I am starting this thread just out of curiosity and not to bring on a fight or anything like that. I just needed a couple of items for my conversion so I went to FastLane to pluck in my online order. I also went to europeanautomotive and plucked in the same identical order and it was 80 dollars less. Why ? They both get the parts from WorldPac so everything is the same so why the big price difference ? Fast Lane = $490.72 EuropeanAuto = $411.84 (both offer free shipping at 50 dollars). Don't get me wrong fastlane supports this forum so it is a good thing and Phil is a nice guy too. (I've ordered from both previously and they both do a good job).

Why that much of a difference though ?

I'll still order from both just because I like the customer service and the fact that fastlane supports us..

***not here to start a fight on this topic; maybe there is something i'm missing here***

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Audi TT

One of them chooses to mark up the WorldPac prices more than the other, or one of them does more business with WorldPac than the other and so gets a steeper discount.

I doubt it's anything more mysterious than that.

Kevin

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'85 300SD

Kamil, allow that i'am wrong only about 1/2 the time. Suspect by your dollar cost you are talking about clutch and pressure plate plus throwout bearing as well. I live back in the back woods compared to your region. Even we have access to a good clutch rebuilder and costs here are 50.00 canadian or 40.00 american to resurface clutch disk with new material and believe they rebuild pressure plates as well but do not know cost at present. First I would check for clutch rebuilder in your area with good reputation and go that way but then again that may not be your way. Also they may have access to new parts at a quite reasonable price or one could reline clutch disk and buy new pressure plate. You are in control. Remember to have the flywheel surface ground as these babys we own have a few miles on them but it is a good habit even on lower milage vehicles. Try looking up clutch guys on net or yellow pages and check them out. Oh yes, clutch rebuilder wil have ability to grind flywheels at his site and even may be cheaper as that is their regular type of work. Then the difference between suppliers price becomes irrelevant. Consider sending me the savings After all it's close to christmastime.

I have been driving sticks for 26 years, have replaced more than a 10 clutches in that time, myself...............I have never heard of a clutch rebuilder until now.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I used to have both clutches and brakes relined. For example, my '68 model FJ-40 had a parking brake that was a drum mounted on the rear driveshaft...the stupid little shoes cost $50-60 back in 1975 so I had them relined for $15. However, I don't think anyone around here does that sort of work any more.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Brakes , yes..........clutches? never heard of anyone doing it before. But then usually once it slips rivits hit the pressure plate and its history safteywise.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I found the clutch rebuild guys obscure. You have to find them. But there usually there somewhere. We started using them when going to our local parts outlets and finding ridiculous prices especially on odd ball cars we owned. If you are unable to locate any rebuilders, I would go get a local price schedule and post it from them. Old cars are my hobby and I try to minumise costs to keep my wife's feathers from flaring. Plus just about anything is more expensive here in canada. Know there is/was a large american clutch rebuilder in fort wayne,indiana i believe.(fort wayne clutch rebuilders, I think) They do driveshaft work as well. They take individual jobs on as well and were a regular advertiser in hemmings old autos. Just looked one of them up in hemmings june 2004 issue. Automotive friction,1- 800-545-9088, portland, oregon 25yrs experience. Another one in virginia i just skimmed by. Quotes cheap and is my kind of guy if he checks out. If you have too much difficulty I would consider having a set rebuilt locally and park on my shelf. Then keep it available on a thread under used parts for forum users. With your strong dollar might work. Also have been weighing economical approaches as a forum thread as have found a few (cheap) approaches to really expensive problems myself when dealing with my old mercedes over the years. Without really comprimising quality. I also know there are many others out there that can show me a trick or two as well.

It may also have a bit to do with the nosedive the dollar has taken recently against the Euro only in the sense that if Fastlane has their current prices more closely tied to current replacement costs, they may be higher. OTOH, I've been wanting to give Fastlane a chance recently, but even with their recent sale, it was significantly cheaper for me to buy from Rusty, who I have nothing but praise for. He gets everything right and at a fair price, so why switch?

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

Many of the online "retailers" are nothing more than order "forwarders." They do not have any parts in stock themselves, they just take orders and forward them to distributors. The middlemen decide how much to mark up the prices themselves. If the distributor charges $10 for a brake hose, the middleman can charge you whatever he wants. If he is happy with thin margins, he might charge $12. Another vendor might want to make 50%, so he will charge $15. Same part, shipped out of the same warehouse. The middleman never sees the part. He just sells high, then buys low. How high is up to him.

We have a clutch and drivetrain shop here in town. Last time I checked they could sell me a clutch kit for about the same price as they could redo my own. I went for the new parts. That was for a Jeep, MB parts may be another story. If you want to find a shop like this, talk to the local racers.

Some businesses will pricematch. If you ask they can say no if they want to.