There used to be a chicken commercial with the line "parts is parts" to convey the wrong idea that any part will do as long as it is "close enough". Retailers will tell you that short-sighted strategy will not work. My neighbor, who is rebuilding a car for someone, told me why.
He gets his parts through a mail order house. When you need a part for a 1974 Plymouth you usually have to find a place that specializes in that kind of thing. You can't go to Amazon and buy it. But, what he is finding is that the Chinese are pretty good at making parts for his car - some - so he started buying the cheaper ones if he didn't need an original. He stopped doing that this year.
Some of the parts he was getting are made from steel that is not treated properly and cannot be used for anything that is under pressure (clamps, brake parts, and water pumps) but he didn't know why. A couple of the parts did not fit, not being close enough to the original specifications they were copying. All he knows is that the Chinese cut corners to build their parts and those corners eventually lead to the car parts failing. The Russians used to be famous for the same thing. Build a few things that will last just long enough to get the money from a customer, then it can fall apart.
Before you buy a Chinese car or airplane try to think about what is happening to those parts that are just good enough to work for awhile, then fail for no reason, after a few months. J.D. Powers might have hard time with initial quality on this one, but some of the longer term users will find out. Cheap does not always mean value.
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