In America, suspension parts for normal, everyday cars are shockingly cheap, and have been for many years. One of the great ways to really tune up a vehicle whose ride is a bit wallowy is to buy an affordable “suspension kit” from eBay. It comes with a ton of parts — control arms (with ball joints), inner and outer tie rod ends, struts, and on and on. It’s extremely comprehensive, and the amount of improvement to your ride per dollar spent is shocking. But those days may be coming to an end, in part, because Detroit Axle is on the struggle-bus.
Detroit Axle has been my go-to for cheap suspension bits; I’ve been buying from them for years.
In fact, I recently I bought a control arm/tie rod end/sway bar kit for our Nissan NV200 taxi Copart partnership. And a year and a half ago I bought the same parts, but for a Toyota Sienna. As you can see, the price was right:
The Nissan’s kit isn’t installed yet, but the Toyota van got those new parts, and in addition to a set of struts, they were an absolute game-changer for a vehicle that had sat dormant for years.
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Look at how smooth this ride is:
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I also bought this kit for my old 2009 Nissan Versa, which I was gifting to a friend:
I ended up road-tripping the Versa to Arkansas, and it was fantastic.
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I also bought dirt-cheap wheel bearings for the HHR I bought for my friend’s parents:
I generally try to replace old suspension components when I’m giving a car to a friend or family member, and Detroit Axle has been my go-to, because the pricing is amazing.
That HHR’s suspension job was horrible, but in the end, the thing drove from Detroit to New York like a dang cloud:
Obviously, if you have a performance car, maybe dirt-cheap suspension bits sourced from China aren’t the move, but for the vehicle’s I’ve owned, which have been normal daily-drivers, Detroit Axle ball joints/tie rod ends/control arms/sway bar links/struts have been awesome, cheap, and way safer than old, worn out bits.
The problem is, Detroit Axle is apparently in dire straits, as The Detroit News writes:
“Detroit Axle’s situation is dire; it will likely be forced to shutter most or all of its business and lay off hundreds of employees if it does not receive relief by the end of June,” attorneys for the company wrote. “And every day that passes without relief brings new irreparable harm to the company in the form of lost business opportunities, customer goodwill, and reputation.”
The site goes on to mention an over 70% tariff:
But it says that the problem with the small-value package exception centers on its distribution operation in Juarez, Mexico, which receives parts from China before shipping them out to U.S. customers. Before, shipments worth under $800 could avoid being taxed at the U.S. border, but in early May, Trump’s move to end that exemption took effect.
That has left the company to pay a “crippling 72.5% tariff on goods that it ships from its Mexico facility to consumers in the United States,” its attorneys wrote. The company argues that the administration exceeded its authority and didn’t follow proper rule-making procedure when it axed the small-value goods exception.
Then comes this bombshell:
“The company cannot absorb the massively increased costs from the 72.5% tariffs and cannot meaningfully raise prices on its cost-conscious customers,” company attorneys wrote. “So by the end of June, Detroit Axle will likely be forced to close its doors and lay off hundreds of employees in Michigan.
Yikes!
Obviously, my cheap suspension parts are of no importance in relation to people’s jobs, and obviously, I have no interest in talking about the politics of tariffs vs no tariffs. I’ll just say that I like the idea of trying to get more manufacturing jobs stateside if it’s done in the right way.
No, this short article is just to point out that one of the big players making it easier for you and me to keep our vehicles in good order on the cheap could be going away soon, and I’m sure they won’t be the only ones. It could make wrenching that much more challenging for us enthusiasts.
[Ed note: This has an interesting history and had a lot to do with Section 321(a)(2)(C) of the Tariff Act of 1930, which came into law in 1938 and allowed for the lowering of tariffs on small items that were worth less than $1, though in the years since it’s increased to $800 (per person, per day) and with the Internet the number of goods entering under Section 321 has grown to beyond a billion annually. Generally, there’s bipartisan support for this law as it can relieve inflationary pressure and allow for an easy flow of goods. At the same time, though, it’s likely resulted in job loss for local retail and also potentially contributed to the flow of illegal substances in the country, which is why there’s been some bipartisan talk of ending it. President Trump decided to end it via an Executive Order, and now Detroit Axle and others are suing, saying that reversing this decision requires more than just an EO. – MH]
Images: Author unless a screenshot from eBay/Amazon
Ha, love seeing my photos and my Vibe make your story!
