MRT Hood Struts installed

[mcc63303]

One thing to consider, I've seen flimsy hoods bend when closed with replacement hood shocks even on hoods that came originally with gas hood shocks. Being that the hood was not designed with hood shocks I will suggest caution.

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[jer32383]

One thing to consider, I've seen flimsy hoods bend when closed with replacement hood shocks even on hoods that came originally with gas hood shocks. Being that the hood was not designed with hood shocks I will suggest caution.

I bet you somebody made those in 15 to 20 minutes

 

[Chris_G]

One thing to consider, I've seen flimsy hoods bend when closed with replacement hood shocks even on hoods that came originally with gas hood shocks. Being that the hood was not designed with hood shocks I will suggest caution.

Agreed, showing up to the dealer with a bent hood would be difficult to explain. But, I do like the idea.

 

[jer32383]

They aren't casting these things, or producing a 60,000 dollar polymer mold that has a finite number of produced components it can generate. They're stamping metal, a process selected specifically because its cheap, fast, and can use machines that can be configured to produce one of thousands of things at any given time.

The truth of the matter is the price of this kit is likely completely divorced from its production costs because its effectively a luxury product, as silly as it seems. Price is inelastic - Lowering it to something approaching "cost plus reasonable markup" wont entice cheapskates because they likely think the hard strut is just fine anyway. So they price it high because why not.

There's nothing inherently wrong with this (At least when it comes to something like gas struts), but lets be honest about it.

you’re right I know it’s not crazy complicated to build something like this but some people were being ridiculous and making it seem way easier than it is to package a product and put it on the market. My guess at why they cost what they do is because there’s probably not a lot of people that are going to end up buying these.
How many people are gonna order these per model year maybe 100 even if they’re making $150 profit per set that’s $15,000.

 

[Arukoru]

Another thread another endless stream of debating the morality of the product lol!

Less than $200? Convenient to the point where i can forget about it? Sounds fine to me

As jer above says, it is an inelastic price but let's also be real and point out that a somewhat limited run item isn't really all that cheap to make. If you made one of these for a model that is all over the place you might hit economies of scale but nobody is really driving prices down off the back of like 50 units.

 

[WetsideMav]

There's nothing inherently wrong with this (At least when it comes to something like gas struts), but lets be honest about it.

Yes let's be honest. MyMAv, Testa and Jer's initial reaction to Platinum crapping on everyone's parade was correct. He in no way can make a same kit of this quality for the same money, UNLESS of course he doesn't value his TIME. That is the most important point. The guys on this thread buying this product value their time, they can't buy the equipment necessary to make this kit than the kit cost to buy. Or maybe they can afford it, but just don't want to because they want to do other things with that time...

If Platinum were to actually value HIS time... let's say his shop rate is $100 an hour, or hell, even only $60 an hour. At $60 an hour you've only got 2.3 hours of time to source, design, fabricate and ship just ONE kit that costs the SAME as MRT's.

It's overpriced? You want it cheaper? $100? At $60 per hour now you've only got 1.7 hours to do all of the above. I'd love to see the timelapse of him giving that a go. But it's gotta be the same exact quality of part, detail and finish right down to his shop logo on each strut. Apples to apples. It's also much faster to rip off someone's design and iterate from that, how about he comes up with his own design, to make it fair to MRT.

Platinum will need to rule out sourcing cheap Amazon struts made in China. As mentioned, it'll take at least 20-30 minutes to jump on a computer spec, source and order at least 3-4 different pairs of struts so he could compare and contrast dampening strengths, lengths, etc. Then he'll need to spend time returning the ones he didn't use. Now he's only got 1.3 hours left, better get cracking a warm up that coating oven.

I'll tell you what, if you or Platinum can make a set of the SAME QUALITY for cheaper I'll buy it. But I only want to pay $80 for it because I don't value his time or overhead either.

