You know, that's such an obvious idea that I'm gonna have to give myself a big kick in the *** for not looking there yet. DOH.

Of course we're always going to try to give the best pricing we can, so as soon as we can figure out what to look for we can see if we're gonna be able to be competetive with our pricing. No excuses, but we'll try.

The best way to learn is always to ask. If we're gonna seriously look into the Subaru crowd, we feel that it's best to get to know you guys first and see what you want. Down the line I hope we're able to help all of you out.

It seems that TEIN is the popular all around name for everything. Would ppl choose Cusco over TEIN if we were to make that readily available?

 

As for motors...

The market is getting rather competitive. Many guys have already secured their channels and get the motors on a consistent basis. But fear not, :banana: We are looking into sourcing them tho.

This is Sean by the way. I just met Nino from your board and also received a call at the shop from another guy named Nino. Very nice guys! Thanks for calling and coming by guys.

Hey andrew, we will look into getting your stuff. Wash your car man! jk

The 15" drift spec wats are going for $1150.00 and we are going to throw in the lugnuts ($100 value). They are sized to fit s13 really well with no clearance issues. I like deep dish too but you will always run into drivablility issues (i got 14x8.5 -11 off on my AE86 and sometimes i rub). Would be nice to see someone run around with a nice set of wats besides me...

Thanks for your replies guys!

 

I agree. If there's a choice between the two, we'll bring in Cusco. While we're on the subject, how common is it for Subie owners to upgrade to a full coilover? Do you guys tend to like spring/strut combos or full coilover setups?

 

LOL, that car is owned by a friend of Sean's. It was painted by our friend Daniel Shin, who used to own Monk's Custom Painting, which, sadly, he closed down earlier this year. When he told me he was gonna shoot that car hot pink and plaster "I LOVE MONK" on the side of it I thought he was full on joking... I can't believe he actually went ahead and did it hahahahahaha.

 

For the Subaru performance and all other cars, you should look into turbo back catless exhausts. These are the pretty much common stuff everybody loves to change. So you should stock these items. However, when choosing what company to buy from, you should get a great sounding exhaust or a very stock/quiet type of exhaust, usually 3" is enough for 400 HP cars. This will take car of most of your target market.

Competitive Advantage
You can create a competitive advantage by shipping by boat, big and heavy items, such as exhaust systems, suspension, rims, etc.. As for other smaller items that are expensive, you should use JIT inventory for these (engine management, turbos, etc...), OR just have 1 or 2 in stock all the time, so when someone buys it, order another one. You may want to get an inventory system that will track your inventory electronically, so you don't waste time physically counting inventory. A bar code system would be great or maybe just product code labels. So when you do sell an item , the cashier will automatically record your sale and subtract it from your inventory list.

Here is a list of items that STi owners would like for performance parts:

1. Turbo back exhaust
2. Engine management
3. Turbo upgrade
4. Larger fuel injectors and fuel pump.

Andvertising...ugh. NO! Go Dino!!!
As for attracting customers to your shop, an all wheel dino would do it. You will be the first and ONLY one in hawaii to have one and a whole lot of enthusiastic racer guys would come to your shop. Talk about pulling your ENTIRE target market of Hawaii into your shop. Plus, it is a revenue cash cow and it will pay for itself. Forget about advertising, you will get so many customers to your shop, you will have to create a waiting list to meet with everyone. This will create so much traffic for your business, that your business name will spread throughout Hawaii faster than the wild fires in Cali. Be sure to get a technician/tuner that knows what he is doing with the dino. It is very important to have a tuner always working the dino. People dino their cars to have it tuned, not just to see how much horses they have.

Furthermore, an all wheel dino will help you choose proven performance parts for your customer. You can compare and get first hand HP generation from all the performance parts you use. You can offer customers to dino their cars for free, if you want to see the improvement in HP. Therefore, you will be able to be a reputable company and recommend performance parts that you know will increase HP and by how much, FIRST HAND & UNBIASED - instead of going on what you read or heard.