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  #46  
Old 02-14-2011, 12:15 PM
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Location: Out in the Boonies of Hot, Dry, Dusty, Windy Nevada
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Andrewjtx- Just read that long e-mail reply, interesting. didn`t see any mention of parts in a box that was Genuine German, with the German sticker on it, but part stamped "made in China". Or I missed it.

Ever eat Chinese food? that stuff just doesn`t stick to you. an hour later, and you are hungry again.

Ever eat a Mc Donalds Big Mac? now that thing will stick to you, sometimes longer than you want . but you get the idea.


I bought 5 new tires for the 240D this past summer from Big-O. Japanese tires, so the name implied. Upon closer inspection, "Made in China". . I sure hope the Bamboo tripple belted tires hold up. we`ll see


Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works
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  #47  
Old 02-14-2011, 08:13 PM
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Location: Alexandria, Virginia
Posts: 5,480
I needed a pair of front stabilizer-links for a recently acquired, '96 Toyota Camry. Local parts stores were giving me the runaroud "We don't stock 'em, 3 - 5 days, $34 EACH, plus shipping! etc, etc.....
So I happened to be down in Richmond last Saturday, and spotted an O'Reilly's autoparts store. We don't have any O'Reilly's in the DC area. Turns out this one had just opened, and they had the links in stock. $17 each and made in Japan (at least that's what it said on the boxes) Ironically, my Camry is actually built in Kentucky!

Happy Motoring, Mark
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  #48  
Old 02-14-2011, 11:08 PM
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Location: Sterling, VA.
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i don't care what the douche from febi bilstein says, its scum like him that are ruining this country. these rich jerks have set up a scam where they can all get a cut of the pie by using cheap labor and inferior materials. they don't care about america or americans, only how much money they can get from us. but if you ask them, they all claim to be uber patriots. we aught to kill em all.
if you look, you can find goods not made in china. i will not buy levis ever again, nor irwin tools (vice grips) those scum bags screwed the town which depended on their factory. and if you look at the new vice grips, it says engineered in america, but there is no country of origin on the tool or package.
if you care about america, make a little extra effort to find goods made HERE! OTHERWISE GO TO H...
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  #49  
Old 02-15-2011, 11:21 AM
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I received a nearly identical email from Febi, when I complained about there Chinese made electronic parts. The only difference was the tone of the email I received. It was very confrontational. He lectured me even more than those snarkey comments about "business school" in your email.

I love the part about the traveling across North America with his chinese made phone......If you phone fails, you miss a call. If my coolant temperature sensor fails, my engine is damaged! What if an ABS sensor fails, it becomes a safety issue. WHAT A TOOL this guy is.

I have scratch Febi off my list of acceptable parts, not just because of their country of origin of manufacturing, but because of their ATTITUDE OF THEIR EMPLOYEES.

Oh and Mr. Lateer, and I have a shed in my back yard FILLED WITH CHINESE MADE PRODUCTS THAT HAVE FAILED PREMATURELY. I don't mind missing my coffee when my coffeemaker fails. I would mind missing that stop light when my ABS sensor fails!



QUOTE=andrewjtx;2656942]Just got this back today. I agree with some of his points, I'll have to take some quality time to make my reply to him.[/QUOTE]
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  #50  
Old 02-15-2011, 06:40 PM
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Location: San Antonio
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Quote:
Dear Alex,

Thank you for your concern.
Have you personally had problems with a febi part that was manufactured in China? I would be interested in learning more about your experience with febi parts.

It appears that your letter is identical (except for name and vehicle description) to another posted on the PeachParts Mercedes ShopForum, so I suspect that you have already read my reply to andrewjtx on the forum, as well as the comments from other forum users. If you have not, I'd be happy to send you a copy of that reply. If you did not get the basis for your letter from that forum, I would be interested to hear about where you did see it, to have a better understanding of the Mercedes enthusiast's experiences and opinions.

As that reply noted, febi still sources more than 38% of our product in Germany. Many of those items are purchased from the OE suppliers to various car manufacturers. We also purchase many items from other European based companies who are also OE suppliers to car manufacturers. febi is actually both a manufacturer, and a supplier of automotive parts. We do not produce all of the items that we sell. Some items are sourced from the OE suppliers to the auto manufacturers, and others are aftermarket versions. Chinese parts are still less than 13% of our total program, yet we are being vilified for having those items in our program with total disregard for the other items, including the items of our own production that are 100% Made in Germany and the goods from various OE suppliers that we provide.

