Radiators, LOL

[gp90se]

So im lookin around the net and I decide to go onto www.radiators.com to get a quote on a rad. call the 800 number, tell em its a 90 TGP, comes back with the price of $1500 :shock: he even checked with his manager. what a friggin riot. most of us didnt spent that much on are cars never mind parts.

Just wanted to share
-Jeff

[no1kicker]

Sometimes you just need a laugh, and want to confuse the parts guys. So you call the GM dealer and ask for parts.

[Jeff M]

So im lookin around the net and I decide to go onto www.radiators.com to get a quote on a rad. call the 800 number, tell em its a 90 TGP, comes back with the price of $1500 :shock: he even checked with his manager. what a friggin riot. most of us didnt spent that much on are cars never mind parts.

Just wanted to share
-Jeff

Please do some reading of my post just a few days ago:

http://www.w-body.com/forum/viewtopi...bf8924d3ac0428

Jeff M

[gp90se]

Nice post, but I was just sayin that $1500 for a rad is a tad rediculous.

-Jeff

[RareGMFan]

Nice post, but I was just sayin that $1500 for a rad is a tad rediculous.

-Jeff

Dealer charges about the same thing, so it's not a glitch and they're not pulling your leg. A lot of the price tags on TGP parts are rediculous, but it comes with the rare car territory. The air struts on an AWD 6000 are $330 each, the driveshaft is $1,500, and a new Teves II ABS system is $2K +. :shock: Developing cars like this isn't cheap. They're using many unique parts, and when you don't have the quantities to spread the cost out through car sales....well....what you get is a massive price tag for those unique parts.

[dkorinko]

Yeah i remember when my dad put a hole in mine...I called around just to see what one would be...cheapest i could find was 1100!

[Dannymik]

spending over 1K is a no laughing matter...the thought of spending that much calls for a ton of beer!

[RareGMFan]

spending over 1K is a no laughing matter...the thought of spending that much calls for a ton of beer!

Actually, you should probably be cutting back on the beer to free up more money :shock:

[TurboSedan]

i saw a new one go for six-hundred something on ebay a few months ago. i feel good knowing that i have two of them sitting in my garage
joshua

[Jeff M]

Nice post, but I was just sayin that $1500 for a rad is a tad rediculous.

-Jeff

it is for sure, I just thought you needed help. And to help not freak out others, just wanted to mention other options, much cheaper, to take care of fixing a 14-15 year old radiator. Actually I believe the retail price is more like $2,000!! There are radiator repair shops in every town, even small towns with service garages can find access to radiator supply companies, and with that they just need to know it’s a 3 core then the dimensions to order up one meaning its just a core to them, not a TGP or TSTE specific core only, so DON’T GO SAY IT’S FOR A TGP OR TSTE, and that the dealer wants $2,000 for it, these guys are not dumb, they will up the price hearing this, SAME goes for the PowerMaster III Brake System, DON’T go telling Prior GM’s price for it, you just saying this shows you think Prior's price is cheap, they will raise it!!!! A number of TGP owners have gone this route getting their radiator re-cored with great results, and reasonable prices. Thanks Hyeboy for those quotes, you are exactly right, furthermore GM has to keep inventoried parts for every car they make for 7 years, obviously doing it for longer since they still have parts for the TGP and others, and when you look at a parts book for just one car, multiply that times all the different cars they have made since at least 1989-90, it can add up to a huge operation to run and fund. Looking at the retail cost of the TGP turbo (no longer available) at $1,200, dealer cost of $784, assume GM parts warehouse with their markup of 35%, and their cost is $509, then assume GM sells to the warehouses with their 25% markup making it $382, maybe less since GM is notorious for forcing suppliers to sell cheap, these are just estimates but it gives an idea and how the many middlemen kill the end user’s wallet. Yea it don’t make sense to us to charge $3,200 for a complete ABS unit for a car that is 14-15 years when most owners get their 14-15 year old cars/TGP for this or less, but the other side of keeping an inventory and all the middlemen profit is GM has little loyalty to their customers anyways, to them they would rather you send the car to the yard and buy newer, or new, but what GM does not see is that ownership experience is what builds a loyal GM customer, or not, and most first time buyers can only afford a used car so aside from the used parts price shock as their car ages, they also find the inherent weakness of the poorly engineered and/or built areas of their car, make it right to begin with and maybe used car ownership experience will be a pleasant one, but GM and many other car makers rush too fast getting their product lines out, even knowing there are problem areas still unresolved! Being an old guy who has been around for a while, I have seen a lot of cars foreign and domestic and every one of them has a list of inherent problems, some worse than others, some more costly to fix than others, even high end models like BMW and others have their issues, take the much heralded BMW 800 series, the 850CSi with a big 12 cylinder engine is prone to eat the 6 Speed Manual Trannies, and have problems with the drive by wire Throttle Bodies and the prone to fail Intake Gaskets, those items will give you sticker shock and then some, nothing new here either, every car has some problems. The latest BMW M3 has had major engine failure since it first came out, which BMW is blaming some on the owners, but being a bit smarter than most domestic manufacturers, gets damn busy finding a fix, and has also made up a special oil, get this, 0w60 synthetic!! But with all these problems comes the aftermarket, that works pretty damn hard to reverse engineer a problem prone part, figure out the flaw/weakness, re-engineer a better part and get it manufactured for sale to owners, and many times for less than the OEM supplier who still makes the same faulty designed part, the aftermarket is our salvation.

