barboma said:
I am not saying the kit is falling apart at every turn but at the same time its not rock solid. Maybe I need to manage my expectations? And it doesn't help that the seller only wants to sell me stuff and not warranty items and relies on the ambiguity of a customer installed kit to cast doubt about who is responsible.
It depends on what you're willing to pay. Paying more doesn't guarantee better stuff, but known-reputable vendors are going to generally cost more, because they have support overhead, and have to amortize the costs of that support as well as defective stuff across the sale of all the other items.
They may still sell the cheap stuff, but it won't be as cheap as other places that don't offer support/etc. ANd likely they'll also have better stuff, that will cost significantly more, but be more reliable.
Vendors that sell stuff close to their cost are unable to eat the cost of defective parts, so their customers have to do that instead.
So if you've got the money, and want to just ride and not fix things, or at least have reliable help when you do have to, there are vendors that do a bit better than others. Picking one that's as local to you as possible also helps, becuase then shipping times and costs are reduced or eliminated durign warranty repairs. Grin Tech, EM3EV, etc., are good, though nobody is perfect, and there are plenty of others out there too.
Unfortunately just about any site that is a site full of various sellers, is going to be a crapshoot, even though the competition is likely to make things cheaper.
However, even the "more reliable" stuff that "good" vendors sell, which still comes from the same places originally that the cheap stuff does, is going to have problems, mostly in design and manufacturing processes. Some places like Grin Tech spend money on R&D on designing and testing better ways to do things, and get stuff made based on that. Sometimes that trickles down into copies of the better stuff, but the copies are not necessarily faithful ones, and that is a critical thing--just because it *looks* the same doesn't mean it works the same.
One example: Manufacturing stuff like axles and other machined parts is not quite as simple as just picking up a bar of metal and chucking it in a lathe; the design has to be made with the experience and training of what won't fail under the uses it will be put, with a large margin of safety added. Not just "Hmmm..let's just stick a piece of threaded rod in there and spot weld it to the stator, then have them grind flats into it to fit in the dropouts".
Then the actual materials have to be correct, and of good quality, and they ahve to be cast or rolled or otherwise processed correctly; there are many ways to make a metal part, and each way has problems that are created by the process, which make it unsuitable for some uses. Not just "melt that old pile of assorted metal down and pour it into these round-ish holes in a mold".
Then the machining of the part has to be done the right way, exactly as it was designed, with the right tools and cleanup processes, and then any post-machining processes have to be done correctly. Not just "all these chamfers and shoulders and polishings are time consuming and hard to do; let's just cut them all as straight edges and leave it raw; i'll be easier and cheaper to do". "hardening costs too much and takes too long". etc.
And then the parts have to be assembled correctly without improper handling. Not just "oh, it's a little tight" "no problem, just use that 10lb sledgehammer; it makes everything fit".
Unfortunatley too much of the time it seems like the "Not just..."s up there are how it's done, to one degree or another. It's not just China-made stuff either--it's worldwide, and it's all about the money.
Good stuff *is* designed, and made, but often enough the money-handlers get in the way of the process even when the designers and makers know what they're doing, and steps get left out that are very important to the final result. And too often, the designers or makers don't know what they're doing, and the product was doomed before the money-handlers got to it...but then *they* get to it and make it even worse.
). 
Except I cut the wires and refed them thru the axle--pulling it thru from inside and then cutting the damaged stuff out is easier. 
