Quote:
Originally Posted by jlaird
I'm surprised stylintrucks gives those promo discounts on airride products. I'll bet they are making nothing if not loosing money on the deal.
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I figure unless ART is cutting them a deal and giving them the arms at 20% below MSRP, yup, they're probably losing money on the deal (to the tune of ~5-10%). I don't necessarily feel bad about it, because I know they make up the money elsewhere, but the reality is, so few people will actually cash in on this that I doubt it's really even going to scratch, much less dent their bottom line. (At least that's what I tell myself
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jlaird
that's ridiculous that ART's wholesale prices are what they are. They give retailers like you pretty much no reason to deal with them.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shane
... opinions vary, but ART is pretty well known for being over-inflated on lots of levels.  |
I have this feeling about most custom fab shops. For example, ECE is overinflated on many of their products, but their gas tanks are the friggin worst, and mounts/crossmembers are a close second IMHO. CPP is overinflated as well, they charge more than ART for their arms. I actually feel like ART's arms are somewhat reasonable, but, as with most custom fabbed parts for my truck, for every person like me or you who'll sit around and complain about it, there are five to ten other guys sitting in line to buy it. I prefer when manuf'ers actually lower their prices when they hit break-even, but in the case of tubular arms, the market seems to set the price. I haven't seen control arm prices budge since I first started working on my truck almost three years ago.
I feel like the manuf'er is giving it to their dealers at a cost that should be the actual MSRP, NOT the dealer price. Dealers have no option but to sell @ markup to make a profit, which in turn leaves the end user (purchaser) feeling screwed. I don't feel it's the "right" way to do business, but if you can do it, and the market allows it, that's basically the heart and soul of our country, whether we like it or not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by abadsvt
Actually depending on where you live i think it is along the lines of what it would cost. The Strong arms are not the lightest thing out there. I was actually surprised on the actuall weight. There still a very nice piece though.
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I was actually going to bring this up also - we'll see when the package comes through, but I've seen the lower arms already for a full size Silverado, and they're pretty damned big, and if they weren't bolted down, I reckon they'd have weight at least 20-30lbs on the low end for just one lower arm, with the uppers at 15-20lbs. figure the dimensions of the box ... I actually expected oversized shipping @ $80-100. Normal policy is to tack on $30-50 for anything oversized with most vendors I've dealt with.