(fast forwarded tape)
- One two three go ♪ My baby don't m-- (laughs)
Song has been stuck in my head all day. Oh boy.
Hey yeah
When it comes down to buying stuff over seas
people have a tendency to give it a lot of flack
especially when you're buying
something that's made in China.
China's like this super bad super angry
super bad, communist-lookin', you just
you buy America, you be American, that's just what you do.
But we still go to Walmart, we buy
things that are made in China, especially because
it's sometimes a lot more affordable.
You do it, I do it, we do it, if you only
buy stuff made in America, you're either
extremely loaded, or you're lying to yourself
because that's just not how the world works anymore.
We decided to see if that actually played true
when it came to making wheels overseas.
So we actually decided to go visit a Chinese wheel factory.
Now don't be fooled, the Chinese wheel factory
we went not really a whole lot
we went and spent two days there
and we decided to learn a little bit about it
because it's something that we wanted to do
because why else would I, we, wanna fly 17 hours
to a country that we really didn't wanna visit
to go to a factory that we ideally really didn't
actually wanna spend a whole lotta time
in a country that is like walking through
an exhaust muffler without being able to see
five feet in front of you 'cause it's so bad
when it comes down to quality of air.
We decided to risk our lives, ours.
This life right here, these lives
in this very quaint, very small place
so that you could learn more about
what Chinese wheel factories are actually like.
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries.
Don't forget to subscribe.
And we're just gonna jump right into it.
So one of the first things that
we noticed when we actually got there
is that the wheel factory, a lot of times we assume
is gonna be this dark and dingy
and angry and hot and dirty, messy thing.
And it really wasn't, it was only hot.
Otherwise, for the most part it was actually pretty clean.
The factories are kept up, the one that we went to was
a little bit more than we anticipated.
And we really didn't know what to expect
because we've talked to a lot of the individuals there
but none of them really knew English.
The only two people that knew English
were the owner and his son, who were
the only two that were really able to help us
through the entire process of understanding
the actual wheel manufacturing process.
But they were extremely nice people.
The factory itself was actually kept up
probably better than most people's college dorms.
When we go into actually how they made the wheels
they explained it from the same exact point of view
except we were there watching it.
They took the aluminum sort of barrels of stuff
that they had, they poured some stuff in there
poured some mixtures of things
to make the actual aluminum stronger.
And they essentially started making the molten metal.
They started pouring it, they did low pressure casts
they did rotary forging, they did all that sorta stuff
depending on what certain wheel companies wanted.
Now something that was really interesting
was that the wheel factory wasn't super large
and for the size that it was it was pretty well-kept-up.
There were certain sections that were
meant for the x-ray stuff to make sure
that there was no micro-cracks or anything like that.
And that was kept in an entire different area
but the area for going through the process
of making a wheel was relatively pretty clean.
The scariest thing about the entire thing was
how, well, not necessarily reckless
but how nonchalant they were about
taking barrels of molten hot metal
and just, flying with different forklifts
across aisles to get into the next area
to start making wheels or to take the wheels
and start flying them across the other way.
Like it was dangerous, like it was a war zone
and we weren't ready for it and we didn't know
what was going on because it was in a different language
we didn't know, it was a scary time, but we did it for you!
And then one of the other things
is what about the quality-control, right?
We assume that a lot of stuff over in China
is made very poorly or that it's super cheap
so that that's why you can afford it
and that no other real expensive wheel company
makes stuff in China because that's not where
that X brand makes wheels, well that's completely fake.
When it really comes down to it
we saw wheel companies, we saw their logos
on all sorts of different brands
on all sorts of different designs
sitting right next to each other.
So you would be surprised at what brand we would have seen
sitting here and what brand we saw
sitting not even two feet away
literally in the same exact factory
getting made the same exact way
except one was three times more expensive
because of the brand label that it had on it.
The Chinese wheel factories, when we got down to it--
Really, are you gonna do that, you really gonna do that?
- [Man] I was literally walking up the whole time.
- [Alex] And a lot of the brands
and a lot of the things that we saw
when it came down to after they actually made the wheels
was pretty much universal from what we've said in the past.
There wasn't a whole lot of hiding behind the scenes
double-tap the bookshelf, open up a door
go down learn the secrets of how they made wheels.
They were actually pretty open about it.
They made the wheels, they cut the wheels
they trimmed the wheels, they checked for blemishes
they x-rayed them, they cleaned them up
they x-rayed 'em again, they did some impact radial testing
they did some QC testing, and then they painted it
put the wrap on it, put the cover on it
put her in the box, close the box, tape the box up
and put it in a crate.
