I've tried to order Mercedes dealer parts when the prices aren't really high

These parts have come in the past week:

Mercedes brand supplied mostly from Mercedes dealers:

Seven water hoses all made in Poland, blue lettering on rubber, shipped out of New Jersey. Will probably keep these for spares instead of installing.

upper & lower radiator hoses plus the T hose that connects to one side of the washer fluid reservoir shipped out of Florida appear to be better rubber than Poland ones and have white lettering similar to original. Will install these.

Antifreeze reservoir where pressure cap and level sensor are fitted - made in Italy.

Left front lower control arm manufactured in Slovenia, don't trust rubber bushings as much as the original installed ones that will probably last another year or two. Ordered hoping it would be similar to original in quality. Planned to install when front struts are replaced. Trying to get driver side camber back in spec. No more adjustment available on driver side. Slight pull to the right started a while ago.

Mercedes dealer supplied Fuel filter made in South Africa rather have a better country of origin or possibly WIX from USA

Mercedes brand serpentine belt spring - no country of origin, one hook painted black, one hook left raw metal instead of being painted, to me this indicates lack of quality control and suspect quality due to that

Mercedes brand strut rubber boots, appear to be good quality, no country of origin printed though

From well known parts suppliers:

Meyle brand front spring shims ' made in China '

Sachs brand strut mounts ' made in Brazil ', ordered after receiving

Bilstein brand strut mounts ' made in China ', didn't trust these to hold up

Bilstein rear shocks ' made in Germany ' stamped into metal housing

Supposedly Mercedes brand strut bumpers - packed loose no Mercedes packing slip, box, plastic bag no way to tell if Mercedes or country of origin
could be URO as far as I know

Behr fan clutch ' made in Germany ', first one received had been previously installed. Pleased that they replaced it immediately with an actual new one.

Front Strut boots, ordered Hamburg Technic brand & hoped for good quality due to German company, but cheap stiff thin plastic instead of supple like the Mercedes supplied ones. Probably sourced simply on cost not quality.

The behr fan clutch is useless, throw that away and get a horton branded clutch from the 1999 E300DT along with the fan too.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

Why in the hell are you buying from the dealer, If you want blow your money be my guest. They mark up everything.

Also why are you buying "Genuine Mercedes" parts that where never made by Mercedes to begin with, ie the suspension, fuel filter.

Meyle has been Chinese trash for years now, like over decade it's been this way.

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1998 Ford Escort ZX2 5 speed - 279,000 miles My Daily

1992 Mercedes 300D 2.5 202,000 - Pure junk
2000 Mercedes E320 Black - 136,000 miles - Needs repair

Don't forget to grease the screw and threads on the spring compressor.

If you'll only run OE parts made in Germany you'd better get rid of the car immediately. Seriously.

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Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

Ignore the cheapskates ;P

While buying from OEM brands like Lemforder is smarter when the option exists (vs. the same part from the dealer), brands like Uro and Meyle are Chinese crap and should be avoided entirely, even if you need to pay the dealer more. Just take a look at a window or door seal to tell the difference for yourself.

If the dealer sells you a Meyle part, they typically come with a 2 year warranty against defects (atleast here they do), which is better than buying crappy Chinese parts in the aftermarket.

I purchased everything as above and whenever I have experienced a defect, the dealer refunds all costs for the parts in question, no questions asked.

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Why I will never do business with "DieselKraut" again

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-benz-used-parts-sale-wanted/378935-why-i-will-never-do-business-dieselkraut-again.html

Mercedes source their parts from all over the world. So do most of the well known German brand names.

Mercedes even build cars in South Africa and ship them all over the world (mostly to RHD countries). So why be concerned about an oil filter.

Just for fun, I checked my spares.
Mann - Czech Rep,
Hengst(2) - Germany & USA,
Mahle - Austria
OEM Mercedes - South Africa.

In past, I have bought OE filters that were stamped Hengst. Those came from Singapore or India or at least somewhere in that area.

I read where MB are even sourcing some parts from Uro!

Basically, you can't judge parts from country of origin or by brand name. They come from all over. Even companies like Bosch, for example, manufacture in China. It's just they way things are these days.

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

Coming from Europe, I would say any part made somewhere in the EU will probably be the same quality. If it's made in Germany, Poland, Sweden, Slovenia or Spain should make no difference - but what's a fact is that the general quality of European-made spare parts have gone down the last 20 years.

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'95 E36T AMG (124.092)
'98 E200T (210.235)
'00 E430 4Matic (210.283)

I'm concerned about country of origin due to past experience. I do hope that Mercedes would be concerned about the quality of parts they supply. I expect I'll pass on before my E300D is ' worn ' out. I just don't want to work on it if that can be avoided by buying better parts.

In the past I've paid extra for Hubbell brand GFCI's and every single one received proved to have a manufacturing defect that should have been caught in quality control.
Thirteen GFCI's installed that had to be replaced due to the top outlet being ' touchy ' to cord movement. The voltage would go away and come back. Turns out they were made in China. Lots of extra cost to me due to labor. I suspect they have several thousand of these installed in the US. Hopefully no one gets a serious injury when a power tool comes back on unexpectedly.

Recently received a MARS Jard capacitor ( 80 - 108 ) it measured in the 70's. Made in China. Luckily my volt meter has a capacitance checker. I doubt if many installers check the capacitance with a proper meter.

A received contactor had one side of the coil connection bare/raw metal wasn't tinned/coated like the other side. Made in China

An Amstad ( USA ) measured within a few tenths of the rated capacitance for both sides of the run capacitor and I think it is oil filled. Much, much higher quality.

Thanks for the input on the Behr fan clutch. It is a bit of a chore to replace. Will check out the Horton fan clutch with fan.