"AutoZone only wants to sell shit you do not need and the little packets of light bulb grease and brake anti-squeak they get free from the manufacturer." They tried that crap with me too. I bought a pack of bulbs for my girlfriends Jeep and the salesman tossed a pack of grease on the counter and started ringing it up as well without even asking if I needed it.
One thing that that pisses me off is the people that complain when they buy JUNK rebuilt starters/aternators,then get mad when they crap out a month later. But they always have the same excuse,"but it has a warranty!" Yeah,they have a warranty,but you shouldn`t have to replace it every month!!! An EXCELLENT alternative to high-priced new/reman starters that most people don`t realize exist...are local shops that rebuild them with quality parts,and attention to detail. I go to P&G Keene in Bridgeview,IL for all of my starters,alternators,generators,electric motors,etc. The only problem i ever had was my fault....sinking my `88 Ranger 4x4 in 4-feet of mud. And the prices are very reasonable. So people,ask around or look in your phone books.
Oh,and don`t get me started on rotors/drums!!! Last year I bought a large lot of probably 300 or so new Raybestos Made in USA rotors and drums for resale. I couldn`t give some of them away,and had to sell them all super cheap. People couldn`t care less where they were made,all I kept hearing was "Well Autozone has them for $10.00 each."
Again : I've posted this here before, but it may bear repeating. I have a '51 Ford club coupe that had a brake problem last year. Turned out to be a wheel cylinder. Went to NAPA and ordered one. Out of idle curiousity, asked them how many were available. They said 17. I ordered all of them, and when I got them, I checked out the manufacturing country on all of them. 9 were "Made in USA". I kept those. The rest were were made in Taiwan. Spain, Isreal, and China. Those I returned for a refund, no questions asked. So if you're in Minnesota and can't get a USA wheel cylinder, blame me. (I do make exceptions for HAMB members, of course.) The Tubman <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->__________________
OK, I`ve worked for the corporate NAPA for 5 years now. There is a difference between the NAPA jobbers and the corp. stores. Jobbers can sell parts from other suppliers apart from NAPA where we are pretty much stuck to what we have. So one cannot always compare jobber to corp. Echlin gets parts from many sources. So, check the box to see where it is coming from. I`ve seen everything form Indonesia to original Ford parts (Which aren`t neccesaraly USA made) in the boxes. We also sell a econo line that may sometimes be USA made and the premium (Echlin) version is not. United (Raylock) does our brake parts and there are two versions for drums and rotors. The premiums used to all be USA or Canadian but they renumbered a bunch of the econo ones to the premium numbers so again, check the box. Our econo chassis parts line is actual Moog and the premium is a lot better quality than the econo. Our NAE alternators and starters are our best quality and used to be rebuilt in Sacramento but have moved to Mexico, Indonesia or China. While the new ones usually come from China. We do have a line of parts from the supplier Altrom that is all import car parts but they are all OE equipment which is good. We also sell Delphi which is a major OE supplier and supplies AC Delco. Everyone knows that buying a car from one of the big three does not mean you will get an all American car and the same goes for the aftermarket parts companies. I will also say that 75% of the public does`nt give a crap about any of this and just wants the cheapest parts they can get. Thats why parts and cars are coming from overseas.
you want springs made in the usa then you need to go to your local spring shop and have them make you a set. some of napas stuff is import but so is everyones......
I don't think it even matters where you go, you have to check the parts every time. It's hard to blame the companies, though, every time they turn around the government's giving them another one in the shorts somehow. The one advantage to Napa is a lot of their stores have been around a long time so you have a good chance of running into older stock if you look around some, older stock usually meaning made in USA parts.
napa aint bad i got alot of napa parts on my shoebox and they still working. i never even had to adjust the points on the damn thing since i put em in prolly a couple years ago now
Junk parts chap my ass, I don't care who's selling them. Bought a pair of Balkamp(Napa) motor mounts for my 500 Caddy motor, you know the kind that the actual mount bolts to the chassis and the engine uses a clamshell type bracket. Anyhow get them home and they are much cheesier than OE. Thinner metal,less rubber,yada,yada. Checking them out,ones made in India, the other Korea,can't remember which one,but one had the bottom plate (welded,kinda) upside down so it wouldn't even sit flat on the chassis. Definitely not the Napa of my youth...
Like merc-o-madness my daily driver is a 95 Dodge pick up with 287,000 miles on it. Everything "consumable" on it is from NAPA (mainly because I work there). Working for NAPA gets me a discount but that apart I have had no failures with anything I bought . A battery sat in my RV for almost a year. When I went to start the RV it was flat. I was heading for Bonneville so rather than charge it I got a new one. I told the counter guy the truth and without hesitation it was replaced with a new one. One thing I hate is having to argue with a counter person about a replacing a bad item. As I said before NAPA is great in not being petty. Not only the auto parts industry is world sourcing parts. See how much food in your local supermarket is from foreign sources or ask Walmart how much of their stock is American made.
