Anyone ever order from Turner Sports or Import Replacement Parts? Shock pricing.

I’d love to order from a GRM advertiser or a brand specialist, but money is money. I don’t’ mind paying a few $$”s more to support a company, but there has to be a limit. I’m looking for shocks per my other thread. Looking at pricing on a set of Koni FSD’s for my Vovlo C30 Tire Rack is $830. IPD is $880, these prices seem fairly typical with some places coming in the mid to high $700’s. But Turner come is at $654 and Import Replacement Parts at $666. Both with free shipping. I want to support people, but a saving of up to 25% or $225 is almost impossible to ignore. I don’t know these companies, are they any good?

Turner Motorsports?

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/

Or something else? I've ordered plenty from the above Turner, they are well known. Not sure if Turner Sports is something else.

Harvey wrote: Turner Motorsports? http://www.turnermotorsport.com/ Or something else? I've ordered plenty from the above Turner, they are well known. Not sure if Turner Sports is something else.

Sorry, fat fingerd or brain fart on my behalf. Not Turner, I'm fully aware of who they are. I meant TunerSports TunerSports

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

Did you try Shox.com? I haven't bought shocks for a while, but last couple times I bought Koni's, they were the cheapest.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to Adrian_Thompson: Did you try Shox.com? I haven't bought shocks for a while, but last couple times I bought Koni's, they were the cheapest.

$746, almost a Benjamin more. Hard to ignore.

I'm all for supporting bricks-and-mortar stores and am willing to pay a bit more to buy there as opposed to Amazon or some other internet drop-shipper.

But for internet vs. internet, I have no loyalty. I'll buy from whomever has the best prices (including shipping) as long as it's a legitimate brand-name product. I buy most of my tires from TireRack, mostly because they' have good prices and fast shipping. But I certainly wouldn't buy shocks from them for $200+ more than someplace else.

There are deals to be had - a cheap price doesn't necessarily mean a scam - some places maybe just have different ways of moving out old inventory (due to space limitations, etc, that big warehouses like TR may not have).

Pretty sure I bought all the Bilstein HDs for my Sequoia from some shady internet place that had a lousy website but was $100+ cheaper than any of the "known" places to get the same parts. And I got them in a few days, legit brand new Bilsteins exactly what I ordered.

I only care about ordering from a "specialist" if I need their help with the part. If I have a part number and know what I want, it's all about the price and availability.

Got my Koni SA's for my E82 from some crappy website that appears to no longer sell Koni's. They were cheaper than anywhere else. They came quickly but the front shocks were missing the adjuster knobs. I emailed them and they emailed Koni North America and Koni sent me knobs directly via 2 day air. I was surprised how good the service was.

So, back from the dead. Waited until now to order as I wont have time to change the shocks until the holidays. Ordered late on Monday from Turner and it was even cheaper that last month. $635 inc shipping. Arrived yesterday morning nicely packed. Seems a bargain. Looking forward to seeing how they feel.

They were so cheap I was worried service would be crap, or they would look like take offs or something. But they are obviously new and never opened.

Nice! I have no loyalty to internet shops. Most of them drop ship anyways. With that being said I have found some deals on tire rack. Koni's for our chump car. $250 for the set one weekend, everywhere else all the time was like $450.

Working at an internet shop, you guys are harsh. I mean, we don't drop ship very much stuff at all and carry over a million bucks worth of inventory - but most people think we're just internet. And you're illustrating very well why we try to avoid commodity parts.

BTW, Koni has a minimum retail price for their products (aka Colgate pricing). This is to prevent a price war on a commodity product, and protects those resellers who go to the effort and expense to actually keep product on the shelf. That's why you see the same pricing from most locations.

But of course, there are always the guys looking for the quick, easy buck. They'll get a deal via a warehouse and since they don't buy directly from Koni, they're free to whore out the parts. Koni usually tracks this back and shuts down those warehouses. If you do find Konis at a lower-than-average price, someone's working under the table.

So basically, in the global day and age we live in where part numbers are at your finger tips and you know what you want, we should support retailers who arbitrarily have high prices due to essentially a price-monopoly forced by the manufacturer.

If you say so... That logic is exactly why companies like Amazon will rule the world in short order, and you are correct, no brick and mortar retail/service shop should be involved in common knowledge commodity parts because they are exactly that, only if they are providing it as a benefit to being a one stop shop should they do so.

