Date:         Wed, 28 Apr 1999 00:07:10 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <ron@NETCARRIER.COM>
Subject:      Re: German parts Was: Rear Bumpers
In-Reply-To:  <37266213.1483CAE@online.no>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> One thing that puzzles me: why are you american so crazy about
> German parts? many places you can get Brazilian parts for
> half prize of German. Ok, the overall quality of most German parts are
better



True, "German-made" isn't an automatic guarantee of quality.  The German
made part may be better than the South American equivalent, or perhaps
merely its equal (albeit sometimes at a significantly higher cost).
However, it is in my experience quite rare that the German part is inferior
to the South American version.  So it might be as better than the Brazilian
version, it might be about the same, but it probably won't be worse.

Does that make it worth a lot more money?  It depends. On my own van, I tend
to weigh price difference against the risk. If the price difference is
small, I tend to opt for European made parts over South American, perhaps as
much out of force of habit than anything else. However, I may opt for the
cheaper brand if the price difference is significant *and* the potential
damage in the event of premature failure is low.  For example, if the part
fails, will it cost me a lot of labor to replace? Is it likely to create a
safety hazard if it fails? For example, I put a Brazilian mechanical fuel
pump on my crew cab.  It was about $25, versus $150 for German, and even if
it does turn out to fail sooner (not that I have reason to think it will),
my biggest risk is an hour of labor and perhaps a tow.  On the other hand,
if I were doing an engine rebuild, I think I'd opt for the $60 German piston
rings instead of the $20 "white-box"ones. Maybe the cheaper ones would last
just fine, but considering the time and expense it would cost to tear the
engine down again if they didn't, it's not a risk I'd be willing to take in
order to save forty bucks.

In the case of the Vanagon bumpers, the version that I described in my last
post that is poorly cut for the endcaps and lacks the impact strip holes is
Brazilian.  The version I sell that is a near match for the original is
German.  In this particular case, it seems clear to me that the relatively
small difference in price (maybe $30) is well spent.

- Ron Salmon
 The Bus Depot
 http://www.busdepot.com