[chiaobaby]

I have been researching 335i intercoolers and was wondering why the pricing for them are so out of wack? When most intercoolers on the internet start at $50 dollars lowest and for different sizes the price is very competitive but on the forums they seem to be 1k range .

http://store.max-redline.com/servlet...5%22%2C/Detail

this is a intercooler that similar in size as the 335i but is only $98 you figure you can spend less than $300 to make a better than stock fmic .I think its because our cars are name BMW so after market suppliers price gouge the end-users . Maybe Im wrong but it looks like that from info on the internet. Anyway has any tried to make their own intercoolers here??

[danniexi]

you're paying for:

1. craftsmanship
2. R & D
3. yes, maybe a bit of a BMW premium.

for each and every intercooler that's been sold here, i've seen evidences of constant testing to back up the product's effectiveness. the research and results put forth by the vendors/manufacturers give the consumer reassurance that the product WILL do its job. i'd like to see that kind of credibility on eBay/no name sites.

that's what you're paying for. not for the hunk of metal with two tubes sticking out at each end.

speaking of which i need one...

[scheherazade]

Originally Posted by danniexi

you're paying for:

1. craftsmanship
2. R & D
3. yes, maybe a bit of a BMW premium.

for each and every intercooler that's been sold here, i've seen evidences of constant testing to back up the product's effectiveness. the research and results put forth by the vendors/manufacturers give the consumer reassurance that the product WILL do its job. i'd like to see that kind of credibility on eBay/no name sites.

that's what you're paying for. not for the hunk of metal with two tubes sticking out at each end.

speaking of which i need one...

Almost all intercooler makers buy their cores, and only fashion their own end tanks/hangers. Unless you do something like make cast end tanks (a-la ams), you're just welding up a box with a tube.

Anything larger than stock works better. It's just stating the obvious to demonstrate that it cools more.

If you frequented 'cheaper car' forums and read about their products, you'd see plenty of graphs showing good results for 'ebay' or 'other' vendors.

In my opinion :

There's a lot of BMW premium...
*BUT*
A large part of the BMW premium is that for every 1 BMW intercooler sold, there are probably 30 honda intercoolers sold. Why bother unless you can charge more money...

-scheherazade

[chumley]

Well, it's like anything else, numbers matter. If the vendors of some of the IC's sold here were promised 1000 unit sales, or 10,000, then prices would drop dramatically. It take a considerable amount of time and $$ to build a custom piece, assure the quality, source the parts and production and sell them.

Look at exhausts too..most of them are 2 cans and some piping and still cost $1500-$2000. But with so many for sale, what can a one of these vendors hope to sell over a couple year period? 100? 200? All the costs to that go into it attribute to the cost of each unit. That's why there are usually such dramatic pricing drops for group buys, even when they are only 30-40 units.