Buying quality parts becoming impossible.

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my5thmopar

my5thmopar

Life Long MOPAR Owner
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I thought I would rebuild the wheel cylinders for the 8 3/4 I'm working on. All three sets are old oem castings. Went to 4 stores looking for a wheel cylinder kit. First store ordered two, arrived in different packages, get home one with used parts. I mean the seals are from an old cylinder. Went to hub store and get home to find out the dust seal wont stay on. 2nd store I buy another set cheap china made, but dust cover fits. 3rd store doesn't stock and can't get. 4th store can get 3-4 days but says they will be made in china too. Take junk back to 1st store, give up and buy new china cylinders. One is used and put back in box. I leave and go to hub store and buy two. Pick up a new Lisie 3 prong hone and breaks before I finish 2nd cylinder. What a waste of my time. Going to order from Dr Diff and should have when I bought the other stuff. Doh. Rant over.
 
I have the same issues and no longer waste my time going to auto parts stores. Last time I tried I couldn't even get 8 spark plugs. One time I waited 15 min to try to buy a can of paint while the 2 guys working were busy helping get parts and put wiper blades on someones car in July, I put the can back and left. Summit, Amazon, etc always have what I need and I plan accordingly on shipping. Probably doesn't help if your trying to get a car back on the road though....And yes, quality can vary.
 
I buy from Rockauto. They offer the cheap junk that many parts stores keep on their shelves and they also offer the gems that parts stores would need to special order.
 
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.
 
Doing Mopar distributors I buy as much NOS/NORS stuff I can get my hands on the new stuff is seriously junk. You might be surprised what is out there on Craigslist.
 
I agree with the OP. Its very hard to get anything from a parts store that fits our old junk anymore. And the kids and 99 percent of the counter people don't know the first thing about car parts .We all should have listened to the old battle cry back in the 70s. Buy American. This one will be my last project car due to total aggravation of dealing with junk parts and parts stores. Agreed rant over. for now anyway. :BangHead::rolleyes:
 
I am considering selling my third project ('65 Signet convertible) now as my second vehicle ('65 Formula S) is finally being painted. It seems the frustration of junk parts and their prices is becoming too much for me mentally. I want things to be right (perfect?) but I can't expect myself to do the impossible. My only chance now is to learn to weld, fabricate, and rebuild everything myself, but that is not going to happen on Social Security.

My first realization was back around 2000, when I rolled a 1990 Cummins-powered Dodge pick-up on the ranch (doing about 2 mph through a weed-hidden wash-out on a dirt road). I replaced the cab (junkyard piece) but saved the driver's side mirror. The replacement passenger side mirror looked exactly like the original, but a year later the "chrome" was half-rusted away. The original mirror still on the other side of the vehicle was in perfect shape. What did I buy? I have no idea. (photo not actual mirror)

I guess what I am trying to say (in a nutshell) is restoring an American classic vehicle with Chinese parts is a kind of sacrilege (violation or misuse of what is regarded as sacred).

miror.jpeg
 
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All is so correct.
This also reminds me of conversation last week at the local small town feed store. It is on edge of Tx town of 1200 pop. sits right along US 59 to soon become part of I 69, 1 hr North of North edge of Houston. The owner tells us ( wife is a realtor ( small time really) about how his property taxes just went thru the roof. The feed business there will not pay the damn prop. taxes!! To make matters even worse, it will be probably 5-10 years before he old actually sell the property for what the county has it appraised at!
His only options are lease out thee building for a ?? business, or sell it now for what it will bring! All this actually stems from the fact this county contains A huge National Forrest, and not enough pop. to bring in enough property tax to satisfy the Sate of Tx., as Tx pays for part of every counties school tax. Amazing. And just where doe a lot of the public scholl problems arise from? illegals.
Didn't mean to get off the parts store rant, but sorta relative.
 
