China, China, China, now theres a topic.
China is the worlds workshop, their ability to produce high quality parts is undisputed despite peoples claims that anything made in china is cheap tat. Don't believe me well turn that iPhone that your highly impressed with over and read the back, designed in California assembled in China. Well that sums it up really, complex items are designed in the west and some components will be made in the west but it is China with the cheap labour and lack of red tape that physically makes these things, what's more that's nothing new. My old work used to make amongst many things bollards for boats, these were hand pressed stainless steel sheet welded together to produce a hollow lozenge, there was a test at work when the boss had sent a prototype to china, to be made from cast stainless. Rumour had it they sent a batch back as it had been made with a red dot on it, the red dot was a drop of blood that had got there by accident from our factory on the model they were sent. its utter rubbish as actually they were sent back because the cast came back with pits and by the time they had been tacked up and re polished the saving was lost. The point I'm making is china is great at making exactly what we tell them but making things off their own back is a little bit of uncharted territory, look at the Chinese made cars for an example. So the question is can China make a quality product, without a shadow of a doubt yes, however it usually takes someone else to show them how. They seem to have become sick of this though as they make these things and sell them to us, who sells them to our consumers for way above what they got, so they have started cutting out the middleman. The fact that China hasn't got much of a respect for patents and breach of them rarely prosecuted. So is the influx of hooky Chinese gear via ebay and allibaba etc, don't forget though they were the ones making the bits they copied to begin with, which is how they know what to make and how.
This is were things get relevant, now id like to point out that I'm merely making observations and speculations so I'm no way saying these are facts you can draw your own conclusions and base your decision's on your own research. Lets for example take a set of Japspeeds 300zx side mounted intercoolers, they retail at £300, Godspeed have a set of similar items, which retail for £197, and yet again a brands called various things available direct from china for as little as £130! what is the similarity? Well they look damn identical! Another example, I know a member who has some expensive front upper arms, a well known brand. He purchased these at expense to replace a set of cheap ones that cracked, only to find that they were identical...that's a problem...Looking at many of these components 90% of the "brands" seems to be identical products, some are different colours others the same but overall they look identical. These doesn't just apply to car parts, the same factory in china make George ladies underwear as they do Victoria's Secret, big price difference same labour force making the product in the same building.
So that takes me back to my original point and a question of what came first the chicken of the egg. Lets assume as our eyes tell us these are one product being made and painted to order and sold on to various UK, USA and AUS based distributers that's a fair assumption. Then lets assume that a percentage of these items are being sold direct from the manufacturer under different names and or colours to us at much reduced price, because why shouldn't they take up he opportunity to make a higher unit price by selling direct through sites such as ebay, aside from the fact it makes western distributors a little pissed. So these Chinese parts for half the price or less in some cases may well be the SAME product as you could pay double for. You could buy both and compare, we could find two members and compare at a show, what that tells you though is they look the same that is all and going back to the bollard pill, they can make things that look identical and are very good at it and arn't that fussed if its copyright. A destruction test of the components in comparison is the only relevant test, as it would determine the quality of the products irrespective of the provenance. So the real question is, are they actually the same products simply being sold direct from source to us cutting out the middle man, personally I expect so but its up to you to decide if that's the case or not.
There is a word of caution to this though, even if they are the same, what happens if it fails and this causes a problem. If you purchased that item from a uk or other large official distributor and it failed due to a manufacturing error you have that a fall guy. Mr Chinese company who is nothing more than an ebay shop isn't going to be your fall guy he is going to disappear just like he will if mr copyright comes knocking, that is the big difference not if it will fail but what will happen when it does... Choose wisely make informed decisions and remember china doesn't automatically mean cheap crap and a Uk or USA based distributors doesn't automatically make it a superior product.
I hope I've made my point and explained myself properly I do struggle getting my thoughts from my mind into words. Il be buying some Chinese intercoolers for £130 soon who ever they are made by.
