Buying quality parts becoming impossible.

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no. some customers are right but the majority of them are frickin stupid. i have turned wrenches for 46 years,(don't mean i know a lot, but i sure seen a lot,haha) and worked a 2nd full time at az,aap and napa. i retired at napa in july and they get their fair share of dumb f&^ks, but not near what go into az,aap oboys and whomever. next time you go to napa ask for farm discount acct number 31999. pay the tax and compare the 31999 price to what regular walkin is. i just bought frt rotors for my 85 d150 and employee cost(i still get that) was 35.59 each. normal is 69.00 i think and they make money on that. it sure is a shame.
 
This is what we get for buying on price always. It's so bad now that even most of the middle of the market stuff that was halfway decent is gone.

It's funny, I'm a younger guy (33), I constantly have to point out to my dad and uncles that their buying on price habits they've always had is the reason why there isn't much of anything that's good quality anymore. They even go to ask my opinion about things I already own (Outdoor power equipment, computers, tools, replacement auto parts, etc) and still usually buys the cheapest stuff.

Usually the brick and motor store house brand stuff is really bad. And they mark up the better quality stuff like Moog, Proforged, Timken, SKF, Fel-pro, etc to stratospheric levels making them totally uncompetitive. My friend and I also tried recently to buy a correctly functioning lug nut for a 2011 Grand Caravan with hubcaps, not a single store had one that was even close. Some even gave us an M14 nut when they are clearly M12.

My brother-in-law's Pontiac G6 needed some sway bar end links and Advance was literally double the cost of the part on Amazon, Rock Auto, or Summit, I couldn't believe it. They were all the same Moog parts.

For newer cars, I buy as many OEM parts as possible. At least you know someone tested the design and materials.
 
'73red-duster said:
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.
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Most of the time it's like pulling teeth to get them to check a new one. They are like , it's new and I'm like I don't care. Putting a starter in an a body with headers really made me question how working on an older car would be easier than these newer ones
 
If you guys order parts and get some quality pieces regardless or country origin, do us all a favor and buy some extras. I did that a while back with some steering linkage parts. I have a set for myself and a set or two to help out a fellow Mopar friend.
 
Some of it is just plain greed. I needed a 5 gallon gas can. Went to oreillys. $23. For a plastic can. Rural King had the exact same can. $12.
I needed a rear axle seal for an 8 3/4. Was about $3.50 from Rock Auto. Napa had it for $20. Got on the oreillys website. They showed a certain part number, and they had 2. Because I didn't bring the old seal, I get home to find they were for a Dana. They didn't list the part number I needed on the website. But, they did list 5 seals that the website said would not fit my car. The only way I was able to resolve this was someone on this site posted something about seals, and included the part number. Then I was able to go back to them ,and order the right part.
 
furyus2 said:
Some of it is just plain greed. I needed a 5 gallon gas can. Went to oreillys. $23. For a plastic can. Rural King had the exact same can. $12.
I needed a rear axle seal for an 8 3/4. Was about $3.50 from Rock Auto. Napa had it for $20. Got on the oreillys website. They showed a certain part number, and they had 2. Because I didn't bring the old seal, I get home to find they were for a Dana. They didn't list the part number I needed on the website. But, they did list 5 seals that the website said would not fit my car. The only way I was able to resolve this was someone on this site posted something about seals, and included the part number. Then I was able to go back to them ,and order the right part.
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:wtf::BangHead::BangHead::BangHead::BangHead::BangHead::BangHead::BangHead::BangHead: I hate that! I am an old parts man. I like to look up my own parts and rarely get a wrong fit.
 
I won't waste my time at a chain parts store. The independents will try to carry better quality parts regardless of where they are are made. I'd rather spend more supporting a local independent store. Yes most of the parts are made overseas these days, but quality brands still have a higher standard.
 
