Buy American Made Parts

[70burntorangeT/A]

Everyone is well aware that americas ecomony is in the toilet. What can we car guys do to help?? I have been trying to only buy products taht are made in the USA. canada and europe are the second places i try to buy from. Is there a parts supplier that onyl sells american made restoration parts? If anyone knows of one please post a link on here. It wont turn the entire economy around if we all bought american made parts but it sure might help. Especially in the hard ecomomic times we should try to buy american made stuff whenever possible. 

[wagesofsin]

 

i cant add more without going into a tirade .

[73dce]

Anytime I go to a parts store and ask for parts made in America, they tell me they have no way of knowing where its made.  Most of the parts I have been buying are parts they have to order.

[70burntorangeT/A]

Most of the time when i go to the parts store they can usually tell by the price if its american or foriegn. I went to get new axle seals for my car, the cheap china crap as they called it was like 2 dollars per seal, the american made ones were 9 per seal.

[elitecustombody]

getting parts at stealership you will have a better chance of getting USA made parts 

[cudax34me]

Anytime I go to a parts store and ask for parts made in America, they tell me they have no way of knowing where its made.  Most of the parts I have been buying are parts they have to order.

it usually says made in ....... on the packaging.

[ted]

they laugh at local dealer when you try to order parts for any thing made before 2000

[cudax34me]

they laugh at local dealer when you try to order parts for any thing made before 2000

those guys apparently aren't car guys.they also don't know what customer service is.i don't have that problem with my local dealership.

[JH27N0B]

It's tough, I know all too well.  I used to work at a company that makes and sells brake parts, and are the largest supplier of brake parts in the country.  Until a few years ago the majority of their parts were made in North America. Especially with older applications, we were the only company making certain parts, all other suppliers would buy certain parts from us with us being the sole source.
Then around 5 years ago, the corporation that owned us started having financial trouble, and sold the company to an investment group, and they started sourcing more and more parts out of Asia.  Soon they closed most of the North American plants and started making almost everything out of Asia.  I heard a few months ago that the last plant left in the US is being closed in June.  They had been making many of the "low volume" parts there still.  Well, now with that closing, some of the low volume parts are not going to be sourced out of Asia, just discontinued.  So not only do we lose the ability to purchase US made brake parts, but some things we aren't going to be able to buy anymore period!! 
I get alot of car guys coming up to me telling me they went to buy parts for their vintage cars and the box said China, and asking where they can get US made parts for their cars.  I tell them they aren't available new now, the only way to get US is to find old stock, NOS or NORS.
For newer cars, my understanding is that Performance Friction and Hawk still make brake parts in the US, but for vintage cars we are SOL.

[71chmark]

I used to believe in buy American but people in other countries have a right to make a living also and I have a right to get the best value for my money.  If capitalism worked for us it should work for the whole world.  I am of the opinion that isolationism is not good for our Country, the World or progress.  I understand there are inequities but we need to learn how to compete in a global economy and not just amongst ourselves if we are to remain at the top.  I am an American second and a Human Being first.

[73dce]

So you still have a job.  Look at everything you buy, its made in China, how is that global?  I've seen alot of good paying factory jobs vanish from America and end up in China and I'm sick of it.  And by the way, I highly doubt it's the best value coming from there, everything they make is junk.

[priderocks]

Everything is junk? How so? Just checked my son's ipod. China. Same with my Dell keyboard. Ditto my Motorola cell phone. Also my NEC monitor. Also my D-Link router. If I checked, probably every piece of consumer electronics in my house is made in China. And it all works extremely well.

Let's say you and I compete with each other making widgets. I optimize my manufacturing processes by investing in state-of-the-art equipment, cut my overhead, and emphasize customer service. I am able to undercut your prices, and soon you are out of business. Nothing "unAmerican" about that, right? Just good old capitalism. But you, being the savvy businessman you are, are not to be outdone. You build a new plant from the ground up, much cheaper than I could, in China, Indonesia, Mexico, wherever. You are able to undercut my prices and run me out of business. So that's unAmerican? Are you saying you wouldn't do that because the workers are now from a different country?

[70burntorangeT/A]

When i started this thread i wasnt trying to say that we should buy ONLY american. All i am saying is that in these bad times and with our economy being as it is we should worry about supporting ourselfs right now and try to buy american IF we can. I do realize that it would be almost impossible to buy nothing but american made products. And yes not all asian stuff is junk, almost every piece of electronics in the USA came from china. More and more jobs are being moved overseas because they can pay an asian person the equivilent of a dollar a day to work in their factory. Its everyones own personal choice, but especially in these bad times when people 1000's of people are being laid off every month, the more foiregn stuff we buy, the more american jobs get sent overseas.

[71chally416]

China doesn't have to deal with the 2nd highest Corporate taxes in the world, or Unions, or the EPA, or getting sued when some idiot spills hot coffee in their lap. I could be wrong but I also don't think they have to pay people unemployment for months after they get fired or laid off. Then there are the government subsidies (ALA Japan) to eliminate competition in targeted markets and the embargos they place on our goods being sold there (in whatever manner they are disquised as) adding thousands onto the price of American cars, for instance. That's a pretty good competitive advantage to have. A monopoly on your home market and an ever increasing share of Americas.

Like Lee Iacocca said the Japanese are great hosts. They'll make you forget what you came for. They nod in agreement with everything you ask of them and then turn right around and do whatever benefits them anyway, laughing all the way to the bank as they nod and smile. I suspect the Chinese are very similar.

We should do the same thing here. LOWER the corporate taxes, get the EPA off of big industrys back and just tac 10K onto the price of any Foreign branded car for "inspection" fees to make sure they are totally safe for American roads, like Japan does. We can nod and smile and just say we aren't really doing it when they complain.

[70_challenger]

I used to believe in buy American but people in other countries have a right to make a living also and I have a right to get the best value for my money.

Yes, you do have a right to buy products from wherever, and you have a choice.  The original poster was saying that he prefers to buy products made in the US, and explained very logically why he made that decision.  I wholeheartedly agree with that direction, and I have always sought out US-made products whenever possible. 

Case in point:  I have been looking at toolboxes to organize my messy garage.  I saw a good deal for those 'Kobalt' boxes at Lowes and went to buy one.  The box says 'made in China' right on it, so I walked away.  I will wait until I find a toolbox that meets my requirements (and I can afford) that is made in the US.

Leaving aside all the politics of such discussions, we DO have a choice  (There are exceptions - like reproduction Challenger fenders!).  Many of us will do whatever we can to buy American-made products, and we welcome those who make the same choice.  Here in Detroit, we really appreciate the effort!

-Tom