RAT ROD AL said:
I agree with the OP. Its very hard to get anything from a parts store that fits our old junk anymore
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Doesn't matter how old. They make junk replacements for newer cars too. lol
I guess my 03 Neon is old too by what most have on the road, but... I changed the oil pressure sensor in the Spring. It was going bad and starting to leak again. Warranty from AZ. Local store shows one in stock. Pulled it Sat AM. Take to store for exchange,"sure no problem" , except the one showing is not there. :BangHead: 2 other stores nearby show 1 each. Go get one 15 min up the road. Get home, ready to install. Look in it and there is no terminal!! :wtf: Had to go to 3rd store and get another. :mad:
 
zkx14 said:
Doesn't matter how old. They make junk replacements for newer cars too. lol
I guess my 03 Neon is old too by what most have on the road, but... I changed the oil pressure sensor in the Spring. It was going bad and starting to leak again. Warranty from AZ. Local store shows one in stock. Pulled it Sat AM. Take to store for exchange,"sure no problem" , except the one showing is not there. :BangHead: 2 other stores nearby show 1 each. Go get one 15 min up the road. Get home, ready to install. Look in it and there is no terminal!! :wtf: Had to go to 3rd store and get another. :mad:
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Yah, AZ's only stock 1 of most items I was told by the counter genius. If you need 2 or more you have to run all around town to find em. Brake lines, seam sealer, you name it. They might have one.
 
69FBCuda said:
I always open the boxes before I leave the store.
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I learned that lesson a few years ago. Alternator went out on girlfriends car. Sunday, and she needs her car for her job on Monday. Closest part store open on Sunday is an O'Reilly 25 miles away. I get one, get back, put it on, no good. Took it back to get replaced. They brought one out, and I told them to check it first. I didn't want to make another 50 mile round trip, The 3'rd one they checked worked.
 
RAT ROD AL said:
Yah, AZ's only stock 1 of most items I was told by the counter genius. If you need 2 or more you have to run all around town to find em. Brake lines, seam sealer, you name it. They might have one.
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Ain't that the truth?
I needed longer wheel studs to swap discs onto an originally non disc rear end.
They had ONE. WTF?
I stood there probably 20 min while the clerk called all the other stores in the county and finally told me he could have 9 of them the next day.
I said, "ok,9 but I need 10" and he said it was all he could do.
At that point I was loosing my patience a little and asked why he couldn't order 10 of them from Dorman directly since they carry shitloads of Dorman products.
He says "oh, maybe I can" and called his manager to ask him.
They were at my local store in two days, and 5 bucks cheaper than I was quoted for the 9 individual studs.

I bet his **** wouldn't happen if RRR worked in that store.:D
 
What's scary about it all is that the Chinese CAN tool up old stuff and sell it cheaply here even if it IS garbage. Whether they make a profit is kind of irrelevant. And I've been a tech for 41 years - we used to laugh at new Chinese brake rotors when they came into the shop-first thing we did was chuck them up on the Aamco lathe and remachine them. The castings were horrendous on a good day.Not any more. They have gotten a lot better and I guess that's my other point. They CAN make good stuff =we had just better hope they don't apply all that technology (that our corporations gave them/they stole) and apply it to weopons or we are F+*#ed as a nation.
 
OL DODGE said:
What's scary about it all is that the Chinese CAN tool up old stuff and sell it cheaply here even if it IS garbage. Whether they make a profit is kind of irrelevant. And I've been a tech for 41 years - we used to laugh at new Chinese brake rotors when they came into the shop-first thing we did was chuck them up on the Aamco lathe and remachine them. The castings were horrendous on a good day.Not any more. They have gotten a lot better and I guess that's my other point. They CAN make good stuff =we had just better hope they don't apply all that technology (that our corporations gave them/they stole) and apply it to weopons or we are F+*#ed as a nation.
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Well, here are only a few scary examples of how China is aiming to do just that. In many areas to include, Tech/Military/Etc.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612617/china-is-racing-ahead-in-5g-heres-what-it-means/

China's military power may surpass the US's faster than you think, thanks to 6 shrewd strategies

China’s Massive Belt and Road Initiative
 
It's all because nobody gives a **** about the customer anymore. Once they have your money, that's all they care about. I've seen the store manager at the store I worked for refuse perfectly good warranty claims "just because" he wanted to. Even after the customer calls the corporate number, they still don't win. Companies set goals, then do whatever it takes to get there, whether it's refusing warranty, getting rid of higher paid employees, reducing benefits, whatever it takes. All that matters to them is the monthly numbers. They don't give not one single **** about anything else.
 
If I buy locally, I open all the boxes and look at the parts before I leave the store. I have gotten used or core parts before. Not any more.
 