What gets my goat, is when you're standing in line waiting to check out and the counter person picks up the f-ing phone and starts talking. I can't count the times I just drop my **** on the floor and walk out.:icon_fU::mad:
 
Back in rural Missouri, I had 2 independent parts store handy, only 15-20 miles away! They guaranteed their parts.. did not matter how old it was, just bring it back for another one.
 
RAT ROD AL said:
What gets my goat, is when you're standing in line waiting to check out and the counter person picks up the f-ing phone and starts talking. I can't count the times I just drop my **** on the floor and walk out.:icon_fU::mad:
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Exactly. They need a prerecorded (we are busy with customers at the counter) message and a 2 or 3 ring limit. When I managed the parts store the phone didn't get answered by a counterman if they were waiting on a customer. The cashier would answer, take a message or put them on hold.
 
Here's a sorta funny. I have a 79 Volare that has 94000 original miles, just a slant, but the no doubt oem ECU box has lost ALL its underside goop, still runs lke a champ. I carry a NEW one (China made I bet) for if and when the oem one fails!!!
 
TrailBeast said:
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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Well now that's goin a bit far.

We had a woman come in with a distributor she had purchased for her Honda. A 400 dollar distributor. She had run it more than a year, wrecked the car and wanted to return it "because she didn't need it anymore". She got shut down pretty quick. Warranty returns are not about whether you need the part anymore.
 
Brick and mortar pay local taxes, have local employees, and pay facilities expenses which is usually local contractors. The $20 at NAPA goes mostly to expenses, and a lot to making your local town economy work. Most people don't get that, which is why Rock Auto has the same seal for $3.50 (plus shipping). If you buy for cost predominantly, you are going ultimately to pay a foreign company, and a shipping company, and nobody else. So guess what - the dude that does plowing, and his brother is an HVAC dude, and the local elementary school. they all just got screwed out of what makes them able to survive. So good luck with that long term.
I may look online, I factor in shipping, and then decide where to buy. Most times I call the same ;local parts stores I've used for 20 years. Because I want that business there on Friday afternoon when my plow breaks. Or Saturday when I notice an issue doing an oil change on the daughter's car.
 
Recently I bought a bunch of parts at rockauto, one of the shocks was used. I am supposed to mail it back on my dime for them to mail me another one-WEEKS FROM when I need the vehicle on the road.
No phone number for customer service.
Complete, and utter bullsh1T!!!!
Infuriating.
Yet no better than autozone, Napa, advance auto, oreillys basically.
As mentioned before, clueless employees.

Ten + years ago my wife went to get a job at advance auto.- I went over basic auto car parts and basic automotive understanding with her for a week.

Every shop in town loved her competence, punctually, hard work ethic. They (commercial accounts) demanded her for the parts they needed.

Her complaint was that as soon she answered the phone, the customer demanded a man take his call.

She moved to oreillys, commercial accounts in town moved with her.

I could maintenance done (while deployed) for half off. Free tires mounted and balanced-all because she dedicated herself to her job.

She quit 7 years ago while 8months pregnant. Never went back. Made me sad, I was a king in town, married to the parts queen!
 
moper said:
Brick and mortar pay local taxes, have local employees, and pay facilities expenses which is usually local contractors. The $20 at NAPA goes mostly to expenses, and a lot to making your local town economy work. Most people don't get that, which is why Rock Auto has the same seal for $3.50 (plus shipping). If you buy for cost predominantly, you are going ultimately to pay a foreign company, and a shipping company, and nobody else. So guess what - the dude that does plowing, and his brother is an HVAC dude, and the local elementary school. they all just got screwed out of what makes them able to survive. So good luck with that long term.
I may look online, I factor in shipping, and then decide where to buy. Most times I call the same ;local parts stores I've used for 20 years. Because I want that business there on Friday afternoon when my plow breaks. Or Saturday when I notice an issue doing an oil change on the daughter's car.
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Even more bad, Uber, Amazon, & a fewothers are beginning to conquer trucking/shipping across country.
Uber is taking a loss to get into the market.