Same Vibe that 2+ years later I still haven’t replaced any suspension parts at 375k+. 😉
For an ‘03 CRV, I bought lower front control arms with bushings installed, lower ball joints, a ball joint press, front half shafts left and right, a complete drive shaft to the rear axle, tie rod ends, rear differential bushings, a new harmonic damper for the differential and a radiator, all for less than $1000, delivered. And I tended to buy the highest priced components that I judged to be better quality. The new control arms were indistinguishable from the OEM parts I replaced. I can also buy four complete struts, assembled with new springs, for $300. Never in my life have auto parts been so cheap.
The only super cheap suspension parts I bought were front sway bar links for my old ZJ that seemed to eat the Mopar ones just as fast as the cheap ones.
For everything else, most of that stuff is such a PITA to change I’d rather just buy the higher quality part that will last. I stuck with Moog, and Lemforder for my Volvo.
With my 4Runner, it seems that even the Moog stuff is relatively crappy, so I’m going to have to go full OEM for that when I get around to refreshing the steering components and wheel bearings.
With nothing done on industrial policy, these tariffs are just dumb. And does anyone WANT to work at a tie rod factory? Unless it’s a union place, MFG jobs really aren’t that great anymore.
And what about the companies that already DO mfg their goods in the USA? I work for such a company, and we’re getting nailed with tariffs on raw materials.
It’s awesome how we have the absolute dumbest people making these decisions.
General, mass produced manufacturing have never been great jobs, that’s why the unions exist, to make them at least decent. We need these things to get made, but exactly to your point, did anyone ever aspire to stand on an assembly line for 8-10 hours a day and stamp the same part? (And don’t think I look down on manufacturing in general. But there is a huge difference between being an operator with agency and oversight and just being grunt labor.)
Global competition killed way less American manufacturing jobs than good old automation anyway.
Why not figure out a way to make the direct services jobs better paying and less soul-sucking? Those are the jobs that can’t be automated and make a huge difference in quality of life in an advanced society. Child care, senior care, skilled nursing etc.
I ordered a set of 4 struts and 2 sway bar links from Detroit Axle before I left for Kansas for work. I ordered them on a Saturday, with estimated arrival by Thursday. That changed to Friday, but then Friday came, and no parts. I checked the tracking, and they had never even shipped anything. I called them Saturday morning, hoping I could just drive to Ferndale and pick the stuff up, but the warehouse is closed on Saturdays. They assured me all the parts were in stock, and would be shipped ASAP, not that it mattered since I was leaving that day.
A box with only 2 struts with different part numbers showed up late that week, based on the pictures I was sent, but apparently they were interchangeable part numbers, and the other parts were on the way. They did show up, a full week later than the first parts, and the sway bar links were inside one of the strut boxes, so I almost thought they were missing. I’m still not home, so I don’t even know if they really are the right parts, but I hope so.
A buddy ordered $2200 worth of brakes, suspension and other parts for his Mini from England, he got hit with $550 of tariffs!
Eh, the tariffs are temporary, just a way to force other countries to the bargaining table. Before you know it, it will be all over.
Oh you sweet sweet ignorant child.
LOLOL.
You’re not supposed to drink the Koolaid!
I bet you also think that the country of origin pays the tariff and it doesn’t get passed onto the consumer, don’t you?
I got a whopping 24k miles out of the upper ball joints and tie rod ends on a Detroit Axle front end set for a GMT800. Cheap parts, but ultimately cost me more than shelling out for the Moog parts from the start. Hate to see jobs and industry take a hit, but this place already lost my business
Unless you really love doing maintenance you should by quality stuff.
Lesson definitely learned on that one, I was 6 months into my first big boy job and thought I found the deal of the century
The CEO of Detroit Axle is an idiot and deserves to lose his business. It sucks ass for the employees, though.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/07/us/china-tariffs-michigan-auto.html
“Mr. Musheinesh said he had been leaning toward supporting Kamala Harris in the run-up to last year’s election, but ultimately decided not to vote for a presidential candidate. He described his political beliefs as a mix of both parties’ values, and said he usually did not vote.”
FAFO
FAECSWOVMAFTPFSAFO.
Fool around in the electoral college system where the only votes that matter are a few thousand people in five states and find out.
It’s weird because my DIY skills came from the early 2000s, and on VWs, so the idea of using eBay for parts was generally considered verboten. By the way, that’s German for “if you don’t use OE+ parts, the ghost of Dr Mengele will find you in your sleep and turn your skin into a door card membrane.”
So being brainwashed into only using high-quality stuff made me skeptical of cheapo parts from a pretty young age. I’m still trying to break that habit today, but these days most of my wrenching is on a Honda Odyssey, which is pretty flexible in that it will take a lot of things that don’t have to be special ordered overnight from Hokkaido and delivered by courier pigeon.
