Hey all. I was browsing sharkwerks' website and came across these. Is there a real mechanical reason that these end links cost such an astronomical amount? Or is it just because its meant to go on such an expensive car that people assume they have ridiculous amounts of cash throw at them?

GT2RS Rear End Links ($750)
http://www.sharkwerks.com/products.php?pid=204

Didn't want to post this elsewhere in the forum as it doesn't really pertain to any real discussion, was just curious.

 

Link no work.

 

Fixed it.

 

They look like die cast center links. That means expensive tooling and a bunch of design and testing cost. A small install base makes that expensive. Also look like other good components. Altogether, yeah, these might be pretty expensive when you consider more than material cost. I'm actually surprised at how in line with the normal world a lot of their catalog is. I do want to know what's special about Porsche break rotors.

I have no idea if they're fancier than necessary though, it does seem like an odd place for die cast components. That said, SharkWerks has a good reputation and their customers can afford the parts. Maybe a car shop is finally able to charge what any other manufacturing company would charge for parts.

 

Interesting that the rear links are more than this part http://www.sharkwerks.com/products.php?pid=205 which appears to be far more complex.

 

Set of 2 vs. set of 4, the toe steers are substantially more expensive ($105/ea), the rear link just comes with more parts.

 

Main reason those cost more than end links is that those aren't end links. They are part of the suspension linkage, so they are much bigger than end links and require much more engineering effort and material cost. They also include 8 big sphericals, which makes the price pretty reasonable.

 

Just grabbed a random Google pic so this may not be 100% the same, but the links in question are at the top -- more analogous to replacing a control arm pair than end links.





Edit: gotta actually put photo in.

 

Looks like $220 worth or parts to me (total for the 4)


Aluminum Suspension Tubes

Rod Ends : Heim Joints : Aurora Rod Ends : Alinibal Rod Ends : QA1 Motorsports Rod Ends : Steel Rod Ends : Aluminum Rod Ends : Spherical Bearings

 

Thanks for that, that actually makes miles more sense now.

 

^ Pretty much exactly what I was going to post.

They're expensive because they're inefficiently engineered and marketed to a crowd which cares more about aesthetics and bespoke parts than value.

A "real" race team would build their suspension links out of precisely the sort of hardware linked to above. Would this produce a better part than the shark-legs? Probably about the same, functionally. There's just no need to throw money away like that.

 

How nice it must be to fill a market where you can literally just price the product as you like and the customers will still buy them up.

 

There are miata companies/vendors doing the same on a smaller scale.

It's all relative.

There are test pipes for GTR's and Porsches that cost 1-2 grand. For 2 test pipes.
2 pipes about 1-2' long with o2 bungs and a flange on each end.
We spit out our coffee in shock, they buy them like hotcakes.

 

I remember building a set of lateral links back in 2004 for my Subaru when testing some components from Poltec. I just found out where they sourced material and purchased their sway bar boxes.

 

Wait what? Where are these being sold out. I think its about time to close MKTurbo and open up GTRTurbo and PKTurbo. Home of the $999 test pipes.

 

You speak in jest, but if you really wanted to, you could probably do well producing exactly these parts.

You'd need to somehow emboss a logo on the side of the pipe (laser engraving?), but other than that...

 

As I check pricing on these types of things for an actual car in the garage now... I'd rather not think about it.... off to pretend there are reasonably priced items for my car out there.

 

I didn't check the math, but at $220 for the parts the reality is most companies would ask in the neighborhood of what they are. The pure material coat forgets tool and engineering costs, manufacturing and assembly costs, quality costs, packaging and shipping, inventory, overhead, marketing, and profit for the machine shop, RSS and SharkWerks. Oh and liability insurance for major suspension replacement parts.

Also, I doubt they use cheap materials, as shop rates replacing a failed spherical would suck up the cost difference quickly. I also doubt a lot of teams would make their own, it's time consuming and the final part isn't proven out. Wrecking or missing a race because the link you thought was good enough would be much more expensive than the (annoyingly expensive) added cost. Club teams and autocross may be exceptions to that rule.