I am considering looking into manufacturing door handle gaskets for our cars (since they seem to disintegrate and the lowest price I can find is $94/pair) and have a couple questions:

1. What material are they made from?
2. Is there a demand?
3. What is a good pricepoint? (I am going to work backwards from here to see if it is cost-effective)
4. Is there in anyone's opinion a better, longer lasting material I should use?
5. Has anyone else already done this at a reasonable price that I missed?

I am looking into this because I need a solution and I figure others do as well, I do not work in the industry but am local to some companies who may be willing to do small runs like this.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Dave

 

Dave it's a molded plastic.
My guess there will be a demand, they're getting on for 13 years old for the initial cars.
A pricepoint, well half Jaguar's price is fair, I think the people that cost parts decide on a fair price then double it to make you feel like you're paying for added quality/peace of mind, which *isn't* fair!
My suggestion would be quality rubber backed chrome plated metal, but that would be expensive
I haven't heard of any aftermarket gaskets.

 

Thanks for the reply! I am thinking $25-$30 retail pricepoint, so I will begin to look at costing it out to attain that price. The setup will be the biggest cost I imagine, so I will probably have to amortize that into the final number...

 

Coventry West had some make up but I do not remember the price point . . . but less than the Jaguar parts counter because they will only sell the entire door handle assembly at about $700.

That $90 something may have been Coventry.

 

just bought some at coventry west....I think it was two for 80 bucks