get together for struts...

[cablemn]

I cant believe the gen2 solara has been out since 2004, the 2006 is already out and we STILL have no aftermarket choices for struts? WTF?
I think we should start harrassing the manufacturers like bilstien koni and monroe to start Rand D for our cars. Anyone feelin that?

[slingshot]

Here is the reasoning IMO for the extreme lack of aftermarket parts compared to the Scion for instance. The Solara was totally marketed for the older couple with kids out of the house (empty nestegg). That's why they include a tape drive! The Scion is marketed for the young crowd and already has parts and the option of an MP3 player. Because of the above marketing, don't expect supercharger, MP3 options, etc. It looks to me that Toyota went through no effort at all to work with vendors to try to get aftermarket parts made and the vendors saw the marketing and figured it wasn't worth their while to come up with parts that would be for only a small percentage of the buyers. I'm seeing lots of Gen2's driving now but don't see anyone under 35 driving.

[LunarMistGray]

slingshot,
I agree 100%. Why toyota decided not to include a tape with the NAV unit is beyond me. I think toyota would be suprised at how many people would buy aftermarket parts for this car if they were made.

[cablemn]

i dont agree with the reasoning that the car was made for an older demographic. my next car is going to be a vette. i dont see many people under 35 driving a vette, and theres millions of aftermarket parts for that car. weve got to show manufacturers that there is a market and it shall be done. furthermore, since when did you have to be young to want your car to handle better. my moms 78 chevy impala needed shocks once and i had a huge choice of parts from many manufacturers to choose from.

[DatSRBoi]

i dont agree with the reasoning that the car was made for an older demographic. my next car is going to be a vette. i dont see many people under 35 driving a vette, and theres millions of aftermarket parts for that car. weve got to show manufacturers that there is a market and it shall be done. furthermore, since when did you have to be young to want your car to handle better. my moms 78 chevy impala needed shocks once and i had a huge choice of parts from many manufacturers to choose from.

Big difference your using to compare there bro.... Both vette and solara were meant for older people. Vette just happen to get with younger generations too in the end. The fact you cant compare these is that vette is a sports muscle car..... Solara is a luxury car. Thast why no performace part. Not to mention youd see more people racing in a vette then in a solara. And thats life. Performance is for racing.. Not for better ride or show quality or look.

[kgzero1]

Agree with the first post except that there is no option for mp3 in the scions. That is standard. I should know, I also have an xA. I spent a lot of money on OEM and aftermarket parts for that car. But can't find crap for the Solara.

[mmcdonald]

We should have a thread or forum (better still) for aftermarket manufacturers we have agreed to harass for parts.

I think if we took all the posters here and started a campaign to ask for parts - and then actually bought them - that we would start to see more showing up.

I am not looking forward to spending 2K to get custom headers made.

Who's with me? Can we get a forum going?

[Down2TheC]

What's a good price for headers if they're already designed and stocked? cp-e was talking about doing a proto in the fall if the intake biz goes well and he mentioned $800 as a ballpark. Seemed steep but I don't know headers. Phreak has contacts and I have capitol... maybe we can do an internal job ourselves to minimize cost. I can get a custom setup, send them out for replication, and we all have headers to buy. Hmmmm.

Anyway... back to the question... I like the idea of a Venders forum. We have the Testing forum sitting there locked. We can clear that out to make room. Got my vote. Could have one sticky there with all the released products for each gen.

[PhreakdOut]

I cant believe the gen2 solara has been out since 2004, the 2006 is already out and we STILL have no aftermarket choices for struts? WTF?
I think we should start harrassing the manufacturers like bilstien koni and monroe to start Rand D for our cars. Anyone feelin that?

Oh lord. Please don't harrass Monroe. (LOL) I work for the company that owns them.

Seriously, I'll talk to the product manager about it. If they're not interested yet, then I'll pass a note along to Tokico. (We have an alliance with them as well.)

[mmcdonald]

PhreakdOut, the idea is to make our product needs known, and then to actually reward the manufacturers with business. So being pestered should pay off if everyone is on board.

BTW, I ordered the TRD lowering springs yesterday, and was told by the dealer that "they have plenty" in the Toyota warehouse. Now how does this look for us if we can't even buy the readily available cool suspension parts. Okay, it took me a year or so to get mine, too...