I used to use NAPA, with great results. I am pretty sure our local one got killed off by Vato Zone and Pep boys. I tend to stockpile old car parts that I buy from estate sales, swap meets, or on line. My newer car needs were fulfilled at NAPA. I used to work at a local shop that the owner also owned the parts store we had to buy from. It was an Auto Value franchise. What a bunch of junk. It got to a point where if we needed an alternator or starter, I'd tell the guy at the store to take the first one off the shelf, and toss it, then give me the second one. The rotors and drums were turned to limits out of the box just to make them true. We usually had to warranty (free labor for the boss) those parts on a monthly basis. His excuse was all rebuilt parts came from the same place (I can't remember right now, but pretty big CO) and it didn't matter who you bought from..same stuff. The best thing about having old cars is the shitty vendors don't carry the parts.
I am an American that is willing to pay double for USA built parts. I just can't find anyone to take my money! About 20-25 years ago I found that if I asked for "Premium Parts" I could pay a little more and get a better, long lasting part (sometimes they were German or some other well engineered country) This all ended 6-7 years ago when I ordered a Premiun set of motor mounts for my 1975 2 wheel drive blazer (with 787,000 miles on it) I got back to the shop and opened the Boxes and they were made in Packistan. I went back screaming like an Idiot (anyone that screams at some poor soul working behind a counter with the public IS AN IDIOT!) I said "Premium not Packistan". I was told that they're not making US motor mounts. I could get some "Hecho de Mexico" if I could wait 3 days. " you're telling me with that 3 bazillion small block chevy's out there and no US company makes mounts??? Just give me my frickin' money back I'll take my business elsewhere" I hit 10 different parts places and got 10 different prices for the same reboxed motor mounts made in Packistan, including NAPA, Chevrolet dealer (in GM boxes) ended up saving $38 on 3 mounts from Carquest. I gave up! we were sold out a long time ago. I don't see any re-pop parts that compare to the old stuff. I guess the only good new is all the new cars are being built with the cheap parts, so we'll alway's have parts houses. anyone out there? I'll pay double for USA parts, triple if they are made from real rubber......Jim
NAPA has different quality levels of the parts they sell. In their ignition line the top quality is Echlin (includes switches), their inexpensive line is Mileage Plus, although now the Echlin line is mostly offshore, as of late....unfortunately. They have normally at least two quality levels of everything they sell, including their chassis parts, revolving electrical, brakes components etc. Agreed their warranty is good. One thing to keep in mind is not all NAPA auto parts stores are company owned, therefore the independents may not sell the same manufacturer of parts that the company owned stores do. The company owned stores are usually understaffed....always watching the bottom line you know.
I just want to throw this in real quick. SAVE YOUR RECIEPTS! I cannot tell you how many times I`v had customers want to return something they bought a year ago, used it and want to return or waraanty it out without a trace of our info. And then get pissed off when I have to question them on it. If it cam from another store I can not research the history on it and if it came from a jobber store from out of town forget it. The general public is completely clueless.
Seems thier parts quality has gone downhill, but prices keep going up.......went into NAPA yesterday for a universal fit radiator hose, was $34.00!!!!......told them to shove it and put the old one back on....I'm kinda cheap, but that seems like a little too much..
If possible you can maybe provide me information on the NAPA refund policy on store bought parts. I have a GMC C3500 6.5 Turbo Diesel that needed a starter about a year ago. I bought a "New" starter from my local NAPA store in Clearwater Florida on 2/25/08 while assigned (active duty Coast Guard) to Air Station Clearwater Fl. It failed twice while stationed there and they were great about replacing it. I have since then moved to Elizabeth City NC via orders to the Air Station here and it failed again here. I took the starter to the local rebuilder which I was lucky to find since they are all but out of business. They tested it and found it to be faulty and here is what they found. The Cad plated long case bolts are so heavily plated and not torqued properly. They caused a lack of ground which has displayed itself as an intermittent start. With proper torque on these bolts and a ground strap from the front of the case to the rear the starter cured the problem. Well after spending $250 on the original, my time to change 3+ starters, the cost of tipping the starter rebuild place 20 bucks, all the parts I changed thinking it was something on my truck to include, Starter Switch $200, Glow Plug Controller which has a built in start relay $80, new batt cables completely to both batts to starter and new relay control wire, and batts are only 6 months old and were tested isolated from the truck. After all this I am very convinced that vendor selection and monitoring is an area NAPA could improve upon. I called Heath Diesel as they are the experts on this vehicle and they provide the original OEM housing starter from an "American" rebuild company. The track record of these units speaks for itself as the city of New York uses them from Heath exclusively and I called and spoke to the maintenance desk myself and confirmed this. I want a complete refund from NAPA so I may purchase one of the units from Heath. I have the box, the fourth starter that still displays the same problems, and my original receipt. How do I get a credit refund from my local NAPA store here in NC. There is no store refund policy information available on the internet. Only for Napaonline purchases is there a detailed explanation of how to get a refund. Thank you for any help you can provide. If modification to an original part is required to make it work and I have to perform R&D to get to a point where my truck is dependable then I believe NAPA has a responsibility to refund the money for the original cost of the starter so I may purchase a reliable unit.
