Jan, here is the kind of information I'm talking about. There is tons of info, videos, dynos, and pics for this product listing. Sure people could copy it, but Full-Race still posts it all. I don't think you have to worry about BOMZ or OBX copying your supercharger or turbo kits
http://www.full-race.com/catalog/pro...oducts_id=2188

 

I also want to say I'm not trying to belittle the vendors and tuners on this site. If anything, some of the changes I would like to see might open up the market to new consumers, increase current owners purchases, and enliven the forum with more action.

Edit: I just saw this and couldn't stop laughing. All I can say is...wow

" The truth is in the trophies you collect, not the marketing gimmicks. "

 

When you have a staff as large as Full-Race, you have quite a few more resources to post it all. I'm counting 18 guys on their professional staff listing on their about-us page.

http://www.full-race.com/about-us/

If more of us had more manpower and time, we could do things like this. For vendors that want to grow to an enterprise of this size, having this much info available is definitely something to shoot for to better inform customers.

 

Gee I've found it very easy here in the MINI community and with most vendors to find the information I want. Now sometimes it wasn't put in an attractive hand delivered envelope, but most are very happy to speak at length about my questions... Those vendors that will not give numbers and answers before a purchase, I simply go somewhere else.

 

This is one of the main reasons I have yet to do any suspension work on my MINI. Both of my other cars have notable suspension changes, but it seems like useful information is few and far between for MINI suspensions. Suspension travel, spring rates, and comparison to factory spring suspension, ect, are topics that I rarely see. That being said, I agree with Andrew that the MINI community is partially to blame for the lack of info. If no one asks questions (myself included as of yet, admittedly) and people buy suspension parts and springs based on marketing cliches like "works with factory dampers" and "improved handling due to lower center of gravity" and "lowers _ inches without sacrificing ride quality", then what clear incentive do they have to actually give us that info?

So, I place the blame on both parties. The vendors need to offer more useful/technical information, and we need to encourage them to do so by asking for it and limit buying performance products that are marketed with vague generalities.

BTW, I'm not *bashing* specific vendors or even vendors in general... I'm actually taking a significant portion of the blame for lack of information off of the vendors, and I'm saying that both sides are to blame where there is a lack of info.

The consumers need to make it clear that there is a business advantage for the vendors if they offer more easily-accessible technical info. As of right now, I don't think that the MINI community has made that clear... Or maybe it not true at all and the vast majority of MINI owners *will* buy stuff based on cliche, feel-good, sales pitches. Hopefully not, but it's a thought.

 

Let's say there is a part I want to copy, say the BSH motor mount. This is going to sound like bashing (in all likelihood it is) but here goes:

It's not going to matter if I have a picture and a bit of info on the mount or absolutely nothing at all other than "BSH is planning to release a motor mount". I can open up my copy of Solidworks and have a similar part completed with FEA done in a couple hours (and I suck at CAD). The hardest part about that would be going out and pulling the stock mount off of my car and taking a few key dimensions, an extra hour at most.

Where it becomes complicated for somebody like me to compete though is the not trivial capital investment required (machine tools, a commercial software license). For somebody like Mynes, it's probably somewhat trivial, as what self respecting shop doesnt have a Bridgeport mill, and the price of anything extra like jigging can be factored into the final sale price.

I think I have said enough for the moment.

 

^^^ Not bashing. Its the truth.