Operation Storytime: Nobody Likes the Tuna Here
04-20-2015, 05:37 PM
#131
Yeah I got my Ohlins through that distributor you're talking about. NO SALES TAX YEEEEAAHHHHH!! Haha it was awesome. They're a great company for sure.
So I know this is just semantics, but I know the costs these distributors are getting their parts for. I also understand fully that these guys need to stay in business so they have to charge more. But some of these markups are absurd. For example, a Greddy SE from the manufacturer is under 1k. It's $930 or something like that- less than 1k with tax. The cheapest you can get it from a distributor is 1280- before tax. So tell me, is it worth a 30% markup? Not really. Now imagine a part that's $4k plus 30% and lets say no tax- 5200, an increase of $1200. So while yes, I'm working on getting quotes from distributors, I'm also working on getting it direct. It may work, it may not- we'll see. I could always use that money for something else too. We'll see.
Another problem is it's hard to find that part used. I've seen only one for sale in the past year, two if you count a different version of the same part.
So I know this is just semantics, but I know the costs these distributors are getting their parts for. I also understand fully that these guys need to stay in business so they have to charge more. But some of these markups are absurd. For example, a Greddy SE from the manufacturer is under 1k. It's $930 or something like that- less than 1k with tax. The cheapest you can get it from a distributor is 1280- before tax. So tell me, is it worth a 30% markup? Not really. Now imagine a part that's $4k plus 30% and lets say no tax- 5200, an increase of $1200. So while yes, I'm working on getting quotes from distributors, I'm also working on getting it direct. It may work, it may not- we'll see. I could always use that money for something else too. We'll see.
Another problem is it's hard to find that part used. I've seen only one for sale in the past year, two if you count a different version of the same part.
04-20-2015, 05:45 PM
#132
Registered User
Thread Starter
It also helps that I live 2 hours away from Amuse- well 2 hours and then however long it is from Narita which is out in the middle of nowhere. I was considering visiting and talking to them directly, and also see how they do business. It would be fascinating just to walk around. I know they mainly just run a shop out of their location and source their production from somewhere else but I'd be interested to see their upcoming work.
04-20-2015, 05:52 PM
#133
It also helps that I live 2 hours away from Amuse- well 2 hours and then however long it is from Narita which is out in the middle of nowhere. I was considering visiting and talking to them directly, and also see how they do business. It would be fascinating just to walk around. I know they mainly just run a shop out of their location and source their production from somewhere else but I'd be interested to see their upcoming work.
05-08-2015, 06:52 AM
#135
Registered User
Thread Starter
I have some pictures uploaded to my Instagram. I need to get to a computer before I can post here though.
So far, the amuse bumper fit without any adjustments right out of the box. The downforce fenders have some fitment issues that can be resolved by widening the mounting points.
So far, the amuse bumper fit without any adjustments right out of the box. The downforce fenders have some fitment issues that can be resolved by widening the mounting points.
05-11-2015, 04:31 PM
#136
Registered User
Thread Starter
Okay, it's time.
Let's Install Some Amusing Parts
I want to apologize in advance for the quality of some of these pictures, especially of the finished product- I ended up crunched for time and dropped the car off without taking any real pictures of it! I made sure to take pictures of the important things though.
So let's see - I had to drive my car down to SoCal because that's where all of my parts were. Along the way I encountered the California drought in full force.
First things first, I had to get my tires mounted that I bought awhile ago - so my friend Colin and I (KCMachine) went to an America's Tire in Lake Forest- which is the one managed by Arnel, who used to be pretty active on here. He has a few guys who really know what they're doing when it comes to mounting tires, and I was really happy with the end product.
Next was unpacking my Amuse R1 bumper.
Totally random, but an obligatory NSX picture:
And here is the last photo of my "stock" S2000- although this picture has Ohlins installed.
Around this time Chris Lum showed up (Chris_Lum) and we jacked up the car and took off the wheels, fenders, and bumper. This was a fairly straightforward process, and everything came off fairly easily.
With everything off, now was time to mount the fenders.
And now time for the bumper.
Initial Impressions
The fitment on my Amuse bumper is probably as close as you can get to an OEM piece, being FRP. FRP is notorious for being harder to fit, but we practically put it on and it fit without even having to bolt it on. In fact, the earlier pictures the bumper isn't even bolted yet, which I'm really happy about because so much of the time FRP requires a lot of work. I was really pleasantly surprised to see how much extra reinforcement this bumper has as well- it has mounting points for the fender liner and all the OEM mounting points as well.