Nobody wins in a race to the bottom. If the shops that actually provide an added value can't stay in business, then everyone loses that added value. Good luck calling Amazon for tech support or hoping that a random "technical" forum post isn't completely full of E36 M3.

You see "arbitrary high prices", I see a mechanism that protects those that invest in the product.

Keith Tanner wrote: Nobody wins in a race to the bottom. If the shops that actually provide an added value can't stay in business, then everyone loses that added value. Good luck calling Amazon for tech support or hoping that a random "technical" forum post isn't completely full of E36 M3. You see "arbitrary high prices", I see a mechanism that protects those that invest in the product.

Exactly, thank you Keith! You guys should never buy warrantable or technical products from "shadyweb.com". Long run, you will rarely get you money's worth. Good before-and-after sale support costs more money, because the peeps with the knowledge and experience to provide that support cost money to hire and retain. There is more to value than price point. I'll just leave you guys with this: "There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person's lawful prey."

I'll second Keith's concerns.

OP I'm glad it worked out for you, but last year I was trying to track down Koni Sports for the rear of my Mazda2, a couple online retailers had them "in stock" so I ordered.

A week goes by... I call... "They're on backorder will ship out on X date."

That day rolled around... "They haven't shown up yet, should be next week..."

It was an 8 week ordeal IIRC... So I called Strano Parts, they had them in stock(real stock... The nice girl on the phone checked the warehouse and put her hands on them) for only $20 more.

I cancelled with the other place and ordered from Strano Parts, had the shocks the NEXT day(I lived in Ohio, Strano is in PA).

AND it took me about 2 more weeks of arguing and calling before I got my refund from the first place.

It was THMotorsports that was a pain in the ass to deal with.

Guys. I agree with the race to the bottom issues. I started my search with GRM advertisers and Marque specialists and would have gone there if I could, I would be willing to pay a bit more, probably $50 to support someone. I frequently pay more to suport local businesses. I refuse to shop at Walmart for this very reason. But, and its the but that pushed me over the edge, Ijust checked with tire rack. The cost for the same parts I just paid $635 for all in would have cost me $828. That $197 or 30% more. Give me a break. That's nuts. Do you honestly expect me to pay THIRTY PERCENT MORE to support what is still a massive nationwide business with turnover probably ly in the hundreds of millions? Get real.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

But, who else does for tire consumers what TR does? Those tests they perform and document cost money to do, and money to keep competent and qualified people on the payroll. You aren't just paying for a set of struts when you buy from them.

In reply to WildScotsRacing:

I said I would have paid maybe $50 but come off it, nearly $200. That covers 20 years of GRM subscription. Not paying g that much for anything. Why doesn't the GRM staff approach Turner to see if they want to advertise in the mag.

Is it Tuner or Turner? I think Turner Motorsports does already advertise with GRM.

pointofdeparture wrote: Is it Tuner or Turner? I think Turner Motorsports does already advertise with GRM.

tunersports not Turner. My Dyslexia keeps berkeleying this up and spell check can't save me here.

I can see both sides, and definitely support good companies like Tire Rack and Flyin' Miata. But! 30% more on top of what is already obviously a markup? That's too much. Gotta agree with Adrian on this one.

I have no problem paying extra for good customer service, but it depends on the product in question. Coilovers where I need help selecting spring rates? Sure. Engine tuning stuff, either canned tunes or something like Megasquirt? You bet I want the support. But for a set of shocks for a DD that I'm going to install and forget about? I'll take the lowest price, within limits anyhow.

I agree with Adrian that 30% is just way too much to ignore. It'd be one thing if it was 10% or less, or if we were talking about $50 items instead of $600 items, in those cases I'd be happy to support GRM-related businesses, and I have, many times.

I had a good experience getting shocks/struts from Import Replacement Parts for my e36. I used the Bimmerforums Group Buy forum for the best price.

Keith Tanner wrote: Nobody wins in a race to the bottom. If the shops that actually provide an added value can't stay in business, then everyone loses that added value. Good luck calling Amazon for tech support or hoping that a random "technical" forum post isn't completely full of E36 M3. You see "arbitrary high prices", I see a mechanism that protects those that invest in the product.

Absolutely THIS. I am a Flyin' Miata customer for some incidental parts. The PO of my Miata bought a fair amount of stuff for the car from FM anywhere from 5-7 years ago. Keith supports me as if I was the original customer and had just ordered the parts last month.

I'm all over the map on this subject, but if I can buy something from Flyin'Miata I always do.