Autolite Spark Plugs - CHINA

Not sure if you are directing this at me....

My point was that, again, he would seem to be the logical person for us to direct complaints, criticism, suggestions, etc. to at Honeywell. Insulting him personally isn't going to accomplish much.

As far as your interpretation of his behavior- the generic pasting of comments- I don't know, as I wasn't sitting next to him when he sent it. I found it amusing that people were saying that it looked as if it came from a Chinese computer. I frequently write longer tech posts in Word to avoid losing it all due to browser, forum, or connection problems

"Putting down the fickle mob"...maybe. That's certainly one interpretation of it, and I respect your opinion. However, look at the other side of things for a minute.

We live in a world of instant gratification and little-to-no personal responsibility. Many people expect service/satisfaction RIGHT NOW...whether their demand is reasonable or not...and when they don't get it, instead of dealing with that person, they simply demand to speak with a supervisor...or that supervisor's supervisor...or they slander the company on the Internet.

I was taught as a child that there are three sides to every story. On the Internet, you generally only hear one side. We've all seen this happen (people posting complaints about Company "X")- and we all know people who complain when they haven't got a leg to stand on. There are also a great many people who stir up shit simply to amuse themselves. Given all that, it's difficult for any company to defend themselves over the Internet...and, as a general rule, the person who gets stuck with that job generally has main responsibilities elsewhere & can only devote a small amount of time to the Internet. Not saying it's right...

Getting back to the original topic- Chinese-sourced spark plugs- I suspect that it's only going to get worse. Eventually I would expect that there will be only a few large-diameter plugs, or none, and older vehicles will require adapters. As you say, we have a love & passion for tradition (and not just cars...there are some epic camper, older home, gas station, & radio threads on the H.A.M.B....nostalgia is us!). But we, unfortunately, are not the unwashed masses...who don't give a damn whether the spark plugs are Chinese, Mongolian, or Martian, as long as they don't have to worry about getting them. The only cure for this is to educate others, and to try to influence opinions towards buying American-made products...and to make certain that the American-made products are of good quality.

 

no not directed at you.. all i meant was that i am surprised that more people were jumping on the bandwagon to bash his company's product then questioning why he was here in the first place.. besides i'd never pick an arguement with someone from Peoria.. I have family there the original post that started this didn't say that the product was bad anyways.. just that it wasn't made here... and get a load of this.. to further help keep american jobs i found out his neat little tidbit that might help people out.. Ever call a customer service line for a supposed "American" company and end up talking to someone half-way across the globe? oh yeah you have.. well it turns out that all you have to do is request to speak to an american and they are reguired to oblige.. If enough people do this the companies will eventually have to hire more americans here at home to take the increased call volume.. try it out..

 

Hi Guys do you know in a few years there will be more people speaking English in China than all the English speaking countries in the world added together. That's shocking but what is happening. The world is changing fast, people are always in front of the governments leading the way. I don't hate people that's stupid and governments change with time. Look what we just went through.

You know there have been a few people who came on this thread to explain whats going on with Spark plugs as they work for the companies; give these guys a chance listen to them they know what they are talking about.

The thing we have to do back home is work on the things that we do best and try and improve our selves. We have a lot to learn and have gotten fat and complacent from success and now we have to get lean and mean again.After the II War we had it easy now people have caught up and passed us. Its time to knuckle down again and get back to work and concentrate on those things we do well and develop those things where we have an advantage and work on our weaknesses. That's what these countries have been doing and what we need to do also.

When I came to Asia I was competing against the Japanese, man had they learned a lot they spent years building up there trading companies learning about other nations learning the customs and languages so they could do business there.

Today it is China and tomorrow India so knuckle down boys we have a lot of work to do if we want to be competitive.

I thought I was sharp but man I was stupid and lazy its taken me years to learn Languages and Customs of other countries and how to do business with them.I still have a long ways to go as only now is it starting to get easier as I can finally see how far I have to go and am not caught up in my ego thinking I know it all.

Remember that in the future the world will have to be as one, or it will not work as the problems are bigger than nations.If we want to see this planet Earth work we will all have to pull together.

 

i like autolite plugs, i used to run them with nitrous. they're great because they'll melt before a piston will!!

yeah, what's been going on sucks, but like was stated, it's where the world is going. you either get with it or get left behind. it's a harsh fact of the reality we've created for ourselves. now GM is talking about having their cars built in china. after the chinese tried to kill our children with lead painted toys and kill our pets with poisoned food, i'll be goddamned it i buy a car made there.

 

Nope, all good here.

It will be interesting to see how well the Chinese plugs work. They certainly can produce decent products, though frequently they are not required to do so...or their quality is not monitored.

 

Chinese (Cantonese ) is spoken more than English ,,English is 3rd in the world

 

Hi I was just at a trade seminar to learn more of what is going on in China as I work and live in Asia and they were talking about what is happening in China and they said in a number of years China will pass the world in English speakers. I found that very interesting.

