HOOD STRUT CHALLENGE!!!

[Deleted User 38384]

Frankly I'm a little tired of this whole made in the USA thing everyone loves to flaunt, meanwhile it's always a question as to how much they're actually made in the USA, and how much they're just assembled here.

I find a good way to tell that is to look at the size of the facility which they are supposedly manufactured and designed in, go on LinkedIn or another site, see how many employees they have, and see if the numbers add up to however millions of products they sell every year. A lot of times I find it's just a warehouse where things are packaged and shipped from, rarely do I ever come across a company that does everything they say they do from their tiny little facility wedged between two other companies in the same plaza.

Anyways, this is my experience so far having purchased numerous Chinese hood struts for various vehicles I've had over the years, sometimes you win with them, sometimes you don't, but the more based in the USA the company is, the more likely you are to have a quality product. When you buy straight from the manufacturer like I have in the past, it's kind of a hit or miss whether you get a quality product or not. But when you buy from a company that's based in the USA, but manufactures their products in China, you usually get a very good quality product, remnant of the much more expensive products that are supposedly manufactured in the USA.

I think we can all agree at this point that I have a substantial amount of experience ordering from manufacturers in China, maybe not as much as some of the company selling us products manufactured in China, but as an individual buyer I've been doing this for over 10 years now. I like to think of myself as a bit of a DIY expert when it comes to finding products cheaper from their manufacturer in China and ordering and installing them.

Without further ado here is my comparison between my 1-year old @Redline Tuning hood struts, and some cheap Chinese struts I got for $20 off of AliExpress 4 years ago:



I'd love to hear y'all's experiences with whatever brand of hood struts you guys are currently running, and your experiences with domestically produced ones as well as ones that are manufactured in China and other countries globally.

Spoiler: LET THE GAMES BEGIN

Sponsored

 

[Original_Junior]

I prefer made in USA but quality and price matter so foreign products like Asfir skids can get my business. Now if it's just a ripoff of an original product, with no marked improvements over the original, I will always go with the original even if it's a bit more $$$. Bonus, if they are in the US, one can typically get ahold of them if you have an issue. That's matters as much as price.

 

[TopGunViper]

I bought the Redline ones for $89.95 total.
I’ve had them for a year and they still work same as when I bought them.
So much better than using the hood prop rod.

 

[TopGunViper]

This is how it opens after year of having them.

 

[Terrymo]

Redline Tuning since November 2022 still work great with a four year warranty I believe but you pay shipping. Send them the video.

Otherwise I like Stabilus if you know the length and weight they need to support.

 

[AFD]

While I prefer a US company with US-made products, my biggest issue for any product is steering clear of no-name "brands". If I have a problem with a set of Redline struts I purchased, regardless of where they are actually manufactured, they as a brand-name entity have been around for many years and have some level of accountability for delivering a quality product.

Brand ABCDXYZ that might be selling the exact same product, even built in the same factory will likely not exist next year or even the next month after purchase, at least as the same brand name. If they sell me a faulty floor jack that could squash me like a bug or sell me a bag of tainted beef jerky, what recourse do I have to hunt them down in another country to recoup my medical expenses or to even get a replacement product? Buying a faulty product from a no-name brand might be a minor inconvenience, a waste of money or something legitimately dangerous for the consumer. But what do they care, when they'll simply be known as LMNOP brand next week.

So for me, it's not entirely about the country of origin, but rather the responsibility that an established brand, manufacturer or seller has to stand behind that product, no matter what it is.

 

[X35]

No problems with my Redline struts.

 

[Blues Fan 30]

2 years now with the redlines and they still work like brand new.

 

[AKLespaul]

Redline have been flawless for five years now. One of the best upgrades for the JL.

 

[Kracka]

Rival here, I think they're some goofy combination of Australia/Texas, but use German struts. They're holding up perfectly and still open/hold today exactly as they did on day 1.

 

[Deleted User 38384]

Redline Tuning since November 2022 still work great with a four year warranty I believe but you pay shipping. Send them the video.

Otherwise I like Stabilus if you know the length and weight they need to support.

You know what's funny, is I was literally on their website like 20 minutes ago after looking up "US gas spring manufacturers" And they were like number one on the list.

That's one of the things that I found in my research over the years, kind of like with suspension coils as well, If you know the compression rates and the weights and all of the metrics for what you need, you can get some really good stuff at some really great prices by going straight to the manufacturers.

It's actually one of the things I'm probably going to do when I install my aluminum rear window. It's going to be significantly heavier than the glass one one from the factory, and the polycarbonate one I currently have installed right now. So I figured I'd have to learn a lot about gas springs to identify which ones I need to order since nobody makes a aluminum back window for the Jeep Wrangler.

 

[Deleted User 38384]

While I prefer a US company with US-made products, my biggest issue for any product is steering clear of no-name "brands". If I have a problem with a set of Redline struts I purchased, regardless of where they are actually manufactured, they as a brand-name entity have been around for many years and have some level of accountability for delivering a quality product.

Brand ABCDXYZ that might be selling the exact same product, even built in the same factory will likely not exist next year or even the next month after purchase, at least as the same brand name. If they sell me a faulty floor jack that could squash me like a bug or sell me a bag of tainted beef jerky, what recourse do I have to hunt them down in another country to recoup my medical expenses or to even get a replacement product? Buying a faulty product from a no-name brand might be a minor inconvenience, a waste of money or something legitimately dangerous for the consumer. But what do they care, when they'll simply be known as LMNOP brand next week.

So for me, it's not entirely about the country of origin, but rather the responsibility that an established brand, manufacturer or seller has to stand behind that product, no matter what it is.

Yeah I feel you on that.

That's kind of like I said my first post, you can order straight from the manufacturer in China, but it's kind of a wash as to what quality you get.

When US brands go to Chinese manufacturers, they get a sample product, they tell them what they want, any improvements they want applied to their specific order, and then they order a small batch of them. They test them out, any other improvements will get relayed to the manufacturer, and eventually down the line they'll have a final finished product. You don't get that when you go straight to the manufacturer as an individual. So there is a level of quality control from bigger companies who are having their products manufactured in foreign countries.

 

[ym0bc1]

when comparing a product made in USA vs a Chinese, chose the same price point.

It’s so common that people think Chinese products are poor quality, but not realizing they chose the cheap stuff to begin with, instead of a quality one.

 

[ym0bc1]

Bought in mid 2023. Not something I expect for $100 fancy struts

 

[Centurion07]

While I prefer a US company with US-made products, my biggest issue for any product is steering clear of no-name "brands". If I have a problem with a set of Redline struts I purchased, regardless of where they are actually manufactured, they as a brand-name entity have been around for many years and have some level of accountability for delivering a quality product.

Brand ABCDXYZ that might be selling the exact same product, even built in the same factory will likely not exist next year or even the next month after purchase, at least as the same brand name. If they sell me a faulty floor jack that could squash me like a bug or sell me a bag of tainted beef jerky, what recourse do I have to hunt them down in another country to recoup my medical expenses or to even get a replacement product? Buying a faulty product from a no-name brand might be a minor inconvenience, a waste of money or something legitimately dangerous for the consumer. But what do they care, when they'll simply be known as LMNOP brand next week.

So for me, it's not entirely about the country of origin, but rather the responsibility that an established brand, manufacturer or seller has to stand behind that product, no matter what it is.

I hear ya'! I've been emailing GIGGLETOOTYzango about the letters falling off the tires they sold me on Amazon for weeks now. Crickets!

Sponsored