in a damp garage though

Yes, We have had a damp winter that followed a damp summer, and to continue to master the understatement, my garage is STILL damp ! However, the Mini is in it at the mo ! The Taimar is out in the breeze probably damp, but it still should not bio-degrade in six months! and as I said, the T-slots are still shiney, nothing else seems to have deteriorated, but the serious point here is shiny bits dont matter to much, it is brakes and suspension componants that worry me, imagine your master cylinder splitting the moment you used it in anger! Without manufacturers contracts, who is overlooking quality control, anyone? So short production runs of obsolete components to fill small orders will be low priority work. Scary thought.