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#1
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Some Lemförder made in China
Picked up some Lemförder front end parts this weekend. They were excess parts a friend of mine had. I was happy to see that the parts were Lemförder and then I looked at the boxes and was surprised to see that two of the boxes had "Made in China" on them. The third box had "Made in Germany."
So based on the junk coming out of China, do I use them or get rid of them? See attached.
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Len '59 220S Cabriolet-SOLD and living happily in Malta '83 240D 351,500 miles original owner-SOLD '88 560SL 41,000 miles - totaled and parted out https://sites.google.com/site/mercedesstuff/home '99 E300 turbo 227,500 miles '03 SLK320 40,000 miles - gave to my daughter '14 Smart electric coupe 28,500 miles '14 Smart electric cabriolet 28,500 miles '15 Smart electric coupe 28,000 miles |
#2
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I'd use them. If the company is willing to do quality control right there's no inherent problem with chinese parts.
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1996 ZJ Green Laredo V8, 2.5" OME and Bilsteins, 33's, Holes drilled in the roof. 1998 ZJ Platinum Limited 5.9, Backyard Parts Fodder 1987 Mercedes-Benz 300D Turbo, The diesel daily, 30mpg in style. |
#3
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I refuse to use Chinese-made ANYTHING on my cars, no matter what the brand.
I think the jury is out on the Chinese Lemforder stuff, but in the past other "reputable" brands that have transitioned to Chinese- and other Third-world made parts have not trended in a positive direction, quality wise. |
#4
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I bought some Lemförder W124 upper front strut mounts that turned out to be Made in China; a year later, they are still OK.
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"Buster" in the '95 Our all-Diesel family 1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car 2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022) Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762 "Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz." -- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970 |
#5
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Take them out of the box and confirm the parts are molded rubber lemforder marked... I didn't know lemforder and ZF were connected.
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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread "as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do! My drivers: 1987 190D 2.5Turbo 1987 190D 2.5Turbo 1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!! 1987 300TD 1987 300TD 1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere! |
#6
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Here are a few photos of the parts and their markings.
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Len '59 220S Cabriolet-SOLD and living happily in Malta '83 240D 351,500 miles original owner-SOLD '88 560SL 41,000 miles - totaled and parted out https://sites.google.com/site/mercedesstuff/home '99 E300 turbo 227,500 miles '03 SLK320 40,000 miles - gave to my daughter '14 Smart electric coupe 28,500 miles '14 Smart electric cabriolet 28,500 miles '15 Smart electric coupe 28,000 miles |
#7
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Don't overthink this. Lemforder is a ZF company, wholly owned, and they have factories in China, among other places. So no suprises here. Chinese quality depends on the brand's commitment to a quality process. The IPhone in your pocket was made in China, and it's a gem. Same can be true with auto parts. The only way to know is to try it.
I buy a lot of bulk auto parts, and end up doing quality control on every batch. The place of manufacture printed on the box is no guaranty of quality (or lack of quality), and in fact, it may not even tell you much about where the part actually originated. The "made in" label simply tells you where the last operation was performed. In the case of your tie rod end, you can't tell if the joint was made in China, and assembled with a German boot in Germany, or whether the entire part was made in Germany. In either case, the part can be legally labeled "made in Germany". Finally, there's a ton of mislabeling in the business. I've traced parts back to Hong Kong which were labeled "made in Germany". It's the mislabeled parts that are the worst, and you would probably never know. |
#8
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The real Lemfoerder Tie Rods have an Owl inside of a triangle stamped on the Metal bottom cap. There is a thread on that somewhere.
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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel |
#9
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Quote:
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD |
#10
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Mac 2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d “Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22 |
#11
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I ordered a pair of Lemforder tie rod ends a couple years ago. One box was "Made in Spain" with a stamped Logo. The other box was "Made in China" with an etched logo and no markings on the rubber.
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Greg Schwall 1983 300SD - 465,000 miles |
#12
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Quote:
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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg 1995 E420 Schwarz 1995 E300 Weiss #1987 300D Sturmmachine #1991 300D Nearly Perfect #1994 E320 Cabriolet #1995 E320 Touring #1985 300D Sedan OBK #42 |
#13
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Mercedes makes cars in China for the Chinese market, not for world markets. Mercedes just started making C-class models in Alabama, but again for the US domestic market, not world markets (SUVs are a different story -- all ML, GL and R-class models are made in Alabama for world markets).
What does Mercedes China and their strict quality control processes have to do with counterfeit/poor quality parts made in said country? That's comparing apples and oranges. The bottom line is that Chinese-made aftermarket parts DO NOT have a good track record. You can imagine the common denominator between all of the worst quality aftermarket parts ... companies like UROparts, Hamburg Technik, Trucktek, APA, Meyle, FEQ, etc. |
#14
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Couldn't Lemforder impose their "strict quality control processes" on their Chinese facilities?
We do business in China, and we do.
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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500 Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i |
#15
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I know it is not the brand mentioned here, but I recently bought a supposed OE quality BEHR blower regulator for our W140 chassis...surprise! The box said made in China. The first one failed in 2 weeks. I exchanged it and hopefully the next one lasts a bit longer. It is almost impossible to continue to buy parts with the expectation that you won't find some made in China.
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97 S500 (90,000 miles) - wife's car 87 300D (298,000 miles and a replacement #14 head) 94 Suburban K2500 - need something to haul firewood 83 300SD (343,000 miles) (sold) |
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