yes another thread about good condition 2nd hand genuine parts price/value
compared to the cost/quality of cheap chinese new stuff

so,,, firstly,,, lets take ball joints for example,,, i know what i`d rather have fitted to my car... i`ve seen & heard of way too many cheap brand-new chinese ball joints snapping off & causing huge accidents right??? so i`d much rather have a genuine old skool proper ball joint in there, even if it is a 2nd hand genuine item (in good nick of course)

a recent enquiry has prompted this thread & i won`t go into details but i`m getting mighty alarmed at the amount of people (after hearing a price i have suggested for items) & then they say--> "Oh i can get that new for that price"

righty-o,,, you go get that cheap chinese crap new for similar price & see what happens yeah???

i`m getting pretty tired of people not understanding the value or worth of a really good condition "GENUINE" item as compared to the cheap chinese crap that is often wrong, doesn`t fit right, doesn`t work properly & often doesn`t last the 25-35 years like the genuine stuff has

so,,, what are your thoughts people???

what would you rather??? cheap chinese crap or a decent genuine 2nd hand item for similar price???

& this goes for nearly all things these days, , , Doesn`t it???

am i wrong or should we all now use the cheap chinese crap parts prices to then halve that to give us the costing on a good condition 2nd hand "GENUINE" part price???

surely not !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

& should i feel bad placing "REALLY GOOD CONDITION GENUINE" mini items for sale at at roughly similar prices to the new chinese crap??? should i now drop all my prices of all my genuine 2nd hand parts down to half the new chinese prices???,,, REALLY???

What about all that stuff from England that people buy-in & then find that it doesn`t fit & costs heaps to correct & ends up not working as it should anyways??? what happens to the people that i constanly warn about all this... & people ring me all the time for advice & help & assistance & & & & i certainly spend more than half my day, every day, talking with people just like this, on subjects just like this, talking just like this,,, all day every day--> & yet they still persist to go off on their own bat & buy that crap, the wrong stuff, the miss-matching crap, the "so-called" good-gear that turns out to be total & utter crap , just like i said it would be & then they still persist to try to repair & correct all that crap, instead of just sending it back only to have a poor, inferior product in the end anyways,,,???

& it`s ended up costing them a small fortune

yet they ring me for advice to get the right item & at the right price

how come they go & do the exact opposite???

what is wrong with these people?

were they dropped on their head at birth?

what do i say to those people now???,,,

do i just say ":Na na na nah nahhh... i told you so!!! ?????

or do i keep trying to help them???

should i just wash my hands of them???

should i even bother talking to them when they ring again for even more advice???

do i even answer their calls anymore???

i really have wasted a pile of time on all these people havn`t i???

to think that i`ve been doing this specialist mini business my whole life & i really shouldn`t be peeved off should i ???

Ah the Passion ,,, it`s a bitter-sweet isn`t it ???

what was that old saying about you can lead a horse to water , but you can`t "Make" it drink ???

you can advise a mini customer but you can`t grow them a brain

ah well

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

^^^ hear hear..
The problem is we buy from UK but God knows where or how it is made now. UK parts manufacturing is a basket case and has been for years.

As time goes by though, due to demand there will be more Quality stuff made in Oz, some is machined here already.
I'm investigating QL5000 uni joint replacements for a company at the moment. Stay tuned...

Also I'm looking at reconditioning of 1-2 selector forks for 4 synchro remote boxes. (no, not by squeezing them together- you shouldn't do that to a bronze casting).

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

New genuine > Used (servicable) genuine > New cheap aftermarket.
Used non-genuine = throw out immediately.

matt
unfortunately your wasting your breath/time on this one, as its a constant battle to explain differences such as those youve stated,ie genuine ball joints vs the latest batch of crap,genuine disk brake hubs vs the aftermarket ones.
everybody wants a good deal but that generally comes at a cost, that old addage of you get what you pay for rings true.
by the way if anyones after genuine balljoints ive just received a new batch in also
cheers josh

I have been reading a bit in the uk mini forums , where i see this cost/ quality/ debate echoed.
my observation is that many new to minis seem younger and not necessarily well versed in mechanical knowledge.

I myself don't know enough about grades of steel, forged vs cast vs billet, tolerances and the like, but value the informed discussion behind these points- especially regarding safety - like ball joints.

It is a shame that economies of scale threaten the still existing mini specialists- these people (like Matt, JohnS, Lindsay to name a few) all give expertise as part of the service.

While Matt says , you can lead the horse to water etc, i think places like ausmini, play a great role in providing info and educating people to make better informed choices.

little Johnny's teacher asked him to use the word 'horticulture' in a sentence, his reply was

"you can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think"

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

I think there's a few problems mainly with perception .

1/ We still expect new to be better than 2nd hand especially considering todays technology

2/ We as consumers like a bargain and unfortunately so do manufacturers

3/ We are not sure which reproduction parts are crap and if we assume all newly manufatured parts are all crap that will mean the end of the classic mini's as 2nd hand parts will eventually dry up.

4/ And as for a good 2nd part for the price of a new one ? well that seems like a bargain to me as we know the quality of the new ones are crap " we just dont know which parts ".

So what are we left with ? well trusting our fellow ausminians to give us good advice and help each other out as best we can.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers Bill

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Project Pickles is ALIVE!!!!! Click Here!
Success is so much sweeter after the struggle

Matt, If you have a couple of 2nd hand VGC ball joints I would like a couple to put away for future use. Let me know if you have and I will grab them.

Cheers.

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2000 Ford Festiva 'Trio' - 26kw ATW

It's not only happening with Minis.

Certain well known VW accessory brands that have been around for decades are now considered crap. This is because the brand now sells rubbish parts that don't fit. It took 50 years to build up a reputation, then only a few years to trash it.

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

Sure go off and buy cheap but people should then be educated enough to not have to ask question after question as to why it doesn't work.
To spend half your day talking to people about crap parts....forrrrrget it.

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Tim

hee hee, Give Josh (minimports) a call, he`s just said he has new old stock genuine ones, grab em while you can i reckon

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

hee hee ,,, you da man Simon !!!

i`m past that now,,, i`m at the stage where i now say--> "how do you make a hormone...?.....

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

i`m off surfing for a couple of days... need to cool off
cheers all & have a good weekend
Matt

PS: & no my boards are not made in china, they`re hand made here on the east coast of Aust by good old local Byron boys

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Genuine second hand over new cheap crap any day. My current rx3 project has a huge amount of NOS parts going into it and I have not had a single headache putting it together unlike my countryman where it seemed every second part needed modding or throwing in the bin. Thanks god I had a donor countryman to get bits off to recondition.

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1965 Riley Elf
1974 Ex Army Moke
1997 Rover Cooper
2002 JCW Cooper
2003 JCW Cooper S

ive never seen a original ball joint on a mini completly fail, im sure some have been left without grease , not shimmed correctly , but ball joints on a mini are very simple to adjust and service, take the old holden HG and HQ they use to pop ball joints all the time, it was only the after market ones that worked. Cheap china or or cheap mexican parts will always be poorly made, my mate in the usa is selling chinese made stroker kits for Chevy and ford V8s so far there steel cranks have a 1 in 20,000 fail rate .
ur chinese made master cylinder bottles are a high quallity, so there is a few good things coming out of china
xie xie feel like fied wice

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A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying "Damn...that was fun!"