In regards to the Downforce fenders... Those are going to take a little more finesse. The mounting holes need to be widened in order to bring the fender backwards towards the door, and there is one bracket that needs to be trimmed. Overall, the Downforce fender is a quality piece- it just needs some fitment work.
Would this work on my “stanced out” s2000?
The lip is probably too low, plus the general rule for the stance crowd is "be as cheap as possible" so that automatically rules out the R1 bumper, at least an authentic one. I heard Shine makes them but they don't fit well, at least in the pictures I've seen.
Is it green?
Well it certainly doesn't come green, but you could paint it that way I guess.
Cost vs. benefit
This is a tough one- personally, I find it to be worth it to buy authentic. So I would say yes, because you end up spending less at the body shop because it fits the first time, whereas with a rep part that doesn't fit you have to spend more to make it fit.
The downforce piece is a quality part, I will say that. For the fitment work though, either they should adjust their mold or drop the price a bit. That's just my opinion though.
Will it blend?
Most likely. I saw that will-it-blend guy blend an iPhone 6, so I'm sure he can blend FRP.
Who would you recommend it to?
I would recommend the DF sides to anyone who is looking at a more aggressive offset. I was able to drive the car with stock alignment settings after I put the DF sides on, which is about 1.5 deg. of camber. So if you want to play it safe, I highly recommend these. Or, if you don't want to flare OEM fenders this is the setup for you.
As far as the bumper, I think it's one of the best aftermarket bumpers on the market, so in that sense I would recommend it to everyone! Plus the fitment is great.
How would these work in a situation where I have to evade extremely pissed off cocaine dealers?
The downforce that the R1 bumper provides rivals that of F1 race cars. So now you will have so much grip you can literally take a 90 degree corner at 175 miles an hour and be able to turn successfully. No promises that you won't flip though.
Plus, the R1 bumper helps you blend in because it's very subtle. I couldn't promise the same if you bought something like say, a Voltex front.
Let's Install Some Amusing Parts
I want to apologize in advance for the quality of some of these pictures, especially of the finished product- I ended up crunched for time and dropped the car off without taking any real pictures of it! I made sure to take pictures of the important things though.
So let's see - I had to drive my car down to SoCal because that's where all of my parts were. Along the way I encountered the California drought in full force.
First things first, I had to get my tires mounted that I bought awhile ago - so my friend Colin and I (KCMachine) went to an America's Tire in Lake Forest- which is the one managed by Arnel, who used to be pretty active on here. He has a few guys who really know what they're doing when it comes to mounting tires, and I was really happy with the end product.
Next was unpacking my Amuse R1 bumper.
Totally random, but an obligatory NSX picture:
And here is the last photo of my "stock" S2000- although this picture has Ohlins installed.
Around this time Chris Lum showed up (Chris_Lum) and we jacked up the car and took off the wheels, fenders, and bumper. This was a fairly straightforward process, and everything came off fairly easily.
With everything off, now was time to mount the fenders.
And now time for the bumper.
Initial Impressions
The fitment on my Amuse bumper is probably as close as you can get to an OEM piece, being FRP. FRP is notorious for being harder to fit, but we practically put it on and it fit without even having to bolt it on. In fact, the earlier pictures the bumper isn't even bolted yet, which I'm really happy about because so much of the time FRP requires a lot of work. I was really pleasantly surprised to see how much extra reinforcement this bumper has as well- it has mounting points for the fender liner and all the OEM mounting points as well.
In regards to the Downforce fenders... Those are going to take a little more finesse. The mounting holes need to be widened in order to bring the fender backwards towards the door, and there is one bracket that needs to be trimmed. Overall, the Downforce fender is a quality piece- it just needs some fitment work.
Would this work on my “stanced out” s2000?
The lip is probably too low, plus the general rule for the stance crowd is "be as cheap as possible" so that automatically rules out the R1 bumper, at least an authentic one. I heard Shine makes them but they don't fit well, at least in the pictures I've seen.
Is it green?
Well it certainly doesn't come green, but you could paint it that way I guess.
Cost vs. benefit
This is a tough one- personally, I find it to be worth it to buy authentic. So I would say yes, because you end up spending less at the body shop because it fits the first time, whereas with a rep part that doesn't fit you have to spend more to make it fit.
