Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 09:28:29 -0700
Reply-To: ARKADY MIRVIS <HEATERMAN@NAC.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: ARKADY MIRVIS <HEATERMAN@NAC.NET>
Subject: Re: German parts Was: Rear Bumpers
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Bravo, Ron!
Educate the listees, they are in need of your wise sermon. Ark.
The Bus Depot wrote:
> > 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
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