• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Where do you guys think these wheel cylinders are made?

hunt2elk

hunt2elk

FBBO Gold Member
FBBO Gold Member
Local time
8:29 PM
Joined
Jul 15, 2009
Messages
10,581
Reaction score
11,797
Location
WI
I ordered a disc brake kit from Dr Diff. Everything in stock except for USA Raybestos wheel cylinders that he has sold in the past. Cass says all the American made ones are gone and all the new one come from overseas, so I am stuck with those unless I can find some older ones sitting on a shelf somewhere. So I was on a mission to find some US ones. Took a chance and had NAPA bring in a pair. Picked them up yesterday and was surprised to see made on China on the box, but USA cast into the part.

20200507_065241.jpg 20200507_065227.jpg
 
Last edited:
I would venture to guess they started life here, and at some point they made their way over there then refurbished / rebuilt and sent to you. mere speculation..
 
Yea buying calipers from autozone for the girlfriends Silverado, I see they have GM stamped on the back but they are just remans from whoever knows where. Same idea. Could also be the body was cast in the USA, then it ended up being assembled in china for NAPA with the rest of the guts too.
 
You would think that would be counterintuitive using US steel and casting it here to ship over there for some rubber parts, maybe machine work, and then sending all the way back. I don’t ever recall needing to turn cores in for wheel cylinders either. It also does not say ‘made in USA’, not sure if it has to or not. Maybe it’s a WC for a B17 Bomber? The Lockheed is also weird, why would a defense contractor be cast into the WC? That’s a strange one for sure.
 
Lockheed supplied brakes to oem auto companies as far back as the twenties( of the last century) including mopar. Looks like they combined with wagner at some point.
Lockheed was oem on my 33 imperials.
 
Looks like they were made for a 'square' B 17.....:D
 
I had him bring in another set for me today as spares. Same China labeled boxes and USA cylinders. The NAPA guy thought they were probably sitting for quite awhile and just got put in new boxes, or new stickers put on the boxes. Who knows. All I know is that I have 4 wheel cylinders with USA cast into them sitting on my garage bench.....
 
Stuff like that from part stores are generally refurbished. So old castings and honed with new seals and possibly pistons.
 
Any parts that are not "new" would legally have to be labeled otherwise. A lot of guessing and personal opinions here. Anybody ask a NAPA rep what the real answer would be ? Reboxed old, new parts. "N.O.S" Remember the term NEW OLD STOCK anybody ?? Good question to have a NAPA store manager find out fore you, if it matters.
 
I say China. A couple of weeks ago I ordered disc brake rotors from Rockauto. I picked the Raybestos ones because the picture looked like the ones I have which are 20 years old or so. Maybe older, and look like the, I assume, originals that were on my '75 Cordoba that I had in the '80s and '90s.
The ones I have have Canada cast into them and the thickness. The new ones lack that and the boxes say Made in China.
I was reading about USA made Autolite spark plugs on the HAMB and a representitive from Autolite got on and posted. He said that Autolite does make spark plugs in America, but they have low volume plugs made overseas. I imagine that applies to a lot of stuff we buy for our cars.
For instance, the thread about Cooper Cobras and the change in Font of the RWL and being made in Mexico. I recently bought a Mastercraft SRT 215/70R15 and it is made in the USA. Same with the four Mastercraft A/S IV 205/75R14s I bought a couple of years ago. There probably isn't a big demand for Cooper Cobras these days.
I'm going to buy four Cooper CS V 215/70R15s this weekend. I bet they are made in America.
 
I think we are all severely underestimating the cost of Chinese labor (and shipping etc) and the associated profit versus the cost of labor in this country.
 
Not much choice for new parts out there. Bought an NGK coil-made in China, even though all the NGK spark plugs I've bought are made in Japan. Bought a Standard Blue Streak coil-made in Mexico.
Bought two Hygrade Thermoquad floats the other day-made in China, but the Hygrade Thermoquad rebuild kit I bought is made in America.
 
