Itinerant Air-Cooled

I'm having the brake booster rebuilt at H&R. At the same time what of the master cylinder? There are choices. ATE $147, TRW $40, and OEM $205. I like the price of the TRW but what am I sacrificing? Braking is important and I don't mind spending the money if I'm getting something tangible but the glamour of OEM at $205 has to offer more than just bragging rights. Any opinions?

My only experience is
Brazilian fails in less than a year
German lasts a long, long time
If TRW is American made, maybe it's better quality.

What failed on the brazilian?

Internal seals failed causing massive amount of fluid leakage and loss of pressure.
If German parts are available, get em' without hesitation. I'm King Frugal too.

hambone wrote:My only experience is
Brazilian fails in less than a year
German lasts a long, long time
If TRW is American made, maybe it's better quality.

To tell you the truth, I am DONE with Brazilian CRAP. Door seals lasted three months and cracked in thousands of places along the perimeter, and the car was parked in a garage the whole time!
Colin

Alas, what are we to do when Brazilian is the ONLY option? What a sad state of affairs...These cars aren't THAT old, and a gazillion of em' where made. Not like we're trying to restore Stanley Steamers here.
There are good aftermarket parts available, West Coast Metric for example. It can be done.

hambone wrote:Alas, what are we to do when Brazilian is the ONLY option? What a sad state of affairs...These cars aren't THAT old, and a gazillion of em' where made. Not like we're trying to restore Stanley Steamers here.
There are good aftermarket parts available, West Coast Metric for example. It can be done.

Really we only have two hopes. One is vendors like WCM who will make quality repo parts. The other is the Chinese. It seems like they are mostly vendors for EMPI (you know...."EMPI" is Chinese for crap). If the Chinese would just look at the potential in quality vintage VW parts they might make a bundle.
And in the garage is a Brazilian master cylinder for my 69 that will be installed this summer. If there is an alternataive I have not found it.

OB Bus wrote:If there is an alternative I have not found it.

I think we are at a nexus, where these buses are going from cheap and fun into collectors turf. Right now, we have cheap parts that suck. Soon we will have good parts, but they will cost a bundle, because they are meant for rich guys restoring their 'pet' project.

I guess I'd take the quality product at 3 times the cost of the cheap/crap one, but I'm not happy either way!

I havn't had any problem with brazlian brake parts, or engine parts. The rubber is crap! My cars are driven often. I wonder if the brake parts degrade more than german if left sitting, corrosion perhaps?

So how do you know they are really german. Not all of the vendors are really open about their origins. I bought so-called German ball joints from a vendor and when I opened the box the ball joints were tagged made in Turkey. Now maybe the ad didn't specifically say "German Made" but I'd most buyers make an assumption that if an ad says German it means more than just boxed in Germany. Personally I don't care what the origin of the part is as long as the quality is there.
Years ago we just got rebuild kits and rebuilt the master cylinders ourselves. Why don't they just sell rebuild kits?

OB Bus wrote:And in the garage is a Brazilian master cylinder for my 69 that will be installed this summer. If there is an alternataive I have not found it.

This is purported to be German. http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/Detai ... 211611021Q

I bought one from them for my '70 and have been very pleased with the quality. It had the correct number of ports for the brake switches that the Brazilian one that it replaced did not. That alone made it worth the extra $$$.

dtrumbo wrote:

OB Bus wrote:And in the garage is a Brazilian master cylinder for my 69 that will be installed this summer. If there is an alternataive I have not found it.

This is purported to be German. http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/Detai ... 211611021Q

Assuming it is from the Fatherland that is a great price. Mine (which I was told was from Brazil) looks identical, and was $120 a year or two back.

High-quality manufacturing and quality control processes can be installed and operated anywhere in the world. There are high-tech, high-quality products coming out of India, China, Romania, and a lot of other countries. The company I work for demonstrates this on a daily basis.

It doesn't matter anymore what country the product comes from, what matters is the quality of the engineering, the raw material, and the manufacturing process. That depends on the company making it and that company's decision of where the "sweet spot" balance between price, cost, and quality lies.

That, unfortunately, is a lot more difficult to know than the country of origin. But, in the case of VW Bus parts, and the fact that the vehicle is still sold in Brazil as "cheap, basic" transportation, I bet most companies serving that market shoot for the low-cost, low-price, low-quality target.

vwlover77 wrote:I bet most companies serving that market shoot for the low-cost, low-price, low-quality target.

And if we dull vacant eyed dimwitted cud chewing passive sheep just buy this crap with nary a bleat. . . . we will continue to eat it.
Colin

So does anyone know which one is best? I just found mine seeping between the booster.