i dont think the fact that products are made by chinese people is why they are bad. the chinese are willing to work for less money.
its the laborers fault for the cheapness. they want a cheap part, fast and made as cheap as possible. since price for making the product is cheap, and adding to that your chinese workers working or little pay. the laborer/cheap part man is able to charge cheap prices for CHEAP stuff.
i am more than willing to bet that alot of chinese workers are more than qualified to make a good part and i bet alot of them are more skilled than american workers.
just because a part is american doesnt mean anything, i have seen plenty of crappy american made stuff. its all in just how much the boss is wanting to spend and how high of a quality he wants to make it, it will all reflect in the retail price of the product.
i work for a custom fab shop, we make fabricated valve covers and oil pans for circle track cars and what not. propan.net is the site to give you an idea of what we make.
we go the extra mile to ensure the parts are high quality. we use a thicker rail than all the other valve covers, the whole valve cover is 100$ backed up, and we try to make pretty welds on then, same for the oil pans, backed up 100%, we leak check everything, fit up each pan and cover making sure it fits, we never get any call backs on something not fitting or anything, we go the extra mile to ensure a good product.
then we get people that freak out on the price of out stuff (sorta seems high for a valve cover or oil pan) BUT it WILL be a good piece, no leaks, will fit and not give you any problems. we have more time and labor in it so the price needs to be higher to cover the cost in making it, if we went cheaper, would certainly bring more people to buy them BUT we wouldnt make any more and then you go nowhere.
we get alot of moroso, champ, olsen, stefs stuff come in, if a motor blows up on the track an aluminum pan usually gets messed up and needs repair, and moroso and all those other guys are made in ameraica AFAIK, and they are good products no doubt, all backed up and look and function like they should. Thats why we try to improve out products so we get people to buy our stuff. we no doubt alot smaller of a shop than the other guys thats why its important we go above and beyond their product to get buyers. we try to get people who want a good custom product with no fits.
as for the cheap chinese valve covers, they do SUCK. but from a function standpoint. the welds look awesome on them. the chinaman who made them (or whoever made them) can weld awesome, BUT the valve covers arent backed up on the inside which is important on aluminum, and they use pretty thin rails. so the rails can be bent easily and the welds will eventually leak. granted they are cheaper, but you get what you pay for. they do look great though, shiny and nice looking welds and for a cheap price. its hard to not buy one, but i have seen and heard of them leaking, we had a customer who got a deal on a whole lot of cheap overseas valve covers like i mentioned, he wanted filler bungs installed in all of them. we installed the bungs for him. he ran the valve covers and cam back and regretted the descision. he said the valve covers broke and started leaking out the welds due to not being backed up. he never bought cheapies again.
i'm not bashing chinese stuff, there are some things you can get cheap and not have problems with, but generally you get what you pay for.
there is a difference b/w cheap and sweatshop cheap, there are some things are are cheaper products but are still great stuff.
i am sure the chinamen making the cheap parts are perfectly capable of making a high quality item, its just if the laborer or boss is making them do that or not.
ive bought my fair share of cheap parts. and alot of good products, i was in debate of buying patriot heads or another brand like AFR of TFS. the cheap price of the patriots was nice. i ended up meeting the guys at patriot at the PRI show in 07, nice guys, and i actually ordered my set. then i had issues with communication with patriot and then decided to cancel the order. for a few dollars more i got a set of TW heads and havent had a lick of problems yet. so on expensive stuff like heads or something, i reccomend getting an established product, will save you headaches. like i said also i have got cheap stuff. i bought some cheap control arms, they work good but the bushings are trash already after a year of use basically. i will have to get new ones. then to support that some cheap stuff is ok, i bought a cheap ebay CAI a long time ago when my stang was stock. its a simple tube and couplers so there wasnt anything to mess up in my eyes, granted i had to cut the tube slightly to fit, but the intake worked awesome none the less. and the typhoon intake i have, no doubt its cheaper, buts its been working great for me so i have no complaints.
just go into a cheap purchase knowing most of the time you get what you pay for. dont be foolish and expect top quality without the price.