I also met a guy who is buying up old companies in Europe and America who aren't doing well and selling them to the Chinese as the Chinese want to use established trade names for there products as people are more likely to buy from companies they know rather than companies they have never heard of.

Well it is 1:12am in the morning here in Thailand I have to be up in less than 5 hours to feed my kids and get them off to school good night all !

 

oldspwr,

In answer to your question "What the hell are we going to do now?" I would suggest you contact Autolite and tell them you won't buy products made in China if your real objection is foreign made products in general. That is your right. If you are concerned about quality, run them and if there is a problem return them. If there is a quality problem it is the fault of the American Company that puts their name (and reputation) on the product, not the Chinese. If the American company doesn't specify and then inspect the products with their name before they distribute them it is their problem (and it will eventually come back to haunt them). If we don't complain nothing will change. The fact that the Chinese have a space program says they can produce quality products. The real problem is most American companies when dealing with Chinese manufacturers are more interested in low price than quality. The problem is ours to fix and complaining/not buying is the solution.

Charlie Stephens

 

I'm noticing in this thread, the vast majority of people say they won't buy Chinese products because they're junk. Generally, I agree. However, just a sidenote, what if they weren't? What if Chinese products were absolutely the best, highest quality you could buy? Would that change your buying habits?
I, for one, try my best to buy US made stuff, but my reasons go much further than concerns of quality. Sure, that's one of the major concerns, but let's look at others. Supporting our economy is one reason. I'll always try my best, but within reason. If a US company is going to pump out inferior products (think GM and Chrysler, unfortunately) then I can't, in good conscience, support them. I need quality products, regardless of the country of origin. But, so far, China hasn't shown me much quality.
How about those countries that operate on a level playing field, that buy US products, that have fair labor practices instead of 14 cent a day child slave labor? I don't think there are too many 9 year olds in Montreal, or Stuttgart, or Vienna working in a tsetse fly-infested sweatshop for a bowl of gruel.
My point is, I don't buy US products solely on the premise of quality. There's so much more to think about.
So, MotorKing, I appreciate the fact that you're willing to open up the lines of communication and stand behind your products regardless of the country of manufacture, but at some point you have to sit back and take in all the comments here, and try to get a feel of the resentment. People all over this country have lost their jobs to outsourcing, and because of that, it's extremely difficult to sell them on the idea that it's okay to buy products made in a country that has taken away some of their jobs. The quality could be the best in the world, it wouldn't matter. You could guarantee the product 200%, it wouldn't matter. You could come up with all the excuses, all the reasoning, and open up all the lines of communication, it wouldn't matter. What matters is, the bottom line may have grown for Honeywell, but there are many customers you may never get back, and that group of lost customers is growing, not shrinking. People are waking up and putting the "made in China" products back down on the shelf and walking away. I'm one of them. You can do something for this country, or you can do something for the almighty dollar. Ultimately, sometimes you can't do both. In the end, what's going to help you sleep at night?

 

Very well said sir, and I share your point of view.

 

I hope that was supposed to be a joke.

 

Wow, the personnal attacks just keep on coming. I am a hot rodder, own my own hot rod shop for 22 years "MotorKingRacing". I own a 1967 Mustang Fastback with a 430ci stroker, 5 speed, roll cage, and ten foot paint job done in the garage, you know LOUD, FAST, Redneck hot rod, also drive a Turbocharged made in lansing michigan Cadillac CTS-v as my daily driver.
To all of you critics/patriots-If your not complaining to the parts stores, writing letters to the manufacturers and letting them know how you feel, YOU ARE the problem.
Now- I have uncovered a stash of #24, #25 and #386 USA made copper cored spark plugs that will be sent free to those who email me their requests at Motorkingracing@yahoo.com. Be sure to include your mailing address.
I really want to send a set of 386's to the guy who started this thread so he can do back to back comparisons.
If you all spent as much time calling/emailing companies about your issue's, they might do business a different way.
BTW-There is no spark plug company that exclusively manufactures spark plugs in the USA. We do make spark plugs in the usa, mexico and source nearly obsolete, low running part numbers from china.
PS- We rent a full city block for The Woodward Dream Cruise every year, I am inviting any HAMB member to bring your car out and hang out with us, you will find out we are car guys and have the time of your hot rod life!

 

What a shame. A manufacturer rep chimes in and it triggers 3 pages of ranting about global market conditions instead of a technical discussion.

People, we could've had 3 pages of intelligent, productive input that was feeding direct to a manufacturer. Instead we paint ourselves as petty children that will never be satisfied.

Nice work people, nice work. Way to utilize your resources to the fullest.

