Does any aftermarket supplier have anything in stock
 

Little bit of venting

So I finally have the time and money to play at the track. So I go out and buy a BRZ back in March, thinking great low cost car to get started playing at the track.
Did 12 track days this summer and had a lot of fun, however the modification side of this has been frustration after frustration. It seems wherever I order something from, it takes months to receive that item.
I know most of the aftermarket vendors are not Amazon, next day shipping etc etc. But does it really take 1, 2, 3 months or more to receive a part order?

I will refrain from bashing the vendors I have ordered from but I will list all the things I have purchased this year. Some have arrived, some not

Brake pads
Oil Cooler
Once Piece Dash
Tires (Will mention Tirerack, had tires NEXT DAY)
Lug nuts
Center caps
Header & cat back exhaust
Tune
Wheels
Air Box
Oil filters (KN filter great job, 2 day turn around)

The really frustrating thing is, these are not cheapy parts, I took a lot of advice from this forum and purchased what I felt was the best of the best.

Things I still want to purchase if I don't have to wait months on end, spring is just around the corner:

Front Camber plates
Another set of track only wheels/tires
Headunit, which is why I bought the one piece dash
Brake pads, 2018 plan on 20 plus track days, so a few sets
More comfortable helmet, hate my current one
Transponder

So if you where ordering the list, who would you have ordered from to get a quality part in a reasonable amount of time, and you really were not worried about the cost?

unfortunately it's not even the retailers that are to blame. They put the order in and wait for the part to arrive. Some parts arrive in a few days if the manufacturer has a relatively local warehouse, some don't even make the part until they receive the order and then it's shipped on a slow boat from china. I bought and waited on both sides of the spectrum and unfortunately that's just how it is and out of the retailers' hands

I just call them directly and ask them if they have it in stock. If they have it they will ship it asap. If they don't, they will call the distributor to ask, and possibly drop ship directly.

Exactly. Do this.

The short answer is yes, sometimes it does.

Long answer: Here's a list of usual reasons why items are out of stock or "unavailable"

• Reseller inventory is off.
• Reseller owes vendor money.
• Vendor owes their supplier money.
• Vendor has not put in "bulk order" yet. (Keep in mind costs are often low bc they are ordered using cheapest shipping method. If between shipments then it will be backordered forever.)
• Manufacturer product line is backed up.
• You are "in between" shipments, which means you are inquiring at worst possible time when it comes to lead time. Usual minimum transit time from Japan to here (if item is in stock and shipping tomorrow) is ~6 weeks from Osaka or Tokyo to LAX/LGB.
• Item cannot be made or produced until MOQ is reached.
• Someone owes money to somewhere.

I don't list distributors because they are often at the mercy of the importer or vendor when it comes to inventory issues.

At the end of the day, once you get into this as a business owner, you will always stock what sells. Whatever that doesn't sell starts eating away at your ability to manage cash flow and sales in the long run.

-alex

All depends on the actual part you are buying. Some stuff is made to order, or comes from japan on a boat. How about you tell us what you are really waiting on, we ussually can tell you if you are getting hosed or not on wait times.


Example: My buddy order DuLuck wiebody for his GTR, took 5 months to get here. Most of that was a production thing, some was delay in the importer trying to fill a crate vs pay for air shipping. Same guy ordered ze40s, they were not made anywhere in the world, hit production and were at his door withing 2 weeks of completion.

I prefer not to bring vendors into this, especially if it is the norm then I would be bashing them for no reason.
Some wait times I experienced on items:

Wheels - 4 months
Lug Nuts - 2 months
Center caps - 2 months
Brake Pads - 1 month, had to return rears was sent wrong ones, wait another month
Oil cooler - 2 months, does not fit 2017 car, still not installed, see air box
1 Piece dash - 4 months, according to them in stock when I ordered
Air box - 1 month, was sent the wrong one, still waiting for correct one

You get the idea, I will say since they are not vendors on this forum the 1 piece dash and air box where directly from Subaru dealers. They are the worst.

I don't mean "vendors", I mean what is the actual parts. Waiting 4 months for volks/rays/etc is fairly common. Waiting 4 months for rotas.... not so much.

Waiting on the oil cooler, you said it didn't fit, likely you are waiting for the manufacture to get caught up with designing the part for a 17.

Not sure what you mean by 1 piece dash, if you mean the OEM dash thats in the car, I can see a delay, that is not a part that is commonly replaced and it likely has to ship frieght, which can take longer than smaller boxes.

I've always tried to work with local vendors, or shops that have to stock these parts for customers. They often make weekly runs to distributors where there are piles and piles of exactly what I'm ordering.

I had my ST coilovers in 2 days, my catback in a week, and my brake pads in 3 days.

See if there are local shops or vendors that like to support locals!

I have only had a slightly longer wait than anticipated once, because it turned out to be a drop-shipped item that I thought was stocked... everything else I knew I was ordering a made-to-order, or a when-the-shipment-arrives type thing (on the long waits) OR I actually had the stuff within a few days.

Parts that are drop shipped nearly always take longer. I've had some of those take a couple weeks, but I expected that coming in on all but the one.

Every vendor that discovered their inventory was off has actually contacted me (ok, all of two times it has happened) rather than leaving me in the dark, and offered alternatives that were available.

So... not my experience.