I just bought a Mann air filter for my '93 945 and it's made in Mexico. I also got a Volvo branded spark plug kit, P/N 270746. that's made in Mexico as well. First of all, I never heard of RWD spark plug kit, I always used Bosch plugs, but it was pretty cheap at FCP and figured a Volvo branded plug should be a good thing. Time will tell. Anyway, Mann and Volvo items made in Mexico. How about that? Am I out of touch? Has this been going on for a while? I bought some rear brake rotors for the 945 recently and they were made in China! Are these still good parts?
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Vladimir. '98 S70 base, 5-speed manual - his, '93 945 - hers

For suspension, brake, or other critical parts, my independent mechanic here in town is still very dubious of Chinese low-cost parts, but sometimes, there is no choice. More often than before, we are buying replacement parts from the official dealer, despite the cost. At least we hope there is (or was) some degree of quality control.

Only way Volvo stocks plugs for RWD cars is in a kit.

That's fine by me. Are these Volvo plugs good? I just installed the ones I got in the "kit" and the ones I pulled were also Volvo. This is a new to me vehicle and this was the first plug change by me on it. The old plugs looked very good. I got the kit for $12 from FCP, which I guess is not bad for four plugs.
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Vladimir. '98 S70 base, 5-speed manual - his, '93 945 - hers

Dear Vladimir,

Hope you're well. Country of origin also matters. In some countries - e.g., the US/Canada, Brazil; northern Europe; Korea; India, Japan; Taiwan, etc. - the residents generally believe that precision and quality control matter. In other countries, these qualities are little valued.

When good are made in a country, wherein the residents do not see particular value in precision and quality control, product quality is like to be quite variable. The reasons have to do with raw materials, process consistency, and too-little attention to detail.

Thus, a Bosch part made in Brazil can be used with complete confidence. A Bosch part made, in, say, Cambodia would not impress me and I'd certainly not want any mission-critical part sourced from a country, which did not have an "engineering culture".

In agrarian societies - where most wealth derives from farming - there's little need for high-precision. It takes a few generations, for the importance of precision and quality control to become core values.

At the end of World War II, South Korea's was a farm-based society: most industry was in northern Korea, i.e., north of the 38th Parallel. South Korea's military leaders decided to foster development of an industrial base. Now - nearly 70 years later - South Korea makes world-class industrial products.

In sum, the name on the box matters. But if the country-of-origin is one in which precision and quality control are little valued, I'd pass on that part.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Most all of your parts these days are made by the lowest cost manufacturer for the given quality requirement...that last part being important.

China makes every level of quality just shy of Swiss watchmaker precision or Leica lens precision. That said, companies do not normally look to China better-than-average to excellent quality scale unless it is manufactured in their own factory.

A high-end Germanic tool company I worked for had their home-owner-grade tools manufactured in China on the same assembly line as Dewalt and Milwaukee. The QA/QC Engineer for that product line was a buddy of mine and he described it as "Quality and color made to order...you supply the logo." They offered three quality levels for electric motors, bearings/bushings, gears, switches and your choice of 32 colors of plastic.

I said all that to say this, country of origin itself does not dictate quality but the company that is willing to put their name on the box often does. If they are willing to put their name on it, their QA/QC department has looked over it deemed the process and manufacturing methods sound.

Most all you brake discs will come from China or India now as they own more than 80% of the worlds cast iron foundry capacity...It just makes more sense to ship heavy finished products than verses heavy raw materials.

You may have a point here, but there is also erosion of expectations going on in the consumer industry. When 20 years ago you bought a TV set, a refrigerator or another big ticket item you expected it to last at least 20 years and often these product exceeded expectations. Now everything is disposable and has short life span. And what's really sad is that the consumers are getting used to it little by little. So, what used to be quality in a Volvo box is not necessarily the same thing as what today's Volvo box contains. That's my fear. Of course, these rotors were $30 each, which is half the price of what they used to be even back in the day. This makes me worried. One tends to get what one pays for and a $30 Chinese rotor will probably not last as long or perform as well as an old ATE one did. OF course the compensation for this is cheap price. The Walmart mentality is king now. Again, this worries me and it is false economy. If I have to install two sets of $30 rotors in the same time frame as a single $60 rotor would last, I am at a financial loss as a consumer. Same goes for that cheap Chinese tool. If you use the tool professionally and it lasts half the time for half the price you are at a loss because you will need to go and buy another tool. For a professional person time is money. But most people are totally ok with smaller upfront cost and lesser quality. This is what I call erosion of values. This happens slowly and takes a generation or so. Look at the telephone communications. If you compare an old ma Bell telephone set to what they call a phone today you will see a very big difference in sound quality and durability, but does anyone want to have anything with a corded phone today? No. Erosion of quality at the expense of cost and/or features that are at best cool, but mostly useless. Smart phones don't impress me because you still can't have a normal conversation on them. But hey, you can check your facebook. I don't care. Let me have a phone capable of phone calls first and then the rest of the stuff will be impressive. I guess I am getting old...
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Vladimir. '98 S70 base, 5-speed manual - his, '93 945 - hers

I agree that a $400 refrigerator will not last 20 years, whereas many $400 refrigerators of two to three decades ago are still in service.

But, consider that the value of the American dollar has declined substantially over the past 30-35 years. The $400 refrigerator of 1980 would be equivalent to a $1500 refrigerator in 2013, accounting for inflation. And, if you buy a $1500 refrigerator (or clothes washer) today, there is a good chance that it will still work in 2033.

Quality products are out there, but they cost MUCH more than they used to cost.

"You may have a point here, but there is also erosion of expectations going on in the consumer industry."

Agreed completely. My point was, do not look at country of origin to determine quality. If you want to support local business (which I FULLY embrace) or have issues with the human rights activities of certain governments, look to country of origin.

ATE rotors (possibly not all of them) are now made in China as are Brembo.

Most Bosch parts sold in the US are made in Mexico, Spain or China.

Mahle sources from everywhere.

Kumho makes one good tire model (and hundreds of terrible ones)...Goodyear makes hundreds of bad ones (and hundreds of ones better than most Kuhmo's)...both are manufactured overseas.

Yep, we are on the same page. I hear you and I also know that China is capable of extremely high quality. In fact, historically they were the leaders in masterful crafts. It is modern day Walmart Chinese consumer crap and attitude of people consuming it that bothers me. Also, it bothers me that US (and Europe is going the same way) is now devoid of manufacturing capacity for the most common goods. We depend on China for our basic needs. If China decides to raise prices or cut supplies (same result as raising prices) we have no recourse. I am sure we can manufacture brake rotors, spark plugs, cars even as well as any other country, but we choose to support the foreign economy instead of our own. this is very sad and will not end well. Every time I see stuff that used to be solid US or Euro made product going to China my heart sinks that much more. I guess it will take a global financial collapse to revert to local economies. I for one try to at least get my food locally. I live in New England and in the summer it is wonderful and I hardly visit supermarkets. I live in the area where there are lots of farms and most food can actually come from these farms. This is like a time warp also. It feels great to eat wonderful food that you can go and visit or see from the road. I wish more people got the idea...
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Vladimir. '98 S70 base, 5-speed manual - his, '93 945 - hers