Let's take a look at the engine mounts that we sell for your car, as they appeared to be the main topic of conversation on the forum at one point. febi supplies (depending on version) either an OEM - Made in Germany, an aftermarket production version sold by the marketing arm of the former OE supplier, made in the Czech Republic, or an aftermarket version made in China. The Chinese version is not sold in the US market at this time. It is an alternative for our (global) customers who are facing extreme price pressure from other suppliers selling Chinese products.

We do not (and can not) force our customers to buy products that they do not want. That works both ways - we cannot force them to buy Chinese product if they do not want it, and we cannot force them to buy the OE German made product if the bulk of their customers won't buy it due to price considerations with other competitors in the market.

I would welcome additional dialog with you, and if you choose to post this reply, please invite the forum members to contact me directly with their comments and concerns.

Best Regards,

Jeff Lateer
febi bilstein
Sales Manager North America

(800) 798-3324
febi@comcast.net
This is the reply that he sent me.
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  #51  
Old 02-15-2011, 08:00 PM
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I have been an OE supplier to Mercedes-Benz, and many others. As an OE supplier, we didn't sell any OEM (aftermarket), it was a different business that we didn't want. To that end, when a vehicle exits production, often our tooling would be moved to another supplier, could be in Korea, China, or elsewhere in the USA.

As an OE supplier to the assembly plants, we were held to different standards and needed more stringent certification than even the OE parts and accessory suppliers. When the tools left our care, who really knows how the new manufacturer maintains the tooling, or the process.

So febi? Provided they're willing to put their branded parts through the same processes and controls whether they buy them in a German church, or a Chinese farm, I expect the parts to be OE quality.

Will I prefer (purchase) parts manufactured in western Europe over parts manufactured in asian countries? When possible, yes. If (Fastlane et al) puts a German flag next to parts manufactured in Germany, I'll click on those parts even at a premium price, for political reasons as well as (my perceived) quality reasons.

I've been stuck with tooling made in Korea and China, and usually there are some problems. Ditto with some of their processes, and raw materials, so I'll always prefer Western Europe and North American sourced parts, when possible. If the volume drops so low that a company can't justify producing them anymore and sends the tooling out to China, that's how they stay in business. For high-volume stuff, I hope to see a flag next to it that's not Chinese.
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  #52  
Old 02-15-2011, 09:16 PM
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In the case of the Chinese flex-discs I returned, I only got them because I had to replace the center-bearing and support-bracket, I thought it would be a good idea to do the flex-discs at the same time, and that's what my local indie MB parts-place had in stock. There didn't seem to be a problem until I actually tried to install them.
Fortunately I was able to get them from the local Mercedes dealer for a not too exorbitant price.
But what happens if Mercedes jacks th price up to some rediculous level or makes the part NLA?
So I saved my old flex-discs. If it gets to the point where the disc on one of my diesels gets really bad, and I can no longer find an acceptable quality replacement, I might wind up re-using the ones I saved.

Happy Motoring, Mark
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Last edited by Mark DiSilvestro; 02-16-2011 at 08:12 AM.
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  #53  
Old 02-15-2011, 09:56 PM
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Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 1,230
I really haven't had much time to think out an appropriate response for Mr. Lateer. I agree with him that not everything Made in the People's Republic is bad. All of the Apple products made over there appear to be some of the most well-made electronic devices on the market. As he states, it really is up to the parent company to ensure quality control. If the Febi Chinese products meet TUV standards, I imagine they are probably up to snuff. With that said, where do all the reports of tainted products, lead paint in children's toys, sweatshop labor practices, not to mention control by a communist regime all tend to generate from?

I personally will look a lot closer at CoO and inspect replacement parts a little more. If the market shifts more back to demanding quality products and not the cheapest crap we can get by with, Chinese products may improve overall... who knows.

I do love how we compares my thought process to the hatred of Japan after WWII... Huh. Like I'm some old codger with a grudge from the war... I'm 31. Kind of a stretch.

And yes, Charlie, I love me Chinese food. Great little place in Central Austin where if you ask for the House menu, you get treated like royalty. I'll have to leave it right there before we get this thread moved to another section.
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  #54  
Old 02-15-2011, 09:58 PM
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I think that you're beating a dead horse here. In the end, you can buy genuine, or you can buy aftermarket. If you choose to buy aftermarket, then you do so because you want to save money.

These companies are also trying to save money and the fact of the matter is that the cost of labor is high in the US and in Europe and the cost to import is very very low. So they will source parts in Asia so that they can reduce costs and hopefully pass these onto us.

I'd like to see anyone try to live one year without buying products from China. The only way to fix the problem is to add big import tariffs but given that China owns all of our dept, I doubt that it will happen.

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