Made in China

Most of the posts I have seen mentioning items made in China receive comments that are at least subtly critical of quality. I would like to hear comments from people who have first-hand experience with some of these products. If there are problems, it would be nice to get the specifics rather than vague opinions. Likewise, if there is positive feedback, it would be nice to eliminate some of the “Made in China” rumors.

Head Units?
Bumpers?
Racks?
Exhaust Systems?
Air Lockers?
Others?

There is also the risk of the item being damaged in transit or the wrong item sent, then you have the trouble of sending it back and trying to get the shipping cost refunded etc

Slightly at a tangent, but I have a load of Chinese amateur radio gear. Sure, it ain't Yaesu quality, but it does exactly what its supposed to at a price that's hard to believe. I'm old enough to remember when Japanese products were scoffed at, but no one's laughing now.

I haven't had any problems with the stuff that I've bought from China, shipping times are usually quite good as well. If you buy counterfeit parts for a 10th of the price of the 'real' stuff then you can expect trouble, I've had a couple of Chinese Tech 2 scantool clones come by me, one had caught fire and the other had a bad display.

AVM hubs are made in Brazil, they have been made there for years and have been an OEM supplier to many 4x4's over the years

just google AVM brazil


if you see AVM hubs for sale in china and come from china then they will be counterfeit

you also get what you pay for in china also

you can buy the Iphone for £500 + that works well and everybody loves

you can but the eyephone for about £70 which is crap, but they look the same

with the china airlockers, they dont seem to be used much here in the UK, but they are all over the Australia markets, and i believe some people have done 10 of thousands of miles and they have been fine

so yes you can get crap from china but also you can get good stuff too

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationI get a lot of stuff from China direct (as opposed to things made in China but marketed like has been mentioned under brand names) and I find it fine.- there are exceptions but then non China stuff is also just as risky. The delay is the problem. I get my Junior spares also from UAE or Japan and other countries (as well as Mitsy on or off eBay) .
TBH I shop worldwide thanks to the interweb and it is all much the same.
Having said that this has just had to go back.

Thanks for the replies. I agree with the common thread through most comments that we need to use some common sense and do some research. For my own example, I purchased one of the Chinese 2 din head units with GPS, Bluetooth and a half dozen other things I will probably never use. I didn’t buy it due to the price point but the fact that I couldn’t find any other that looks like a factory install. Before I made my purchase, I did a bit of digging. For anyone interested, there is a relatively detailed review at this link:

www.alfaowner.com/Forum/ice-andamp-bluea...hinese-headunit.html

The gentleman writing about these units had personal experience and was open about what he thought was done well and what could be improved. It helped a lot with my decision. Prior to reading that post, I had searched some of the Jimny forums for info. One post that struck me, and brings up a point Martin made, advised against a Chinese made product and suggested it would be better to just set up an I-pad to use for GPS. You know….the I-pads that are made in China.

I can’t yet provide feedback on my unit. For some logistical reasons, the one I purchased is taking a shipping detour, so I haven’t installed it yet. Even if I had it in, not sure if I could give specific feedback without some miles on it. As soon as I can provide specific comments I will update this post.

Tomorrow I will be having the same Chinese bumpers they sell at Genuine 4X4 installed. In the PI they are branded SR Performance. I will be making some comments on those soon, with special attention to the swing-out spare tire that I am a little suspect of. I invite all to continue sharing their own experiences for the benefit of others trying to make a good decision.

Well, the mic bumpers are on so a quick initial couple of comments:

Good:
Look nice (at least I think so). I will be posting a build thread soon with pics.
Weld quality/general fabrication seems really good, for the most part. I'll Put a caveat on that by saying don't confuse fabrication for design. More on that later.
Not as heavy as some designs. For some, including me, that is good. For others it's bad.

I won't say bad but "caution":
I was initially going to install these myself but decided to use a shop here that has a really good reputation. Glad I did. One thing that may still be a problem with made in China is quality assurance. As I said, the general fabrication was really good but I doubt there is much inspection done. The front bumper went on and off of my Jim about 5 times due to not sitting EXACTLY right. The shop is really good and very picky. They worked about 4 hours "adjusting" the front until they were finally happy with it. Anyone thinking about these bumpers may want to have the installation done for them unless they have the facilities to work out problems.
Rear went on without issue. Looking at how the spare is attached, I am still a little concerned. Some of you may be very familiar with these bumpers, so bear with me. The first picture I've attached "closed" shows how the mount for the spare is pulled into a pillow block type design by the linkage when the door is closed. The second picture shows how the mount pulls away from the block when the door is open. Note the witness mark on the bar where it seats on the block in the open picture. When the assembly is new, and driven on the highway, I doubt that the vertical loading (up and down) will create many problems. Going off-road, I would be a little concerned that the longitudinal loading (fore and aft) might cause the linkage to pull and deform the mounting bracket. If that happened, I think there would possibly be a gap between the bar and the block, allowing the cantilevered spare to beat itself to death. I need to think a little more on that one.

Bottom line, my first take is that I'm happy with the purchase. I may make some mods to ease my mind but that is likely to be if I see an actual problem. Anyone that has put some miles on one of these is free to jump in.