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Vintage465
Prunedale CA.
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Joined: 05/02/2015
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I bought Chinese after market headlights for my 1999 Suburban. Fit like crud, low quality. I got frustrated and went to my buddy at the GM Parts counter and he got me some new OEM ones. When he handed them to me, they were made China. I said "hey, your stuff is made in China too"! He said, "yeah but our Chinese is better than your Chinese............and it was!
V-465
2013 GMC 2500HD Duramax Denali. 2015 CreekSide 20fq w/450 watts solar and 465 amp/hour of batteries. Retired and living the dream!
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Cummins12V98
on the road
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Joined: 06/03/2012
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Nv Guy wrote:Since I don't pay my insurance premiums with foreign or counterfeit currency, when the DW bent her car, I made it crystal clear to both the body shop and insurance adjuster that no non OEM or used parts were to be used. Dealing with an accident is bad enough, but having to worry about poor quality parts is just not right.
Read your policy.
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#1Flyboy
California
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Joined: 09/08/2005
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China is referred to as CCP = Communist China Party; don’t leave out the Communist Party please !
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BB_TX
McKinney, Texas
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Joined: 04/04/2005
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My only surprise would be if not all OEM lights are also made in China. Or likely they all are but are made to higher specs than aftermarket.
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Wade44
Ohio Farm Country
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Joined: 03/29/2022
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Cummins12V98 wrote:Nv Guy wrote:Since I don't pay my insurance premiums with foreign or counterfeit currency, when the DW bent her car, I made it crystal clear to both the body shop and insurance adjuster that no non OEM or used parts were to be used. Dealing with an accident is bad enough, but having to worry about poor quality parts is just not right.
Read your policy.
Exactly. I change carriers just about every time renewal comes up. In the past 10 years or so we've had Progressive, State Farm, Liberty, Erie, Farmers, NJM, and a couple more. Every single one of those had spelled out in the policy non OEM parts could be used. To get OEM parts specified it was always an up-charge to the premium and a substantial one. If you're getting the discount rate, you're going to get discount non OEM parts.
2018 Marathon H3-45
2019 GMC Sierra Denali (Toad)
2012 Grady White 271 Canyon
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IDman
Oklahoma
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Joined: 07/19/2010
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In your original post, you said you fought to "save" the vehicle from being totalled. Just curious why you would have wanted a truck that had been damaged so heavily?
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BobsYourUncle
Calgary Alberta Canada
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Joined: 12/12/2003
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IDman wrote:In your original post, you said you fought to "save" the vehicle from being totalled. Just curious why you would have wanted a truck that had been damaged so heavily?
Truck was paid for in full. It was a really good truck, zero problems to that date, no costs aside from regular maintenance. A payout would have been well below market value. The BC insurance is notorious for that. I didn't want to get back into financing another new vehicle. This one was so good I didn't want to lose it.
The GM body shop that fixed it has a reputation for top quality work, and I trusted them to fix it properly. And they did.
Over 9 years later, I know I made the right decision. No issues whatsoever from the repair.
2007 GMC 3500 dually ext. cab 4X4 LBZ
Dmax/Allison
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Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
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Joined: 05/06/2013
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IDman wrote:In your original post, you said you fought to "save" the vehicle from being totalled. Just curious why you would have wanted a truck that had been damaged so heavily?
2012 was a bad time to upgrade from a LBZ Dmax with anything but another LLy or LBZ, so the OP was quite limited in not buying more problems based solely on emissions standards.
* This post was
edited 05/01/22 06:57pm by an administrator/moderator *
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MEXICOWANDERER
las peñas, michoacan, mexico
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Joined: 06/01/2007
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It was pure luck that I got what I wanted: misaligned aiming. I was looking for 9004 LED bulbs that shined much brighter than incandescent factory bulbs. I was going to re aim the lamps downward to illuminate the street close to the car. Potholes and debris.
After installation they turned out perfect (laughter). High Beam really lit up the street in front of me. The hot spot was 30' ahead. And for oncoming drivers, there was less glare on high beam than the old bulbs had on low beam.
All without touching the adjustment. Because I do not drive outside of city limits and never in the rain. The crappy integral fan in the heat sink has a longer chance of living.
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Skibane
San Antonio, TX
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Joined: 11/09/2005
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mleekamp wrote:Another option, as long as the factory headlight assembly is not broken, is to buy the $30 (may cost more now than a few years ago) headlight restoration kit at your auto parts store. I tried it a few years back on an older vehicle. Basically, it's a paste, with some sort of grit, and you use circular pattern to mill off a couple thousands of an inch of the face plastic material. It's a multi step process but I saved money, and 3 years later they still look good. In the end, it allows you to remain using your factory lighting assembly but remove the yellow haze. Worth checking out for those in that situation.
Yep, lenses that are fogged with age don't let as much light through - and the light that does get through tends to be dispersed in all directions. So, you get more glare in unwanted directions, and less light in the desired direction.
I've used the Sylvania restoration kit several times, and really like it - Makes a very fogged lens look almost brand-new again.
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