I saved and refurbished all my made in USA wheel cylinders when I did my rebuild. New chinese mfr cylinders have smaller bleeders and flimsier boots as well.
 
As much as we may not like it, its a global economy. Stuff gets made where there are less regulations and costs. Does that make the part bad? That in itself no. But its never going back to all made in the USA until the costs are controlled at home. Is it going to get cheaper to do business here? No. However eventually it will get more expensive overseas. With the internet people around the world are becoming educated. They're learning that others in the world are paid more for the same job. They're learning about safety in the work place. Eventually they won't work as cheap as they do now. Nor will they tolerate dangerous conditions. In may not happen in our lifetime, but eventually prices of doing business globally will start to level out. So what do we do now? Buy what you think is the best quality vs price.
Doug
 
dvw said:
As much as we may not like it, its a global economy. Stuff gets made where there are less regulations and costs. Does that make the part bad? That in itself no. But its never going back to all made in the USA until the costs are controlled at home. Is it going to get cheaper to do business here? No. However eventually it will get more expensive overseas. With the internet people around the world are becoming educated. They're learning that others in the world are paid more for the same job. They're learning about safety in the work place. Eventually they won't work as cheap as they do now. Nor will they tolerate dangerous conditions. In may not happen in our lifetime, but eventually prices of doing business globally will start to level out. So what do we do now? Buy what you think is the best quality vs price.
Doug
Click to expand...
Totally agree, just wish we had an option to buy better quality. No doubt I would pay more for that. Here is another example. I just had the engine rebuilt in my 1953 Ford Golden Jubilee tractor. Runs great for 15-30 minutes, then starts spittering and sputtering for a couple of minutes, and then dies. Points and condenser every time. Went through 5 sets this week. The guy who did the rebuild then went directly to the Ford dealer and picked up a supposedly original made by Ford set. Stopped over last night and put them in. Guess what was stamped on the bag? Made in China. He feels bad and stands behind his work, but look at the time and money it has cost him. He is ordering an electronic conversion kit Monday and is expecting to have to go that route.
 
hunt2elk said:
Totally agree, just wish we had an option to buy better quality. No doubt I would pay more for that. Here is another example. I just had the engine rebuilt in my 1953 Ford Golden Jubilee tractor. Runs great for 15-30 minutes, then starts spittering and sputtering for a couple of minutes, and then dies. Points and condenser every time. Went through 5 sets this week. The guy who did the rebuild then went directly to the Ford dealer and picked up a supposedly original made by Ford set. Stopped over last night and put them in. Guess what was stamped on the bag? Made in China. He feels bad and stands behind his work, but look at the time and money it has cost him. He is ordering an electronic conversion kit Monday and is expecting to have to go that route.
Click to expand...

I had that happen with 2 sets of new Standard points sets for a distributor. Each set was junk out of the box whereas re-installing the original set fixed the issue.
 
I worked for an electronic component manufacturer with a plant in China. Part of the reason for China is of course the labor costs are so low compared with the U.S. Another reason is that you can ship raw materials into China without having to pay incoming tariff and ship the manufactured product out without having to pay an outbound China tariff rate.
Actually to sell the components made in China to a China manufacturer making cell phones or other electronic products we would ship the components to Hong Kong and then back into China. It saved paying the tariffs that would have increased our prices.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Billccm
Rebuild wheel cylinder on car easy enough?
Replies
12
Views
1K
Billccm
Billccm
M
Where are you guys buying brake rotors/calipers?
Replies
4
Views
824
icetech
icetech
hunt2elk
  • Locked
FOR SALE 37236 Rear Wheel Cylinders
Replies
0
Views
777
hunt2elk
hunt2elk
T
Thank you for the add!
Replies
11
Views
532
yasser48
Y
9
Homemade Big brakes?
Replies
5
Views
926
funknut
funknut
Auto Transport Service
Back
Top