Buying quality parts becoming impossible.

My 2 cents: I’ve been in business for 25 years on January 1st 2020. Welding and heavy equipment repair. Mostly Farm, Construction and odd ball stuff we have made to work again. I’ve seen companies go thru a lot of changes in those years. Mostly over seas crap being sold as “good product.”. It saturated the market in the 90’s and the good manufactures could not compete OR realized tooling up to make a wheel cylinder rebuilding kit for $2.00 for a 40 year old car and reselling to Bobozone for them to sell 2 kits a year when a Chinese complete wheel cylinder is selling for $8.00 is not worth the effort. I’ve actually spoke to a rep from Bendix about this exact topic. (June 2005)

Basically I feel your pain. You want a good part and will pay extra BUT it does not exists. You want quality but cannot find it anywhere. At least now, you can find a good price and good product thru internet.... but what happens when those crappy brick and mortar stores are all gone due to internet and the “quick oil change” on a Saturday can’t happen because Amazon is the sole supplier of oil and filters and you not only have to pay now double because they are the only game in town but they dictate what brand oil and filter is available? I’ve seen this with large equipment parts. Machines 8 years old and dealer no longer carry the pump. Why? Because not enough call and the maker of the part when out of business due to cost vs sale point.

Anyhow- all I’m getting to is the market dictates the need. Your car is 50 years old. Not lots of need for those parts. Maybe on this board but not in the “real world.” Best solution is when you find your wheel cylinder then buy 4 not just the 2 you need. Shelve the other 2 sealed up tight in a bag for 10 years from now when you need them again. I fully agree, so many parts are junk now. So much stuff even from vendors on this board is crap made in China.
I love Layson’s but a lot of the stuff I get from them do not fit as promised. Box is printed made in China. A lot of adjustment needed. And they are one of the good guys.
How about the sellers of the quick moving items off eBay. Basically- we all get it. We all want it, but price dictates what the market will produce. Off soap box.