The downforce piece is a quality part, I will say that. For the fitment work though, either they should adjust their mold or drop the price a bit. That's just my opinion though.
Will it blend?
Most likely. I saw that will-it-blend guy blend an iPhone 6, so I'm sure he can blend FRP.
Who would you recommend it to?
I would recommend the DF sides to anyone who is looking at a more aggressive offset. I was able to drive the car with stock alignment settings after I put the DF sides on, which is about 1.5 deg. of camber. So if you want to play it safe, I highly recommend these. Or, if you don't want to flare OEM fenders this is the setup for you.
As far as the bumper, I think it's one of the best aftermarket bumpers on the market, so in that sense I would recommend it to everyone! Plus the fitment is great.
How would these work in a situation where I have to evade extremely pissed off cocaine dealers?
The downforce that the R1 bumper provides rivals that of F1 race cars. So now you will have so much grip you can literally take a 90 degree corner at 175 miles an hour and be able to turn successfully. No promises that you won't flip though.
Plus, the R1 bumper helps you blend in because it's very subtle. I couldn't promise the same if you bought something like say, a Voltex front.
05-11-2015, 05:21 PM
#137
Registered User
Thread Starter
Let's get a hardtop on there
I installed the bumper and fenders, but I still needed to drive over to Evasive to pick up my hardtop before I dropped my car off to get painted. I had a problem- how do I transport my wheels, and what do I do with my OEM ones?? My DF fenders were wide enough to handle my CE's without needing more camber, so I went ahead and installed those. Then I popped the two extra CE's in my passenger seat since they would NOT fit in the rear without work. How is it driving with two 17x10 CE's in your passenger seat?
Difficult.
To add to the mayhem it started raining pretty hard as I was driving to my GF's house (I no longer live in SoCal) and to make matters worse, every time I went over a bump it would compress my wheels and push them towards the center console even more, to the point where they were pushing on my shifter to the point where I couldn't get out of 6th anymore! So I was worried that it was pushing hard enough to bend my shift fork so I lifted the wheels and was able to get it into 5th and drive down the freeway in 5th.
The next morning, I stopped by Evasive Motorsports.
Since they were installing my hardtop, rolling my fenders, and doing a corner balance/alignment, I was going to be there awhile- so Ej (Jack_In_The_Box) lives nearby and came to rescue me.
First shots of the car:
By the time they finished everything I had less than an hour to get down to the paint shop I was using, so I didn't get a chance really for any pictures other than on my phone... So these will have to do until I pick the car up.
Apologies for the cut off pic... I was rushing.
Hopefully I can get the bodyshop to send me pictures as everything progresses.
Overall, I'm really happy with the progress so far. I've been waiting for awhile to get everything put on and it all came together really well.
I installed the bumper and fenders, but I still needed to drive over to Evasive to pick up my hardtop before I dropped my car off to get painted. I had a problem- how do I transport my wheels, and what do I do with my OEM ones?? My DF fenders were wide enough to handle my CE's without needing more camber, so I went ahead and installed those. Then I popped the two extra CE's in my passenger seat since they would NOT fit in the rear without work. How is it driving with two 17x10 CE's in your passenger seat?
Difficult.
To add to the mayhem it started raining pretty hard as I was driving to my GF's house (I no longer live in SoCal) and to make matters worse, every time I went over a bump it would compress my wheels and push them towards the center console even more, to the point where they were pushing on my shifter to the point where I couldn't get out of 6th anymore! So I was worried that it was pushing hard enough to bend my shift fork so I lifted the wheels and was able to get it into 5th and drive down the freeway in 5th.
The next morning, I stopped by Evasive Motorsports.
Since they were installing my hardtop, rolling my fenders, and doing a corner balance/alignment, I was going to be there awhile- so Ej (Jack_In_The_Box) lives nearby and came to rescue me.
First shots of the car:
By the time they finished everything I had less than an hour to get down to the paint shop I was using, so I didn't get a chance really for any pictures other than on my phone... So these will have to do until I pick the car up.
Apologies for the cut off pic... I was rushing.
Hopefully I can get the bodyshop to send me pictures as everything progresses.
Overall, I'm really happy with the progress so far. I've been waiting for awhile to get everything put on and it all came together really well.
