Its true too. I am chinese, but born and raised in america. I buy mostly american and german goods. I have relatives that live overseas and they request foreign products all the time.

Last month we had a visitor that wanted us to take him to Neiman Marcus for a pair of UGGs for his daughter.

My biggest problem with China is they counterfeit life saving/medical supplies. Making fake birth control pills, heart medication, repackaging used syringes, etc. When making counterfeit products where someones life is at stake, thats just wrong in my book, there is no excuse for that...

I have bought a number of tools from Harbor Freight, and most of them have served the purpose and not broken. Still, the good used Snap-On, Mac, Proto and other US-made tools are often slimmer and easier to get into tight spots. The only stuff that has not been useful have been some Pakistani and Sri Lankan sockets that split and a rachet that pooped out on me the first time I used them.

We are all probably typing on Chinese keyboards and staring into Chinese monitors, or at least monitors with Chinese components right now.

I do not think we should blame the Chinese for shoddy products, other than counterfeit stuff. If a supplier comes to a factory and asks for a Mercedes oil filter that he can buy for $4.00 wholesale rather than the $5. or $5.50 the Czechs or Hungarians charge, he probably will get a comparable product. But if he asks for a price of $2.00 or $1.50, then the steel will be thinner and the thing will be stuffed with cotton waste that includes floor sweepings and dead roaches.

As for BUYING Chinese, I think that you need to look at the product critically for cheesy materials and fabrication. If it is an AC part, and you are going to spend seven hours installing it, then it is probably wise to buy the part you are more certain of. Labor often costs LOTS more than parts.

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Semibodacious Transmogrifications a Specialty

1990 300D 2.5 Turbo sedan 171K (Rudolf)
1985 300D Turbo TD Wagon 219K (Remuda)

"Time flies like and arrow, yet fruit flies like a banana"
---Marx (Groucho)

How about Japanese goods? Dumb Indians here reject them as well for inferior East European trash all because it has a Europe mark on it.

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99 Gurkha with OM616 IDI turbo

2015 Gurkha with OM616 DI turbo

2014 Rexton W with OM612 VGT

How about Japanese goods? Dumb Indians here reject them as well for inferior East European trash all because it has a Europe mark on it.

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I would not turn down a Lexus. A friend of mine drove a Nissan Sentra for over 350K, and only got rid of it because of an accident.

Would those dumb Indians be from South Dakota or Uttar Pradesh?

Is a Tempo Gurkha an Indian vehicle? Did Ford sell the name Tempo, or is it made by Ford?

My favorite car name is the Daihatsu Naked.

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Semibodacious Transmogrifications a Specialty

1990 300D 2.5 Turbo sedan 171K (Rudolf)
1985 300D Turbo TD Wagon 219K (Remuda)

"Time flies like and arrow, yet fruit flies like a banana"
---Marx (Groucho)

The Indians would be ones from Uttar Pradesh.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo_(car)

Tempo is MB name. Gurkha is made by MB India partner Force Motors who also manufacture MAN and Tempo Traveler here.

Almost all PC components are Chinese and are quality made, same goes for most electronics including those with Japanese names, thanks to China, PCs are at all time low and easily affordable by those who didn't dare to dream about them few years back. Same goes for clothing and other daily need items.

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99 Gurkha with OM616 IDI turbo

2015 Gurkha with OM616 DI turbo

2014 Rexton W with OM612 VGT

I can blame things on China because even when they are shown how to do it right, they go right back to the cheap shortcuts, or have you forgotten about the lead based painted toys that we warned them about 3 times? How many pets died because defective animal food was sent to us when they KNEW it would cause several animals to die!

You said it yourself, counterfeit medications and it doesn't stop there! You don't have to go and buy Snap On wrenches if you want quality. Most Sears Craftsmen are made in the USA and if you look, it will say so on the package! Kobalt tools from Lowes are Made In USA items as well as most of Home Depot tools.

I bought a Home Depot compressor because it was a twin stage Made in USA item and I knew I could get replacement parts for it. An Emerson Marathon Motor made in Wisconsin and a Compressor made in Tenessee by Ingersoll Rand. Pressure tank made by Ohio air brake in Ohio!

When Perkins Diesel starts making their 1100 series engines in China, I will look elsewhere. Everything I have bought that was Chinese made was defective and a total POS! There is your socialisation policies in effect and setting examples.

The only thing I can see that had been done right was the one child per family policy that should be seen as a great example for the rest of the world! Aggressive methods of birth control meant they could at least try to feed and provide for their populations.

