This is true. If you call Kooks or SW, they will tell you they generally use as thin of a grade of stainless that is acceppable from a durability standpoint. Thinner, high quality stainless is easier to bend more complex shapes with, which allows for better fitting designs and increased weight savings for racers.
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Originally Posted by papawattz
Chinese stainless may be 304 grade stainless but it's not the same as American grade 304. I read in one of these posts where somebody measured the thickness of the tubing used on the OBX headers and it was #14 gauge? Now the kooks measures #18 gauge? Now you may be thinking well hell, oBX's are better because they are using thicker wall tubing! I have a sneaking suspicion that they are using thicker tubing because they are splitting their version of #18 gauge tubing when they start bending it? I am an Electrician and have many years bending conduit(thin wall-EMT, Rigid, Aluminium,etc...) I can remember working on a job bending EMT and every bend I made split and /or kinked the conduit....2 pieces later I was like WTF..Then I happened to look where it was made, China... I was like, "when did this happen"? Up until then all our conduit came from American factories,shit we even had some American made conduit still left on the pipe rack! So I called the supply house and asked them what was up, all the guy said was that they just switched to this new manufacturer to save money! When I explained what was happening he said they had been having complaints from other customers and were in the process of investigating these issues? I later found out that the grade of steel that the Chinese manufacturer said it was using, was in fact, not being used! Long story short, we ended up using another supplier for the rest of the job and to this day I do still see this Chinese made conduit here and there and I swear the conduit's wall thickness is greater now......WTF  |