Quoted from Mike_J:Agreed.
Stern purchased the least expensive part they could find and this is the result.
As an aside, to all of you NIB buyers, when time comes for me to buy an HUO example I will expect that these items will have been replaced or refinished. I take $150 off the final purchase price for each bolt I see with surface rust.
And I charge $200 extra to every Stern whiner.