So when the time came to redo the front brakes on my 2001 Passat (first brake job EVER on a 25yo car with 135k miles) I did the whole thing for under $100 including shipping. Centric makes good stuff and I wish I hadn’t always been stuck spending 3x as much for Brembo or Zimmermann or Pagid or EBC.
This has been today’s episode of Get off My Lawn, now back to our regularly scheduled complaining about stuff being too expensive even if it’s historically pretty cheap. Please don’t bring up healthcare, housing, or tuition.
“Obviously, my cheap suspension parts are of no importance in relation to people’s jobs, and obviously, I have no interest in talking about the politics of tariffs vs no tariffs”
Then why bring it up? The elephant in the room is that bad policies poorly implemented are going to keep making things worse. Despite our cultural disinclination to discuss anything slightly controversial, actions have effects.
I think that this is not the result of a cultural disinclination to discuss anything slightly controversial, but David’s personal disinclination to possibly upset any of his readers. But however much David may not want to talk about tariffs, they are having real effects on people. I think he’s got his head in the sand on this.
The whole reason this administration supposedly got elected was because of cost of living and the economy. Yeah, I’m sure eliminating the availability of cheap car parts that working class people who fix their own cars rely on will make their lives better. I’m sure the closure of a business employing 500 people will make Michigan’s economy better. But not to worry! Soon those workers can be happy and productive sewing clothes or putting tiny screws into iPhones! Are we great again yet?
I’m just a dumb engineer, but it seems to me that the cheapest part is the cheapest part (I’m talking quality and price, not just price). If it comes from America someone is still going to build the lowest quality part for the lowest price, it’s just going to cost more. It’s not like making it in the USA and doubling the cost is going to magically make it better or improve the warranty or after sale service. It’s just going to be expensive crap instead of cheap crap. They will narrow the gap between OEM quality price and cheap price, but the quality gap stays the same. And American MBAs will do what they do in the value chain, and push the OEM price as high as they can to maximize their profits. Heck, they will probably try to own both brands so that they get both buyers in their market share.
$100-$150 for all those parts?!
I don’t think I could ever trust those parts to last more than 10 miles at best, holy cheapium.
I bought a $40 rear engine mount for my car off amazon out of curiosity
It feels exactly like the worn-and-torn $120 OEM mount that I took out
Orange man bad for sure, and I never like to see people losing their jobs, especially in an industry I value (a rising tide lifts all boats after-all).
However, in my experience these parts are basically one step above waste and are pretty much only useful for the YouTube / Gambler / Shady Mechanic crowds who only care about the vehicle short-term. I would not trust my families life to these parts long-run.
If you’re going through the effort to replace suspension parts, put in parts that won’t be degraded to the point of uselessness after a year or two. Buy once, cry once.
Yeah I agree here there are some things that you shouldn’t cheap out on and something that could affect the safety of a vehicle (like suspension) you really shouldn’t cheap out on. Not saying you need to get the most expensive parts but trying to save a few bucks over OEM replacements just doesn’t seem smart.
Imporant parts CAN be cheap, but you also need to question whether it’s worth it. I put cheap brake parts on my backup car, but brakes are a pretty foolproof item and not especially complex. Suspension? I always learned to spend the money on the good stuff not just for safety, but for quality…redoing suspension work is a huge PITA.
That may be the case, but if you raise the floor, you raise the ceiling. Gonna be a lot more crying. It’s stupidity incarnate.
I was going to say “Hey now,” but then I saw this: “Gambler”
Well, you got me there! Carry on.
It sucks that Detroit Axle got smacked hard by the hamfisted tariffs that You Know Who enacted, but covid showed how fragile long-distance supply chains are. So it’s tough to feel sorry for Detroit Axle.
Covid = natural disaster (made worse by Orange Julius Caesar). Tariffs are just stupidity from the same screwing up an otherwise functional system. There’s a need for low cost parts, and that need was being filled. Courtesy of the tiny fisted orangutan, that need can no longer be filled.
No worries. We’re all going to be so rich we won’t care. I’m not sure how that’s actually going to happen, but that’s what our president says, so it must be true.
I mean, he’s absolutely talking about having to pay higher prices for things, but it’s not really inflation, that’s your imagination because again, everyone’s gonna get laid! Oops, I meant everyone’s going to be so rich, no one will care. Yeah, that’s the the ticket. Who could complain about something so awesome, right? We’ll all be rolling in dough to the point we can all afford anything we want and won’t even have to ask the price. Checkout will be so easy!
