more poor quality parts , speedway again

They admitted after a few months the issue was the china made wheel cylinder bore was incorrect. But guess what. Buy a wagner or united wheel cylinder from napa ect and they too are made in china. But thank you for your oppinion. The good thing was it was still up on stands and no running down the road soaking the new brake shoe.

In the end I learned my leason and buy everything local.

 

As an Australian, this thread attracted me not for the bagging of supplier X thru Z but rather the complaint about Chinesse or cheaper parts that seem to fill each and every part of our lives.

Here in Australia is it getting increasing difficult to purchase goods made locally or from sources that you feel confident are making a quaility part.


While we dont have Walmart yet, I'm sure it will arrive here one day.

In our business we offer one standard of workmanship. It's reasonably high and we are priced in the middle of the market. We have enough work to last us here for the next few years and it has been this way for a number of a years.

People will pay for a decent job or product at a fair price. There aren't as many of them as there used to be but they are out there.

Our problems as a country dont appear as bad as some of you guy's in the US. But the root of our problem is the same as your. We simply dont make stuff at home.

I say buy stuff your countryman first, your friends second and then when you have no choice maybe look at whats available.

I buy Australian first, US, English and European, next and Chinesses and Indian if I really dont have a choice orcant do with out it.

Big business will always reach to the market forces if you as the customer demand it they will change their ways.

Sorry to have a rant.

Mark Shearer

 

Thanks Mark - appreciate the rant


I agree totally with what you say however although you are lucky in having customers who will pay for a decent job at a decent price - I feel that as a general rule these people are in the minority.


IMHO People have been conditioned to want more for less. Through advertising, the political system, the nature of modern business and changing ideals people want and expect more for less ie more for them for less from you.


Where does this less for you come from? Well, unfortunately it comes from having to provide the same service or better at a lower cost. How you do that is not by reducing your profit (the holy grail of the free world) as most of your main costs remain constant but by reducing your expenses. You are forced into supplying cheaper inferior products to maintain the illusion of quality of service.


So where are we at, customers expecting more for less, suppliers having to supply cheaper inferior products to remain competitive, customers then complaining about the quality of products etc etc. Ultimately you want and demand cheaper, cheaper is shit,..that's what you wanted so suck it up princess.


You want a good quality product that will last, installed by quality skilled labour well that costs money. You cant have it both ways.


We pay unskilled labour around $150,000 a year to drive mine trucks, do you ever hear people complain about that??

My turn to apologise for the rant!

 

I have to remember to ask where the parts are made before I order them.

 

I'm sure every company now has some China junk they're peddling. But Speedway also has some very good American made stuff at good prices too.

 

Just bought a set of hub caps from Speedway. I thought it was funny that the box says, "MADE IN USA" and each hub cap had a sticker on the back that says, "made in Taiwan".

 

i have bought parts cast in Aussi land and have been very pleased with the quality of the product.......a cast aluminium timming chain cover

 

That's the truth!

 

NO NO NO. This is wrong when talking about Wheel Cylinders.

"more poor quality parts , speedway again " Must be Retracted.

When it leaks when new, means SOMEONE depressed on the piston when dry causing the seal inside to catch the lip, fold, & leak. Just rebuild with brake fluid for lube.

 

My favorite packages come from SpeedWay

 

I don't know if you guys noticed these days but in the good old USA you have to search high and low to find anything made here.Sad but true,don't get me wrong I would rather buy USA products to support our country but times have changed weather we like it or not. Speedway offers a wide verity of parts that nobody else does.I would hate to see them go away like so many others have.

 

I agree! I am 60 years old and this hobby has been a lifelong passion! I have proof of purchase in my garage showing that I bought from Mooneyes, SoCal and Honest Charley as well. That being said, this thread started out as a bash on Speedway; that they sell China Junk and are the Walmart of car parts. I think some of you guys need an insanity check!

Going through my build books, these are the brands that I have bought from Speedway over the last 45 years... see if you might recognize these names: Edelbrock, Isky, Offenhauser, Weiand, Hilborn, Kieth Black, Moroso, Mallory, Hurst, Holley, Carter, Stewart Warner... Hell, without those names, we wouldn't have ever been hotrodders or had this hobby. Just to make a point, the list goes on...Simpson, Bell, Comp, Lucas, K&N, Taylor, Accel, B.F.Goodrich, Firestone, B&M, Tremic, Grant, Lokar, Auto Meter, Optima, Wilwood, Flowmaster, MSD, Smithy. Some of this went on my OT cars, but none of this is Walmart crap from China.

As stated earlier in this thread, if you want cheap ass China parts, you can buy them anywhere, including your local NAPA (ya, they have 'em too). If you buy cheap, you get cheap, and as long as you want cheap, everyone will provide that for you too. If you want quality, set your priorities and goals and then step up to the pump!

I don't work for Speedway...they have been good to me and provided me with what I asked for, quickly, at a good price. There is a reason that Bill Smith has been in business since 1952. They are as American as the Hot Rod! They have been good for the hobby and this lifelong passion of mine!
If you don't want cheap, don't buy cheap. If you want quality, buy quality. If you don't know what you are doing, educate yourself by turning to your friends and resources. Enough said,,,thats my 2 cents worth (more like $1.95 ). robber... over and out...

 

Robber is wise beyond his years!

 

Speedily doesn't make the headers.I bought my lake headers from them but they are patriot.as far as the other stuff most has been okay except for the l.e.d molar lights that flicker

 

Fifteen years ago I bought my wife a genuine Australian souvenir kangaroo, in Perth. The sign on the rack in the gift shop actually said 'Genuine Australian Souvenir'

When I got it home I had to carefully cut the 'Made In China' label off the bloody thing, as it was sewed into the seam!

