Quote:
Originally Posted by jr429
Sorry I meant high volume mfgs not a few one offs done in the shop. I've built a lot of components back in the day, and I used to build some exhaust, intakes, etc. here in the states. The stuff done in the states (at least the factories I worked with was NOT better) they are all typically geared towards industrial solutions so that's why a lot of the "made in usa" stuff looks more industrial. Certainly there are fabrication companies geared towards medical and aerospace, but I've never wanted to build a $5000 exhaust system.
The reality is if your materials are sourced correctly, your equipment is good, and your guys are good you will turn out better quality every time in China. The reason for this is you can have a guy sitting there and spend 6 hours welding together a titanium muffler bead by bead and it'll cost the same as the guy with a MIG here slapping something together. If you have enough production the factory is building for YOU, they are not on a tight schedule to switch production to some factory's chemical piping system or a couple of dozen diesel stacks for trucks.
I don't know of any larger automotive component mfg that doesn't source a portion (if not all) of their product in China. Hell just try buying 1/2" SS304 billet here to CNC machine, guess where the majority of those sheets come from? I don't know about the rest of the country, but here in Cali most of that is shipped from China anyways.
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All my company's stainless flat 304/304L is from the USA, and we're in Canada. Shouldn't be that hard in Cali.
Tubing is a mix of USA (RathGibson, good), Malaysia (Crystal Palace, sometimes acceptable), and unmarked (assumed to be Chinese, and sometimes acceptable but often terrible).