CHECK Your Lemforder Parts, They May NOT Be German Any More Options

[914Sixer]

The place of manufacture JUMPED out at me on this tie rod end. I know it is the way of the world.

Reminds me of the shuttle astronaut I talked to. I asked what was the scariest part of the trip to space. He said " Knowing the low cost bidder built the damm thing". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Superhawk996]

I don't understand why everyone assumes China = junk. Do we really believe that Lemforder doesn't still control the quality?

Is there data to show that the parts no longer meet the same validation test requirements? Would we (914's owners are notoriously thrifty) be willing to pay double or triple to have it manufactured in the US or Germany? Especially for a hobby cars that usually will never see mileage that would represent full design life of a component part like a tie rod end.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love for the manufacturing to have stayed in the US and Germany. What we are seeing now is a fullfillment of the policies that began as far back as the 70's and 80's.

I used to work regularly in this plant that made ball Joints and tie rods for Chrysler. I'm bettering no one shed a tear when it closed and silently slipped away back in 2009.
https://www.allpar.com/threads/maxwell-chry...e-plant.229401/

Regulation, labor costs, energy costs, and taxation are but a few of the reasons it became unprofitable for that plant to continue to operate. That plant isn't alone. They have been slipping away, unnoticed, all across the US and Germany.

You don't even want to know how many parts from China are contained in the vehicles bought and built for the military. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hissyfit.gif)

Politics and economics matter. I understand why they are frowned upon on this site and I try my best to stay out of trouble with all the moderators. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[LefthandRev]

I don't understand why everyone assumes China = junk. Do we really believe that Lemforder doesn't still control the quality?

This is key here.

One of my winter hobbies is back country snowboarding. To do this, there's a thing called a "splitboard," a type of snowboard that splits into skis and lets you walk uphill in snow using specialized bindings that are made to be extremely light and have high tolerances and reliability.

The brand I use is called Karakoram, and I have their top of the line binding, which costs around $1100 without my friends discount. All of their parts are made from high strength aircraft aluminum in a factory in China, then assembled here in Washington.

The Chinese plant sometimes tries to sneak in shittier aluminum. My friends at Karakoram have shown me the parts, how they can tell, and the result of a binding breaking under stress due to lower quality shit.

Point being, Lemförder probably keeps a close eye on things and fixes it when they notice quality degradation.