 

When are you going to wise up? The box is made in the USA and the contents are made in China - this happens a lot....

 

Speedway is the Harbor Freight of auto parts....

 

x100

On target,Robber.

 

USA is a city in Taiwan

Funny speedway is the largest speed shop in the country, and harbor freight went from 30 stores to over 600 stores in a few years, this did not happen because people do not buy their products......when I try and talk my customer into purchasing a better quality product than speedway sells, They don,t want to spend the extra money.......bottom line quit complaining, you get what you pay for. If the price is cheap, usually it is junk. Speedway sells quality products as well as the cheap junk. Speedway uses the same business model Walmart does,
and that is provide a product that some of you tightwads will buy.

I did not read robbers post before typing this, so please disregard my post and read his, he said what I wanted to say better than I could.

 

Love 'em or hate 'em, I'm not too happy with the parts they sell. I did "step up" and spend some coin on one of their aluminum water pumps. I figured 2x's what O'Reilley's gets for a stock iron short water pump, should somehow pay off in looks, quality, performance. Well, today I filled my system with water. The back cover of their crap pump leaks! There is a notch in the stamped steel back cover right at the top. The notch creates a weak point in the sealing surface of said cover. I've spent boat loads of money at Speedway. I've had a very high percentage of parts that needed serious massageing for them to work right. To fix this pump (brand fucking new) is going to take some serious disassembly. Maybe someone thinks I should have taken apart my brand new pump and sealed it the way it should have been sealed from the get go? I've learned to expect total fucking shit quality parts no matter how much I spend.

 

No, I know damn near everything is made overseas now. It's a crapshoot buying stuff online.


Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad

 

Ordered mustang ball joints from Spway, less than two hundred miles, one was very loose. They refunded my money, but still, that sucks!

 

A few years ago, I needed a couple of front wheel cylinders for my '51 Ford. I went to NAPA and ordered them. When I opened them up, one said "Made in USA",and the other said "Hecho in Mexico". I took the one back to exchange for another "good" one. They said they would have to order it from their warehouse. Out of curiosity, I asked "How many do you have at the warehouse?" They said "23 - 14 rears and 9 fronts". I ordered them all, and when I got them, 13 were "Made in USA", and the rest came from China, Mexico, Spain,and Isreal(!!??). I kept the 13 and put them, "in stock"; the rest I returned for full credit. Other than a few odd looks from the minimum wage counterperson, Everything went well.

This just shows how universal the parts sourcing can be. If any of you guys in Minnesota need some "Made in USA" wheel cylinders, I probably have some.

 

I may have posted this before, and it's a bit off the Speedway topic, but it's certainly ONTOPIC as far as crap parts go.

Bought some wheels cylinders from NAPA for a 67 Coronet rear. Got them out of the box and noticed the tapped holes for mounting were 1/4-20s; whereas the originals were 5/16-18. Then I looked at the box and it said "Made in China". shit.

Took them back and asked for ones that had the correct size holes and Made In USA. Guy said "It doesn't matter what size the holes are because the round boss is what holds them in place". maybe so....
But, didn't like the 'tude or the origin of the parts..........so got a refund.

Went to local reputable clutch & brake shop and got some Bendix units. Was in a hurry, so didn't look too closely, but I figured "Bendix; gotta be 1st quality, right"

Got home, opened the box. Hmm, these are tapped 1/4-20 too. ??

Looked at bottom of the box..... made in China. Could hardly believe that !

BENDIX for cryin out loud

 

Yet you admit that you keep going back for more,.........If everything I bought from a supplier was total shit, I would find another supplier....Just saying

 

This is nothing new. 20 years ago I bought valve covers from Summit and they rolled up in a box proclaiming 'proudly made in the USA'.

Open the box and each chrome cover had a little gold sticker on 'Made In Taiwan'.

The annoying thing is I live 1000 miles from Taiwan, but the shit has to go all the way round the world to eventually get to me, and the price probably quadruples along the way.

 

The box is "made in USA" the parts inside are not....

 

I feel the same about Edelbrock, their carbs are a piece of shit and their "made in USA" is b.s. too... Same thing with some of their stuff, gold sticker made in taiwan. I have a close friend who bought a set of flathead ford heads and the water ports and such didnt line up at all with the block, he sent them back, Edelbrock welded a slug in the hole and re drilled and sent them back to him. they didnt re surface the head or even sand off the weld... what a joke, BTW, they will not refund his money.
I took all my Edelbrock stuff, carb, valve covers, etc... and threw them away! What a bunch of shit they sell!

 

I guess we have to start asking if the parts are made in U. S. A. or just packaged in U.S.A.

 

I hear what you're saying, and I have learned. In my build thread I describe their straight axle kit as being not much better than a frozen piss-soaked rope. I know Shakey Puddin' went with a real front axle, and I completely understand. Still, for a $1000, it shouldn't have the issues mine had. But let's keep focused on their garbage water pump. I couldn't help but look up O'Reilley's pump. They have one for $14.99! and the picture shows what the back cover looks like - see for yourselves. I took a shot of my $64.99 Speedway pump and the lovely back steel cover. I also left a review on Speedway's website, we'll see if they post it (I doubt it). The only motivation for going through the trouble of posting this is to possibly sway someone from buying this pump from them. I will most likely never buy anything from them again. Speedy Bill went down the same path as so many others that claim to be from the "greatest generation".