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Save and enlarge for explanation of financial crisis!

http://www.mobile-phone-solutions.com Advice on cell phone signal antennas and amplifiers.

Actually Sears got sued a few years ago because they CLAIMED all there stuff was "made in the U.S." but in fact was not.

Read this:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/sears_craftsman.html

So it was China's fault that Sears slapped a "made in america" sticker on its product? Please, give me a break...

Mattel tried to blame the entire lead siuation on China and that didnt fly. Why couldn't mattel better utilize there multi million dollar bank account for a bunch of white glove AMERCIAN workers to inspect the products BEFORE it hit the shelves? After all it was Mattel that was selling the product, china was just manufacturing it. They could have labeled them defective and threw the toys in a giant fire.

Please, the U.S. companies hands is just as dirty... Higher quality = higher prices OR less profits.

I can tell you this, they are starting to crack down on counterfeit drugs, movies, etc. over there. By the way, China (as a country) is getting a very bad rep for all these problems and doesnt like it either. A few corrupt, shady, bad business people is making a bad rep for them and NO country likes that. China is NOT taking pride in manufacturing lead products, counterfeit drugs, corruption, etc. Its a matter of them getting the law enforcment and cracking down that stuff.

Heck, we have crystal meth labs in this country that the government is trying to crack down on. There are always bad apples everywhere, its just a matter of shutting them down before they do serious damage.

P.S. about the dog food, I am a dog owner and pet lover, so yes I do buy dog food.

*IF* my dog died because of poisioned dog food, I would be extreamly pissed and I would probably sue Alpo, Del Monte, Sunshine Hills, or whoevers label was on the dog food. There label is on the packaging, they are the importer, distributor, whatever.

They can make up all the excuses they want or point the finger at whoever they want, but its there "brand" that I TRUSTED and BOUGHT and ULTIMATELY, I would hold them responsible. I think the law/court would favor me too...

Just got back in town today and I'm going to see if I can get to doing the A/C work soon. I just need the Orings, oil and flush gun. I went out and bought a huge A/C vacuum/recharge station for r12 so I might as well make some use out of it. Comparing the ******** drier to the OE one in my car the OE appears to be of much better quality. No sloppy welds on the OE, and it has a larger surface area bottle than the ******** one. Plaza Mercedes tends to mark up prices so I'll try Tri Star. I don't think it makes sense to use a seemingly (to me) lower quality part in an A/C system where repairs can easily cost thousands to fix.

Removing the A/C compressor looks like the most difficult part, the Haynes and Merc manuals aren't too much help or have bad pictures describing the removal. Haven't found a good description on the forum either, it must be too easy to document I guess. That's whats been slowing me down on this project, I have nearly everything but I don't want to take off the compressor.

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1980 240d
1999 SL500

Diesel compression test from Harbor Freight Tools is a one time use only,exchanged tree times already
I'm too poor, to buy products made in China.

Find your part numbers using the (free) online EPC and call Plaza. If you call with a part number, they quote you lower prices. I buy from them all the time, and am more than happy with their prices and customer service. Lately, when you call their parts number, you are greeted with the message "Mercedes-Benz Wholesale parts."

I did not buy my dryer (for my '96) from Plaza, but ordered it from ***************. They offered two dryers, one for $20 and a Hansa for $80. I bought the Hansa. Also a new condenser, AGM brand. For $200, the new condenser it saved me $45 in flushing fluid and several hours of work.

Buying a hand tool that has a limited use is totally different than purchasing something that will be employed time and time again. I wrench on 4 cars frequently, and 'harbor freight' is the only place I will WILLINGLY buy from china, a nation of thieves...my friend from Motorola went there on a huge deal involving Cell phone infrastructure..turns out, it was the MILITARY, acting as a consumer-based company, with whom they were dealing with..after the lies were discovered, and they were cutting the sales trip short,
their equipment was found to be "missing". Think the gov't. there was any help in catching the thieves? Let's not even think about waiting for our idiots in the media to talk about the facts of global trade, vote with your wallet, reduce your consumption of chinese goods big-time, and, spread the word..your economy is depending on it!

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'01 Escape 2.0 5 speed- 101k
'96 Cherokee 5 speed- 120k
'92 Mercedes 2.5l turbo diesel- 212k
'90 Aerostar ext Cargo 4.0- 29k
'02 ZX2- 93k
'98 F250 CNG- 54k