It was not something that if you were in the factory
and there were no windows, it'd be very hard for you
to tell that you were in China when it came down to it.
Now a lot of times people are gonna bring up
the quality of metal that comes out of China
and depending on what brand you're looking at
you may have a better or less porous molten metal
which is very true, there are certain companies
that pride themselves on where they get their metal from
and how porous or non-porous it is.
In fact, in Japan there's a lot of companies
especially wheel companies that take a lot of pride
in making sure that their metal is not very porous.
So that is something that you could definitely argue
and we're not scientists, we're auto-enthusiasts.
So I'm not gonna talk about porous levels
and things like that because that sounds boring
and at the end of the day (slow voice repeats)
when it comes down to audience retention
you don't want this to be science class.
I can promise you that.
Here's one of the things that we did find different
is the overall quality of how the whole thing operated.
Now around here we have people like Jasper
scooting around, we have people like
Mario losing in ping-pong, we have people like
Dom trying to grow his hair back
and we have people like me that are trying to make jokes
about facial hair when I know sure as (bleep)
it's never gonna grow in no matter how old I get.
But over there things are very serious.
Things are not fun, things cannot be fun.
You do your job, you do it right
and you're gonna have a good day at work
but if you do not have a good day
you can bet your (bleep) that that guy with the cap
and the suit without the suit top
you know what I'm talkin' about
that one guy that's the floor manager
is going to down to rip somebody up
because they did something wrong
or they're not moving fast enough.
So that was something that we found
was a little bit weird, was that they weren't a fan
of whatever that one guy was doing
I don't know what that guy was doing
but he obviously wasn't doing it right
and everybody knew it because there's molten metal
flying down on these forklifts
and then you have all of this noise happening everywhere
and we still, they were loud enough to hear this guy
rip this guy a new orifice, it was a terrible thing
to deal with, but, it was something exciting to see
because we talk so much about how wheels are made
and if they're good or bad or things like that.
If you're breaking it down into
the level of what sort of aluminum that you're getting into
there are differences in the wheels
that you're gonna receive, but the production
and styling and rotary forging and things like that
you'd actually be pretty astonished to say that
they're really not that different.
A lot of the things that we've said in the past
is that there are companies and wheels
that you'd be shocked to see right next to each other.
And when we walked through those doors
and got to see wheels and truck brands
that were literally sitting right next to each other
that are in direct competition
in real life in the United States of America
it was kind of a weird smile that we had on our face
because it was something that we've known
but then it became something we saw and confirmed.
Now, we're not gonna spoil the biscuits there
because that would ruin all the fun
but here's one last thing that we absolutely
thought was a little bit overrated
maybe something that wasn't as good as
we thought it was gonna be, that was the food.
It was standard, I could probably go
to Festival Foods and get some sushi
it probably would have been (tongue clicks).
But (tongue clicks) I don't know, that was just my opinion.
Final thing though, Fuller was on the 23rd floor
of his hotel room and he still couldn't see
out the window because the smog is that bad.
I urge you to never go to where we went in China
because the smog is so bad you can't see
it's like fog all the time, except the fog
never goes away, and it smells.
It smells weird, it doesn't smell like Appleton.
It does not smell like Appleton, Wisconsin.
That is something that we've come to realize
is that this factory really wasn't
as bad as we thought but it was definitely something
a little bit different to understand.
Meeting the owner and meeting his son
the only two people that knew English
to be able to introduce us to what was going on
and then watching somebody else get yelled at
as people are flying up and down the rows
at a thousand miles an hour with
not a whole lot of care to safety
which was another thing that we thought
was a little bit weird, there weren't
a whole lot of safety glasses, not a whole lot
of the ol' belt straps, no seat belts or harnesses
to keep you from falling in a giant pot
of molten metal like it's Terminator from 1982
or whatever it is, Steve's probably gonna correct me
because it was actually a really good movie
and it's probably iconic and cult classic
I'm just gonna mess it up.
Let us know what you guys think
about what we talked about today
on if you think all Chinese wheel factories are bad
or all wheels that come overseas are bad
or if you are a made in America
built in America, built not bought
kinda guy, because we enjoy those kinda people too.
It's okay to be proud of your country, I'm not gonna judge.
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries.
Don't forget to subscribe, and if you need wheels
tire suspension, don't forget to check out
www.fitmentindustries.com, we got as low as 0% financing
for up to 12 months, that's a sales pitch.
I know, you know, we know, but at the end of the day
(slow voice repeats "at the end of the day")
if you want wheels, hit us up.
We'll see you later. Peace.