Parts is parts, whatever their source

[static]

First of all, this is not a comment or rant about parts quality.
That is an entirely separate discussion.

I was just pondering where parts come from. The world has shrunk: parts can come from anywhere, even places not normally associated with the aircooled VW.

In the olden days, parts for our cars came from Germany (actually, they came from Western Germany). As VW was a global organization long before any of us were born, some parts came from elsewhere, namely Brazil and Mexico.

As time went on, the "sourcing" of the parts went to anywhere that could do it for the least amount of money. This is not always a bad thing, as country of origin is not always an indicator of quality. Plenty of fine stuff comes out of China, for example (I cannot think of any examples, but you get the idea). Japan was once known as having lousy quality, now it is often associated with having the best quality.

I opened a box from my pals at BusDepot yesterday and inside was a fuel filter (made in Israel) and some of the oddest pedal pads that I have ever seen (made in Mexico). The side reflectors are now made in India. The (cough-cough) EMPI stuff is made in Taiwan. The tires on my bus are made in Korea. There is VW stuff being made in Thailand.

The days of global sourcing are here, now. The days of parts coming from Germany and being high quality are over. The consumer (that's you and me) have voted with our feet and (1.) chosen the non-German part enough times to make the sourcing of German parts not always cost-effective, or (2.) given up, bought "normal" cars which has reduced the overall demand on aircooled parts in general.

File this under "interesting times that we live in".

[hambone]

True to a point - there are still many high quality German parts still being made, much by OE mfrs. Check OEVEEDUB for examples.
As Colin often states, we all have to get together and speak with our wallets and our voices and stop buying aftermarket crap.

[tristessa]

.. but at the same time we have to be openminded enough to differentiate between aftermarket parts and aftermarket *crap*. There are some good quality parts in the aftermarket (even on an EMPI bubblecard sometimes) that are worthwhile.

And just because a part is coming from a country that wasn't on the maps 20 years ago doesn't mean it's crap either. I've seen some *very* nice tools and parts coming from places like Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Romania -- sometimes higher-quality than US-made stuff that disappeared from the market years ago when the corporate masters started offshoring everything.

[hambone]

True! I'm just talkin about the JC Whitney variety.

[static]

Now I have to rant about parts quality.

We are entering a phase where good quality parts for aircooled VWs are getting scarce. In the olden days, you had a choice: German (highest quality) or Brazilian/Mexican (spotty quality). These days, the choices are often Brazilian or Brazilian, and the quality varies between 'bad' and 'worse'.

In one year, my bus has gone through five carbs. The first three were brand new, defective Brosols. The next two were allegedly rebuilt, bench tested Brosol/Solex. This is frustrating to me and even more frustrating to the shop that installed them. (They are currently not accepting new aircooled customers with carburetor problems, as there is no rebuilder that they trust. This experiment has cost them too much money in labor, as all these carb swaps have been done under warranty)

In my most recent escapade, the car was starved for fuel. There was nothing obvious, a good, experienced VW mechanic rescued me and when he couldn't figure it out, we consulted with a well-known online parts place by phone)

The parts place (which must be kept anonymous) suspected the fuel pump, as they have had serious problems with mechanical fuel pumps lately. They said that their supplier had 2,000 on the shelf that they refused to sell because the quality was so bad. (I ended up putting in an electric fuel pump)

This is all very distressing to me. I am not schooled in doing a carb rebuild along the side of the road (Which is what we had to do. My guy found two bad parts) and in this case, it was not a single, obvious problem. It was a culmination of several very low-mile parts causing the problem.

[twinfalls]

Now I have to rant about parts versus adaptables.

I got upset about very little, twice.
_Front door panel clips. Everybody sells it. Nobody tells you, before you buy, to take the power drill to make larger holes in your doors.
_Heater accordion tubes. Everybody sells it. Nobody tells you, before you buy, they are beetle tubes, take the bowy knife to make them shorter to fit in your Bay window bus.

Buying parts is a kind of gamble, you never know before hand, what you'll get. Plug and play or a new project