Well enough, I got more emails and work to do, hope this was useful and/or informative.

Jeff M

[gp90se]

Jeff M, I was being absolutely serious when I said "nice post." I have learned more from reading your posts then I have anyone else's when it comes to TGPs. The fact GM can take a $120 radiator and mark it up over 1000% is nuts but I now understand why. If I do go that route of having the rad recored, I will not tell em what its out of. As far as the PMIII system, if mine does fail, I will be talking to a mechanic around here who I have seen do a lot of odd brake conversions, see what he says. Once again, thanks for the informative posts.

-Jeff

[Jeff M]

Jeff M, I was being absolutely serious when I said "nice post." I have learned more from reading your posts then I have anyone else's when it comes to TGPs. The fact GM can take a $120 radiator and mark it up over 1000% is nuts but I now understand why. If I do go that route of having the rad recored, I will not tell em what its out of. As far as the PMIII system, if mine does fail, I will be talking to a mechanic around here who I have seen do a lot of odd brake conversions, see what he says. Once again, thanks for the informative posts.

-Jeff

Thanks Jeff , sorry for such a big reply, that’s my fault being so intense with a wordy reply, its because I look at my posts more to the topic and how it relates to all those who will view it and benifit from it now and in the future, not just in reply to what you wanted to say, and needed!!! 8) Yea its pretty insane and somewhat entertaining the prices charged for unique parts, I know of quite a few like this as do other TGP owners, good thing there are others who post here offering better/more affordable solutions. Good luck with yours, and I like your 36 inch rims, all those boyees with their 24’s are going to be bummed when they find there are 26" rims out now :shock: .

Jeff M

[gp90se]

*tips hat*

-Jeff

[J]

Jeff M, I was being absolutely serious when I said "nice post." I have learned more from reading your posts then I have anyone else's when it comes to TGPs. The fact GM can take a $120 radiator and mark it up over 1000% is nuts but I now understand why. If I do go that route of having the rad recored, I will not tell em what its out of. As far as the PMIII system, if mine does fail, I will be talking to a mechanic around here who I have seen do a lot of odd brake conversions, see what he says. Once again, thanks for the informative posts.

-Jeff

Thanks Jeff , sorry for such a big reply, that’s my fault being so intense with a wordy reply, its because I look at my posts more to the topic and how it relates to all those who will view it and benifit from it now and in the future, not just in reply to what you wanted to say!!! 8) Yea its pretty insane and somewhat entertaining the prices charged for unique parts, I know of quite a few like this as do other TGP owners, good thing there are others who post here offering better/more affordable solutions. Good luck with yours, and I like your 36 inch rims, all those boyees with their 24’s are going to be bummed when they find there are 26" rims out now :shock: Jeff M

28's at the auto show!

[Jeff M]

28's at the auto show!

28s now too?, tires for these must be close to $1,500 as I saw 26s for $1,100. And oh good, some more Escalades pimpin down the road with pizza pan size rims, no, snow saucer size rims

Jeff M