You argument is that this kit might be over-priced, Maybe. Go on Summit and see the price spread of other similar kits. How many are cheap imported crap vs something that is made well? The price gap isn't that large.

You also glossed over all the massive capital investments costs it take to mass produce a product.
What about those?

You'll need to actually buy a stamping machine, water jet, or plasma cutter to make the bracket. $$$?
You need a brake to bend the metal
You need an industrial space to house all the equiptment
You need a welder to weld the pivot point ball on each bracket
You need to coat the brackets.
You need business insurance, employees, OSHA, healthcare, workers comp.

Let's say they could wholesale a pair of USA made struts are +$25, add material cost +$5. There's probably (1) total labor hour involved in each kit (ingesting/ handling materials, fabricating, invoicing, shipping, marketing) +$60= $90. Add some portion of the operational overhead expenses +$5? = $95? Add some profit per kit +$43 = $138. Factor in returned kits that can't be resold, sending replacement parts of failed units and eating those shipping costs.

What's really at the center of every aftermarket purchase is does someone make a something for less than I can make it myself. Does it have utility to me. Does it's design speak aesthetic speak to me.

Maybe MRT is gouging people, but maybe, just maybe, they value their time and make a good product.

I'll never know, I'm ok using the OEM strut (yes, I'm being pedantic).

 

[bombast]

Snipideedooda

A couple years ago someone did an experiment on youtube. The guy wanted to answer a simple question - How much would it cost to make a sandwich from scratch. True scratch. If he priced out his time and materials and made every single component of the sandwich himself, from growing his own grain all the way to eating it himself, how much would it cost to feed himself.

It cost him $1500 dollars and 6 months to produce a handful of sandwiches. And only one got ate because apparently, they tasted absolutely awful (I think he bungled when dehulling his grain).

Given this experiment, what would most people think about paying, say, 400 dollars for a sandwich from Burger King? They'd be furious, because while yes, it does represent savings compared to our own personal efforts, we all also know that the production of food is so optimized by farmers and big corporations that the cost equation for them is completely different than it is for us. So we pay 4 dollars for a sandwich made by someone else instead of 400 because otherwise the entire notion of markets is pointless.

These struts don't obey those same rules because they're a luxury item - increased volume and lower pricing doesn't make the market change. The price is more based on the customer and a vague notion of utility than production cost. And typically, when this is the case, people who haven't taken business or supply chain coursework verbalize their observation of this kind of product as "its too expensive," because they're looking at costs and not that utility, and there's nothing wrong about that observation.

 

[TSAINTS1115]

You’re being pedantic - gas strut vs prop.

Leave religion out of this.

 

[Decayed]

A couple years ago someone did an experiment on youtube. The guy wanted to answer a simple question - How much would it cost to make a sandwich from scratch. True scratch. If he priced out his time and materials and made every single component of the sandwich himself, from growing his own grain all the way to eating it himself, how much would it cost to feed himself.

It cost him $1500 dollars and 6 months to produce a handful of sandwiches. And only one got ate because apparently, they tasted absolutely awful (I think he bungled when dehulling his grain).

Given this experiment, what would most people think about paying, say, 400 dollars for a sandwich from Burger King? They'd be furious, because while yes, it does represent savings compared to our own personal efforts, we all also know that the production of food is so optimized by farmers and big corporations that the cost equation for them is completely different than it is for us. So we pay 4 dollars for a sandwich made by someone else instead of 400 because otherwise the entire notion of markets is pointless.

These struts don't obey those same rules because they're a luxury item - increased volume and lower pricing doesn't make the market change. The price is more based on the customer and a vague notion of utility than production cost. And typically, when this is the case, people who haven't taken business or supply chain coursework verbalize their observation of this kind of product as "its too expensive," because they're looking at costs and not that utility, and there's nothing wrong about that observation.

I saw that. I think he said the sandwich wasn't bad, just that it wasn't any better than what he could make with stuff from the supermarket.