Those folks at DA who will lose their jobs will be working elsewhere making those parts in Michigan real soon. And no one will care that it costs three times as much to make here because we’re all going to be so gosh darn rich! Sure, there will be a period of painful transition for those DA workers, but they can just dip into savings to tide them over or get a handout from their local church if they’re the right kind of people. If any of them get sick with something like breast or prostate cancer, they can just get treatment at the emergency room for that, right? Sure, they might have to wait until it’s an emergent life threatening situation before getting treated for anything. Or they could just not have been a lazy poor and simply gotten another job so they wouldn’t be in trouble in the first place. Real Americans have jobs after all.
But back to everyone being rich. That’s so obviously the answer. Just have a guy like our current one come in and magically fix everything because everyone who came before was stupid and these problems are so easy to fix if anyone merely wants to bother. Never mind that in the history of man has there ever been a sustainable era where everyone is rich. It’s no problem because we have the man with all the answers doing everything perfectly, so it’s all going to be fine.
As an aside, I recently heard that the poor are quite tasty if you prepare them properly. Key elements of delicious poor commonly rely upon either convincing them to enter a slow cooker of their own free will, or by clubbing them swiftly on the head baby seal style so the flesh doesn’t taste either of fear or regret. Efforts to convert large swaths of the nation and planet into natural slow cookers continue apace. The upper class are really looking forward to some fine dining in the not too distant future.
I can’t wait for my wealth to start kicking in. Only a matter of time now, right?
Big announcement in two weeks! Big beautiful things are happening all over. Making best big beautiful deals and kicking ass every day, BIGLY!
Better than old worn out bits is not exactly a high bar. No thanks. My time has too much value to deal with cheap crap parts.
It depends. On my BMW…. no.
But I keep around a “dog car” – has to be hatchback, preferrable if rear seat can be sent to the basement. Pt Cruiser, HHRs, now Aztek. These are the parts I need. You can’t refresh an entire suspension with anything other than these kinds of parts, becasue it makes no sense, And I only keep them around for no more than two years each.
I would never have anything like that to start with, nor would I trust my life to these garbage parts.
If you have a fleet exclusively of Japanese cars like me, I highly recommend using websites like Buyee or UpGarage to import both new and used parts. Tariffs or not, there are so many JDM parts that are identical to USDM parts but cheaper, even with shipping costs. And stuff under 800 dollars is tariff free. (I just imported $40 worth of stuff, with shipping, and I had no issues with duties or tariffs.)
To people with American cars… well… just don’t buy American cars. 😉 /s
They were talking about getting rid of the de minimis exemption. Is that not happening?
The executive order signed by Trump appears to target China specifically. If they did get the de minimis exemption across the board, it would more than likely cause >800$ parts from Japan/elsewhere to be subject to tariffs and import duties.
I’m not a political or economic expert however, so feel free to do your own research.
Flip a coin for as accurate an answer as is currently possible.
Shame
This is no different than ICE cars paying a gas tax for road improvements and EVs paying nothing plus getting rebates and other perks. It is just pasii6the costs of one group to another. Pay American workers a living wage? Yes. Certainly but if you support that then you have to buy the goods made in America. Pushing for living wage here but buying dirt cheap goods made by slaves in China doesn’t work.
I’m not against protectionist tariffs in principle, but you actually need policies to give industries scale and transport advantages similar to the competition or it just will never work. China got where it is by having coherent long-term industrial policy, and that is the only way that the US will ever get fixed. Tariffs need to be predictable and targeted at promoted industries (preferably infrastructural ones) to help with this, otherwise they’re just going to strangle the economy.
The challenge with the Chinese stuff is the quality is all over the map and difficult to predict. I’ve had luck with a lot of bits and pieces, but last week I had a driveshaft center bearing fail that was only two months and thousand miles old. I figured on a 500 dollar car I’m not going to install a 100 dollar part when I can get one for 20. So I get to do it again LOL.
Yeah, I ordered a set of door handles for my 350z a while back. I should’ve went with a non-Chinesium set because after a few uses the passenger side has broken and the driver’s side is definitely on the fritz. I replaced the passenger side one (again) with a better quality one, but im not happy about buying it again. Serves me right for trying to save money lol.
There’s a lot in this.
I hate many many current policies, but this situation is highlighting real issues.
Likely their distribution center was in Mexico so that they didn’t have to pay for more expensive cargo shipping to the US, which would have paid US port fees, and followed US shipping rules. Port fees are charged for maintenance, upkeep, upgrades to US ports.