Don't expect to get U.S. made parts just because you buy them from the dealer. I work in a Chevrolet dealership, and could show you all sorts of "O.E.M." chinese parts on the shelf. My friends that work the parts dept. in Ford and Mopar dealerships tell me it's the same deal there. Like one of the other posters mentioned, when I go to swap meets these days, I keep an eye out for vintage ignition parts. I was overjoyed at fall Englistown this past September when I paid $20 for a box full of old Standard caps, rotors, and point sets, and got several Chevy 235 pieces.
ha ha ha you are so right, lets all hope it don't come down to just wal-store selling auto parts ..I mean they just about have everything else covered, I hear that some good year tires are made in china..but by far n.a.p.a. has to be the best chain auto parts still, in my area we don't have many independent stores or owners anymore, I think owenby was the last,
Fixedwing.... You should`nt have a problem returning your starter as long as you have a reciept. That makes thing much easier at least at corporate NAPA since we need to reference your original invoice number on the new paperwork. A jobber store might not be as easy though so I cannot speak for the stores in your area. Its kind of a cloudy area. We recently had a training seminar and were basically told to do what ever it takes to make the customer happy. But when I replaced a defective AC compressor without proof of the customer replacing the acclumulater and oriface tube I got chewed out by the assistant manager. You just can`t win sometimes.
I recently bought 2 wheel cylinders from Napa that fell apart when I went to bleed the brakes. The metal around the bleeder screw literally crumbled apart when I went to torque...and no, I didn't over-torque the screw. However, I also bought a new water pump from them and loved it. The NAPA near me has recently merged with Walker Auto. I used to be able to walk in and have the counter people assist me but the last time I went, the guy complained about walk-ins to my face. I got the message.
NAPA is great. I don't have to look around piles of seat covers, window stickers, hatchback window louvers, air fresheners, underbody lighting and all that other bullshit just to find a tube of grease. I get the right part the first time and they always have the answer or can get me the answer.
Gary, I bought rear springs from Eaton for my 63 Riviera. They were well made and service was excellent. They were not cheap by any means, but they did the job well and didn't have to take an ocean voyage to get to me! LOL!! HTH, Tim
you might try checking with 4 wheel drive shops or companys that do lift kits. i'm sure they would know where to find quality springs
Gary: eaton is a large specialty shop, they produce a great product, but a lot of their, extras ie. anything they don't manufacture themselves is subject to this messed up off shore deal. They are like your local spring shop on steroids. Napa springs like bluecollarguy said are made by dana, same folks who bring you spicer ujoints, victor reinz gaskets. Strong companies! high quality. where they are made? your guess is good as mine, but as far as an aftermarket part that good quality, YES, Good to see All Napa folk chiming positivly in, corprate and jobber alike!
FIFTY...many american co. outsource products, hell man 80% of walmart is from china! NAPA has allways had great parts. and they back them up. did you know cadillac has 2 mfg. plants in china, so what's the problem yank!...POP.
I have a local NAPA that I use for farm & street rod stuff....not because the part quality is any better , not because they are cheaper. I use them because they LISTEN TO THE CUSTOMER , and treat me very good when I go in there , and if the computer doesn't list something , they break out the books....I have never gone in there ,and come out without finding what I was looking for ...they may have to order it in, but they did find it at a reasonable price. You can also talk to the owner just about anytime but tee time in the summer , which is thursday after 3....Shawn
not a refund policy, but very useful info: http://finance.aol.com/company/genuine-parts-company/gpc/nys write a letter detailing your experience to the CEO of General Parts Co. Thomas C. Gallagher with your story and make sure you let him know that you are interested in remaining a loyal NAPA customer. Any company of value will be sure that they get someone to help you out. You'd be surprised what a well written, snail mail letter to the president of a good company will get you. Genuine Parts Company Thomas C. Gallagher CEO 2999 Circle 75 Pkwy. Atlanta, GA 30339
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