 

Not sure how much technical discussion is needed for a spark plug. It's a pretty basic item that hasn't changed a whole lot over the past 50+ years. Most of the "innovations" have been gimmicks and not real improvements. What is a concern to many of us is the quality and reliability of the product. And as you can tell from the prior posts, lots of people here have lots of experience with products, including sparkplugs, that went to crap when they were outsourced to China. So the discussion is on point. If you have technical questions, fire away.

 

OK, here's a technical question. As a pseudo ceramist who's dealt with zircon and silica and other mined/milled powders.....there's been a lot of shifting in the world markets. Both in terms of how the minerals are processed into powders and where they come from. No two natural deposits of minerals will produce the same finished product.

So my question is.....is the spark plug industry facing the same problems other technical ceramic industries are when it comes to sourcing material that's "the same" as it was 50 years ago? There seems to be a global shift in quality as mines are exhausted and moved around.

 

"what the hell is the world coming to junior" a friend of mine ,bob mitchell, just bought a set of AMERICAN racing wheels , torque thrust.. ang all over the box it said "made in china" also, M.S.D. ingintion is now made in china.. boxes ,and coils dropping like flys..
now unreliable..
good luck. finding anything not made in china

 

darn it, just came in from putting a new set of Autolite 216s in my Ford, Now i see made in China, go out and look at boxes, yep. made in China. Crap.

 

In the 80s I owned one of the last full service gas stations.A tank full of gas would cost you appox. $1.00 more ,with that you got the service of the oil checked ,windows washed,tires aired ,bathroom,travel directions,gas pumped.The quality of service that went with the gas sale was too expensive for most people .I was left a part of forgotten history like small town U.S.A.for self service and wallmart.

 

<=Still waiting on my complementary Autolite 24's from Motorking.

By the way I ran across this, none in my area but I like the idea.
Click on "Made in USA sale"

 

I feel you on this I had the same type of plugs for my Y block and was pissed.

I also bought some Wagner wheel cylinders off Ebay and the jerk seller stated made in USA. When they arrived "MADE IN CHINA" I paid more for the same crap and was misled on the auction. Seller did refund me some loot.

This is why I spend endless hours rebuilding original parts than tossing even the simplest thing for a repop made in Cat land.

US manufactures all shifted to overseas hence one of the main resons for the economic mess and job loss in our country.

I so wish laws could be passed against this outsourcing from US manufactures because we consume everything from Asia yet they consume nothing from US.

 

US manufactures all shifted to overseas hence one of the main resons for the economic mess and job loss in our country.

I so wish laws could be passed against this outsourcing from US manufactures because we consume everything from Asia yet they consume nothing from US.[/QUOTE]

Stop voting for anybody that doesn't appose free labor(free trade) agreements and they will.

 

the fact that we have come to the point where we are a country that no longer "makes things" breaks my heart.

 

When the "free trade" debate started, it was touted that if U.S. manufacturers were allowed to set up shop overseas it would so improve the economy of the underdeveloped countries that they would more be able to buy U.S. goods.... A win/win situation.

I don't think it's turning out like they planned.

Perot was right.

 

Yep, it's pretty sad. Cap and trade will kill what's left.

 

For your information, I picked up a Bosch oil filter the other day to try for the first time, and it says right on it, made in USA.

 

China made is something we all have to live with until Government and the general public change. Every one is pissed but nothing is going to change until we clean house. I have stated before on the HAMB that the USA was once an industrial Giant and now we make close to nothing and have to rely on foreign goods. I go out of my way for American products but gets harder each year to do. The spark plug thing is just a small speck compared to all the other substandard items we have in our stores now.

 

Yes!
there is a lot of validity in what you are saying here..
I dont want to go fully into it but the quality and availability of the raw materials in ceramics and refactories is changing . My Company deals with Refractories, which is a Ceramic in nature used in Steel mills, Boiler linings and Incinerators, refinery linings etc..we have been dealing with issues that have been quality control on raw materials alot lately..
Im sure a company building spark plugs have to be dealing with some of the same issues as we are.
China owns the Boxite mines..they dont sell the good stuff to us..we get the shit. so our perameters on raw product moves alot on the quality scale.(cement is also out of spec. lately).and that has a big effect on the product quality..these same issues are being played with when it comes to all the other minerals out there used in these processes..its a big f-ing head ache.

 

The tired of the 'made in china', spark plug,etc, reps, who keep saying, if there's something wrong with the made in china part, send it in, we will fix it. Well it just so happens that we have better things to do with our time than bringing in junky parts. Tell that to this guy who bought a new cadillac cts, from china,and it fell apart on him. www.madeinchinacadillac.com

 

Sorry! A "real" Caddy is huge.. Weighs in at about 2-1/2 tons and has real class... Plus it was made here in the United States..

 

Hi hiro.

Thanks for digging up this awesome thread to post some bullshit about an OT car that few, if any, of the people here care about.

Can I interest you in a plastic bag and some duct tape?