Also the small item exclusion in the Tariff act wasn’t intended to support major businesses. It was meant so that individuals (hence “per person per day”) could send small items without being charged tariffs.
The fact that Temu, Shein, Detroit Axle, and many other Chinese companies, through Amazon and eBay, turned it into a business model, is a loophole. Instead of sending a shipping container full of clothes or car parts, worth thousands, to their warehouses here, and getting charged tariffs for importing manufactured goods, these companies would instead label thousands of small packages, each worth less than $800, filling that same container, but now avoiding all tariffs.
These companies are in trouble somewhat because they built their business on exploiting a loophole, which is being closed.
Well, that and irrational tariff levels.
I have conflicting feelings on this. So “Detroit” Axle is mainly selling Chinese parts? Similar to “Chicago” Tools at Harbor Freight? What about other sites like Rock Auto? Or even Napa/Advance/Autozone/O’Reilly’s?
I’m no fan of the Orange man but that this is getting a light shown on it is kinda good. For a longer article maybe what percentage of the aftermarket repair parts auto industry is Chinese parts, or in general where they come from?
I worked in retail internet auto parts from 2001-2018 at one of Detroit Axle’s main competitors and as far as I’m aware Detroit Axle has always been exclusively a retailer of Chinese auto parts, sold both on their own website and on Amazon/eBay. I don’t think they’ve ever sold on RockAuto or any of the chain stores.
The company I worked for sold both house brand (Chinese sourced – probably some of the same factories that Detroit got their stuff from) and name brand products side by side, and the house brand sold like 10:1. The moment people saw the price difference they suddenly stopped caring about where the product was made. So jacking up prices on Chinese products due to tariffs won’t stop those people from looking for the cheapest option. Tons of people already know where their cheap products come from and don’t care.
Having worked in the industry I avoid buying cheap suspension components and try to stick with name brand, but I fully admit I buy cheap tools on a similar basis. I’m fine with something cheap from China if I’m only using it once or twice.
Of course!
Buying flow chart:
Will it kill me if it fails?
Yes- buy quality.
No-
Can I buy multiple cheap ones and just replace them for the price of a single quality one?
Yes- buy cheap.
No- buy quality.
I would add if it fails is the repair plus other damage expensive
Yes-buy quality
No- buy cheap.
That only works if your time has no value. My time is pretty darned expensive. And the aggravation factor is even more expensive than my time.
Hmm, it’s strange that my short, flippant comment didn’t accurately spell out all competing factors, considerations, evaluation metrics, or offer a complete tradespace analysis…
That’s the thing though. You can use an oddball wrench once or twice – but you can’t use a suspension bushing once or twice.
It was never a secret
A little off topic….
I think a good article would be to give a report on how well the cheap parts hold up over time. Professional mechanics seem to have no love of the cheap parts. Me, I’m suspicious when the words ‘cheap’ and ‘bearing’ are in the same description.
For that matter, what is the lifespan of these cars that have be ‘saved’ by the cheap parts? How many miles/years/repairs have they experienced since getting a new lease on life?
The reality is a lot of those old school brand names now have their stuff made in China.
Years ago when I was still in the business we had a local wholesaler that specialized in parts for Japanese cars. Most of what they sold where what is known in the industry as White Box parts, which is usually code for cheap crap. However a lot of the Honda and Toyota parts seemed to be from “ghost shifts” and were identical to the OE parts including the quality control paint marks. Never had a problem with those parts, but certainly wouldn’t touch white box parts from some suppliers. When the original parts lasted 10 years you don’t expect to have the replacement fail in 6 months or a year.
Yep. See my comment above – one time I had to argue with a customer that we did actually sell him a genuine Timken wheel bearing because it was made in China. I actually had to find some documents proving Timken sourced some of their products there.
The Chinese can build to any quality level you are willing to pay for, from lead-painted kid’s toys to iPhones. And you bet there are parts that “fell off the back of the truck” – heck that’s been a thing with European parts for decades. I have bought plenty of parts at a discount where you can see where the BMW logo was ground off at the factory. Those pretty silver boxes with the Roundel on them are PRICEY sometimes. BUT – those parts aren’t 10% of the price of the real deal, more like a 15-20% discount. The really cheap stuff is going to be crap, full stop, do not pass go, do not collect $200, hope it failing doesn’t kill you or take something else out when it fails.
The sad part (stink-eye firmly at Volvo) is when you pay for genuine parts in a factory box, and get Chinesium crap inside it that you could have just paid the 10% for and gotten the same crappy part. That has not happened with BMW yet, thankfully.