I hate seeing brick and mortar stores go tits up, but they are worthless these days. I try not to buy online and give the stores as much business as I can, but it's a pain in the ***. I looked up a Felpro thermostat gasket part number and took it to my local auto store. Rather than handing me the exact part I requested, he gets in the computer, corsses the number I gave him and hands me some paper thin piece of crap. Not Felpro, and not what I asked for. This is exactly why people buy online. You can look up your own parts, get them in a day or two, and they end up being less expensive. It's a sad reality.
 
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Chinese, Japanese, Twain, Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, India or even Spain.
We ***** like hell about paying too much and companies make more profits going over seas with Union free workers with no health care, un-safe working environments, low pay and unlimited hours or work or get fired.
But why? Unions.... Unions are great IF you are in the Union but why? a guy installing a piston and less than
a high school education did not need to make $25.00 an hour plus bennies. Thank you Unions.
Plus for every union is a whole group of people who actually don't work the floor but need top dollar and bennies.
Thank you Union workers for making sure the union negotiator who works a few hours every year makes more than they do just so they get a paid day off every 30 days or making sure if a worker is done with a job, he had better not pick up a broom and sweep because a brother union worker has a job... sweeping for full pay.
How about CEO's of the same company, non- union making $100 million dollars plus a year. Why? because he figured out how to shave 1/10th of a cent off the cost of making a product by sending that product to China ( or any where listed above) and closing a plant here in the US?
Etc, Etc, Etc. Now lets look at the real cost of items- inflation. ( not really described here as i am on a rant... sorry)
Your new car cost say $35,000.00
After retirement and healthcare GM ( for example)spends $14,000 per vehicle sticker cost from those two alone.
Let alone factory repairs and upgrades, OSHA compliance and insurance cost. Your new $35k vehicle real cost is about $12k- Added in is R&D, cars sent for insurance testing. Etc.
By why so high- because the American dollar is worth $.30
Who wants to rebuild a wheel cylinder for $8.00 when we can buy a new one complete for $8.00 by China who also subsidies
their companies to give worker... work.
Not only can we not compete with that philosophy, but we cannot with our inflation, factory demands and costs and its a wonder we make anything in the good ole USA to begin with.

Crap- I did it again... Off soap box- again.
 
RustyRatRod said:
It's all because nobody gives a **** about the customer anymore. Once they have your money, that's all they care about. I've seen the store manager at the store I worked for refuse perfectly good warranty claims "just because" he wanted to. Even after the customer calls the corporate number, they still don't win. Companies set goals, then do whatever it takes to get there, whether it's refusing warranty, getting rid of higher paid employees, reducing benefits, whatever it takes. All that matters to them is the monthly numbers. They don't give not one single **** about anything else.
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Makes me wonder just how much profit O Reilly's and all the other make? I go in there today for 4 small hose clamps 2 clamps per package @ $ 2.75 per package , the total of 4 clamps costs me like$ 5.25! plus tax. I go down to the local large lumber/hardware store, better clamps were like $.70 ea, that is $2.80 plus tax. HA I am sure the NON auto parts store made a very fair profit on their clamps. O really will gets get theirs back. Amazing.
The we get home a figure we need another heat lamp and 2 heat bulbs, we run to the small town parts/hardware store up the road, NOT the one were at a couple hours ago in the real town.. The bill is $58 including a $2 service charge because I used the debit card. That sale any where should have added up to about $35 plus tax. Friggin amazing. Rant over! Suppers ready!
I am done poke with a fork!
 
RustyRatRod said:
It's all because nobody gives a **** about the customer anymore. Once they have your money, that's all they care about. I've seen the store manager at the store I worked for refuse perfectly good warranty claims "just because" he wanted to. Even after the customer calls the corporate number, they still don't win. Companies set goals, then do whatever it takes to get there, whether it's refusing warranty, getting rid of higher paid employees, reducing benefits, whatever it takes. All that matters to them is the monthly numbers. They don't give not one single **** about anything else.
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I was at Napa awhile back and this woman comes in with a steering column harness and wants her money back because it didn't fit.
It was cut in half in the center and some of the wires stripped back and they asked her about returning a cut in half harness.
She said she didn't know anything about it and that her husband just asked her to return it.
They refunded it, and I couldn't believe it.
 
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