Okay, I grant you some of what you stated...but usually, if the paint used in fill is same as crown paint, it is usually applied during the same pass thru process...a cost savings measure...and really, under normal circumstances, the only area that will "wear" which is what you brought up would be on the sole....that is the only area that would experience wear due to contact...which is why I asked you if you had actual sample cases where you confirmed a one year degradation difference as you stated...stating one year difference in wear is quite a bold statement.
So are you saying the welding process between clones and OEM are dramatically different?
I will grant you, the difference between plasma welding and standard welding is different....but not just due to strength issues, but also less weight involved which frees up weight to be distributed elsewhere along the head...but trust me, there are many OEMS that have equally good and bad welds as clones...to flat out say clone welds are inherently worse, is irresponsible.
Metals can be subjected to a process of precise heating over specific amounts of time to ordain the FINAL REAL mechanical properties of the metal in the specific part being made. While the science of heat treatment or post-forming treatment is very detailed, in short, the post-forming treatment of the metal is intended to cause the molecular structure of the metal to be changed in specific and predictable ways to achieve a variety of final mechanical and structural properties that may be more desired for the performance of the part.
For example, depending on the heat treatment followed, the tensile strength of 6-4 Titanium will range from 120,000 psi up to 170,000!! Or as another example, depending on the heat treatment process, 10-2-3 beta Titanium will range in tensile strength from 135,000 psi to 210,000 psi! Most clubmakers assume that 10-2-3 Beta Titanium will always have a much higher strength than 6-4 Titanium. This is not true unless you know the post-forming heat treatment process used. The same is true for all of the Titanium alloys used in the manufacture of wood heads. Therefore, it is IMPOSSIBLE without knowing the heat treatment procedure to know what any mechanical property of any Titanium alloy will be in the end product. As a result, heat treatment or post-forming treatment procedures are a CRITICAL part of the designer's and the foundry's responsibility to ensure the performance of the wood head's parts are properly created.
Heat Treatment of a Titanium wood head will affect each and every mechanical property in addition to the one example mentioned in the previous paragraph. Because each of the properties plays its own important role in the manufacture and ultimate performance of a Titanium wood head, a high quality head not only requires a good design but excellent control on the processing of the materials used in its creation. This is one reason you can see the price of titanium club heads constructed of the same alloys vary considerably. Heat treating is as much or more important than using a specific titanium alloy.