Another analogy is what it would take to make your own pencils. A surprising amount of work and technology goes into making a pencil. Most people take it all for granted. Years ago I read that the soviet UN reps used to be notorious for stealing pencils because theirs had no erasers and lead that wouldn't write well.

 

[WetsideMav]

A couple years ago someone did an experiment on youtube. The guy wanted to answer a simple question - How much would it cost to make a sandwich from scratch. True scratch. If he priced out his time and materials and made every single component of the sandwich himself, from growing his own grain all the way to eating it himself, how much would it cost to feed himself.

It cost him $1500 dollars and 6 months to produce a handful of sandwiches. And only one got ate because apparently, they tasted absolutely awful (I think he bungled when dehulling his grain).

Given this experiment, what would most people think about paying, say, 400 dollars for a sandwich from Burger King? They'd be furious, because while yes, it does represent savings compared to our own personal efforts, we all also know that the production of food is so optimized by farmers and big corporations that the cost equation for them is completely different than it is for us. So we pay 4 dollars for a sandwich made by someone else instead of 400 because otherwise the entire notion of markets is pointless.

These struts don't obey those same rules because they're a luxury item - increased volume and lower pricing doesn't make the market change. The price is more based on the customer and a vague notion of utility than production cost. And typically, when this is the case, people who haven't taken business or supply chain coursework verbalize their observation of this kind of product as "its too expensive," because they're looking at costs and not that utility, and there's nothing wrong about that observation.

Yeah I appreciate economies of scale, but the observation "it's too expensive" sounds like an armchair quarterback who's never really played a single game of football. Sure they've WATCHED a lot of games, but not played in any.

However If that person would offer up an example of another manufacturer's kit that had a similar build quality for less money, then that at least adds value to the thread. But just swinging "observations" around implying that people are potentially wasting their money doesn't help anyone with anything.

Everyone already knows they are spending their money on a luxury item. We all talk ourself into thinking we need something we don't (unless you need gas struts because you're missing a hand or have arthritis). A Ford Maverick itself is a big luxury item. You can buy a MUCH cheaper used truck that has seats, steering and suspension on Craigslist. 99% of the choices we make on a daily basis are choosing wants (luxury) instead of needs: Basic food, shelter, clothing, etc.

Again, if the argument is "it's too expensive", then the next question should be "relative to what?" Do we know this particular company's overhead relative to another's? Or maybe it's relative to poorly made kits from anther country? Not a fair comparison.

On a simple thread about "hey, look at this cool set of gas struts" why is it important for anyone to second guess or inject a generic dark cloud into anyone else's personal definition of utility, luxury, or what they think they need/ want? I just don't get it what value that brings to a thread. Instead, help find links to another vendor that delivers a better product and saves someone money. That would make this forum a really great resource.

That's my final observation, which I also think is fair. And I've beat this to death, sorry.

 

[AnchorChain]

Stop it, just stop. You nor anyone else in the history of ever is going To grab some metal in your shop and make brackets anywhere’s near presentable enough to show anyone ever in 15 to 20 minutes. You’ll spend 15 to 20 minutes hitting it with black spray paint from a rattle can that will just wear off.



You stop it too. These people are here to make a profit. If you had to buy a set of struts like that for a new car from the dealer it would probably cost twice that much. These people had to work out those brackets and then source the struts and they’re probably hoping to sell what A couple thousand of these? Do you think they’re running a charity?

You clearly know nothing but how to make stupid assumptions. If you really wanna pay that much for something that can be made way cheaper do you. I got ones for my Mustang under $75 that work great.

 

[FriarPop]

The MRT struts are on sale today for $27 off. $137. Just snagged a pair.

 

[RustyF150]

Where you getting the brackets from?

They're included in the kit.

 

[testa422]

They're included in the kit.

I know. That was directed to the guy who said he would just go out and get some cheap struts

 

[RustyF150]

I know. That was directed to the guy who said he would just go out and get some cheap struts

My mistake. I was low on java.

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