Quote:
Originally Posted by radunegru
As far as "east-european counterfeit crap"....there is no such think. Hungary Romania, Bulgaria, former republics derived from Yugoslavia, Czech republic and Slovakia, they can be proud of their craftsmanship. They are all big producers of OEM part and assemblies for Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Land Rover and a lot more.
Don't make the horrible mistake to compare them with China India or Mexico.
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I'm sure there are many legit parts factories in those countries, and as a matter of fact I know Bosch has a factory there and in some other countries as well. But it is also an undeniable fact that there are also some lower quality car parts copy-cat producers in those countries.
For example, a little more then a year ago I purchased a brand new Bosch fuel pump through an ebay seller with a very decent feedback rating given his high number of transactions. I specifically asked the seller if the part was "Made in Germany", to which he replied that, yes, it is made in Germany. What I received sure was a Bosch fuel pump, in a yellow Bosch box, but it was made in the Czech Republic. I contacted the seller, and he said that when he replied to me about my initial question, he meant to say that Bosch is a "German made brand". Smart ass answer if you ask me... but at least he stated that the pump had a 1-year warranty.
Then I compared my original pump with the new one, and there where clear differences, specially in the stamped-on lettering with the part numbers, Bosch logo and name, as it was quite hard to read, because the stamping was very shallow. In the original pump all the lettering, etc, was very crisp, very easy to read and much deeper. And even if that is not a clear indication of a low quality part, I can tell you that I now have a fuel pump that after only a little more then a year (about 5K Mi) is as noisy as the old 8+ year one. The higher noise level usually indicates that the the pump is quite worn out and might give out soon. So much for the 1-year warranty the seller gave me. It looks like I'm going to need to replace it once again, only this time nothing but "Made in Germany" will be acceptable to me.
I have to grant you that even if the pump is engraved as Made in the Czech Republic, this is not really 100% proof that it was actually made there. But there is no denying that a lot of bad stuff is coming from some East-European countries now a days due to their lax or inexistent copyright protection regulations and laws. For example I know for a fact that the German Zoll (customs) is very busy tracking down counterfeit merchandise every single day of the year and the situation is escalating to alarming levels. Anything from shoes to perfumes, clothing, auto parts, designer handbags, and the list goes on and on. Anything that carries a well known and respected brand name is a counterfeiting target. And according to the reports, those shipments mostly originate from East European countries.