For the moment, Uber is paying the truckers more, but it will be 3 companies owning the monopoly in 20 years mark my words.
Uber makes more in shipping (trucking) than they do as a taxi-all iaw CNBC report.
 
goldduster318 said:
This is what we get for buying on price always. It's so bad now that even most of the middle of the market stuff that was halfway decent is gone.

It's funny, I'm a younger guy (33), I constantly have to point out to my dad and uncles that their buying on price habits they've always had is the reason why there isn't much of anything that's good quality anymore. They even go to ask my opinion about things I already own (Outdoor power equipment, computers, tools, replacement auto parts, etc) and still usually buys the cheapest stuff.

Usually the brick and motor store house brand stuff is really bad. And they mark up the better quality stuff like Moog, Proforged, Timken, SKF, Fel-pro, etc to stratospheric levels making them totally uncompetitive. My friend and I also tried recently to buy a correctly functioning lug nut for a 2011 Grand Caravan with hubcaps, not a single store had one that was even close. Some even gave us an M14 nut when they are clearly M12.

My brother-in-law's Pontiac G6 needed some sway bar end links and Advance was literally double the cost of the part on Amazon, Rock Auto, or Summit, I couldn't believe it. They were all the same Moog parts.

For newer cars, I buy as many OEM parts as possible. At least you know someone tested the design and materials.
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Agree, it’s bad for any parts, vw, old Honda Civic, new vw, dad’s old ford, etc.

Maybe the writing on the wall is that self repair (ANYBODY LOOK AT THE LAWN MOWER REPAIR BUSINESS-same kind of problems- they get stuff now that is supposed to be replaced, not repaired. This is exactly what happened in the Navy.
They found it too expensive to train master technicians, now they have operators in many rates (MOS’s) that replace circuit cards or parts. In 20-30 years, when I’ll be reminiscing about you guys, the ship yards, industrial plants-they will be hurting so bad foreign labor will immigrate here by the millions. The welding industry and the trucking industry suffer from low quantities of qualified employees.

NAFTA, coming off the gold standard,blocking child discipline-ruined us. No joke
 
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Slantsix64 said:
China owns us period.
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No. China suffered extensively from our tariffs, China and Germany banks are close to bankruptcy. The thing that saves China is the state owns the banks, the state department owns lots of assets that back up their banks’ debt. And China could collapse under their debt.
 
greymouser7 said:
No. China suffered extensively from our tariffs, China and Germany banks are close to bankruptcy. The thing that saves China is the state owns the banks, the state department owns lots of assets that back up their banks’ debt. And China could collapse under their debt.
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I hope your right!
 
Slantsix64 said:
I hope your right!
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I have been following all the financial news-that’s what multiple media says, but they also say a recession is due around the end of 2020 up to August 2021.

They say Trump & Obama have provides us the longest growth period in recent record defying what many thought should have been a second recession already. In September things got tight (search government buying ‘repo’). But the U.S. market is basically the strongest market globally right now-holding up many other countries.
 
I stopped getting anything brake related from Oriellys. I either go to napa Autozone or online Did you try bill rolik for the wheel cyl parts
 
I've got alot of bad quality parts lately, mostly gaskets and seals, I believe some are dry rotted from a long shelf life, probably because there's not as much of a call for it nowadays, I've got 2 Carter fuel pumps that didn't last a week, probably been on a shelf for years and was new but old, felpro gasket kits with dry rotted main seals, good quality stuff I just believe some of it has passed its shelf life nowadays .
 
Thomas Dennis said:
I stopped getting anything brake related from Oriellys. I either go to napa Autozone or online Did you try bill rolik for the wheel cyl parts
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I gave up on brake rotors or drums from Autozone... everything seems to be elliptical instead of round. But I haven't gotten anything defective from O'Reilly yet. :rolleyes:
 
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