duralast ball joints vs moog

oklacarcollecto

i completely understand what your saying, i didnt originally start this thread to say i was cheap, im far from it, and dont mind spending my money on well made parts. 20 years ago there never used to be a difference in the store brand, or name brand on most auto parts. i didnt realize how badly this had changed.

once i realized from what everybody was saying about the old made in USA stuff being better, i started to try to find it here local. i found a set of K772 moog upper ball joints made in USA local and was quoted $8.49 each, then i go down there to get them, and they get rang em up for $44 total with tax. pretty screwed up if you ask me.

does that mean im going to buy these parts from china, absolutely not. i dont like doing the same job twice, and dont want these parts failing on me heaven forbid while im driving the car.

i may be a bit tight with my cash, a family of 6 forces me to be, but im no fool. i am still going to look for the made in USA front end parts, but will go somewhere else for them. tell me why i should patronize a parts house who misquoted me on a price even though in our conversation we were talking about moog parts, and not their house brand when he priced them for me.

i know restoring cars causes a giant sucking sound from my wallet, restored several old mopars prior to marriage, a house, and kids. now i have the time to get back into it, but wow how some things have changed.

i do most of my own work, with the exception of machine shop work to engine parts, chroming, and upholstery work for several reasons,
1 i enjoy doing it
2 i know its done right
3 i can do it
4 it saves me money i could spend on other items i need.

in the recent past i have bought autozone parts and never had any problems with them. i have 100K plus on a duralast alternator on my chevy truck, 4 years on 2 duralast batteries 1 in my truck and 1 in my wifes suburban, a starter motor in my chevy truck 50K miles ago. i put brakes on both of these vehicles from autozone, never had any problems with these either. maybe i just got lucky.

im not rolling the dice with chinese suspension parts. the consensus is they suck, i believe it. maybe this thread can help some other people who may have been thinking about the questions i asked about the store brand vs name brand but were afraid to ask. i still believe theres no such thing as a stupid question so i had to ask

BTW i have old made in USA visegrips myself, wouldent trade em for anything. also have US made channellocks too. ever try knipex plyers made in germany. i use these at work, they are really good too.