2022: Shop Updates

2022: Shop Updates 1

You might have noticed a few changes to our webstore in recent weeks.  This has been in response to the ongoing supply chain issues that continue to effect many industries, to include motorsports and automotive parts.  Unfortunately the effects of the pandemic have lasted much much longer than any of us anticipated, forcing us to rethink how we handle out-of-stock items and also what items we carry here on our webstore and in our physical race shop.  Beginning immediately we have imitated the following changes:

No more backorders: All items in our webstore will be listed as either “In-stock” or “Out of Stock”.  Previously we allowed customers to purchase backordered items.  Unfortunately, backordered items that used to take less than a week to receive, are now sometimes taking 6 or more months to get.  This leads to frustrations for both our customers and us, as we try to manage expectations and get you your parts as soon as possible.  Now all items you see on our store will reflect a live stock status.  If an item states “In Stock! – Ships in 1-3 Business Days“, then that indicates we have at least one of that product on the shelf here at MSW.  For out of stock items, you can sign up to a waitlist to be notified when they come back in stock.

No more dated SFI or FIA equipment*:  We will no longer carry window-nets, center-nets, safety harnesses, or fire-systems.  These items have a limited lifespan, and the clock starts ticking just after they are manufactured.  In the past, SFI items could be shipped to dealers without their tags punched, with the dealer punching them when sold.  We simply do not have enough sales of dated safety equipment to justify keeping them on the shelf where their expiration date ticks closer.  We will remain a dealer for the most popular safety equipment and can order these items for our clients on a case-by-case basis, but we will not be stocking them.
*We will likely continue to offer Racetech seats for the near term, as we typically drop ship those directly from Ractech to our shop or to our customer.  We will reevaluate this over the next year.

Fewer OEM replacement Parts:  We simply can not compete on price with the huge parts suppliers and their buying power.  Many of these webstores are selling at near cost (and often below our cost), which makes it a losing proposition for us to offer OEM replacement parts through our store.  We still stock a great deal of E36 and E46 parts in our shop, as we repair lots of race cars in our shop and this requires us to keep parts on hand.  Our focus will shift to more unique, race-oriented parts.

Increased Prices:  Many of you have probably already seen this take place across various consumer sectors.  Automotive motorsports certainly isn’t immune to the rising costs.  Increased costs of raw materials, transportation costs, and other factors have driven up the cost of nearly everything.  We will continue to do our best to keep prices down, we’re racing enthusiasts ourselves after all.  Most of these increases are at the direction of the product manufacturers.  They give us a Minimum Advertised Price, which we must adhere to.  Our purchase cost likewise have been increasing.  We still offer price-matching, but with the caveat that the price we’re matching is compliant with the manufacturer’s pricing guidelines.

More MSW Developed Products:  Finally some good news!  You might have noticed a few new products added to our website that are MSW branded.  We’ve been busy in the background working on new and innovative products focused on road racing applications.  Many of these products are BMW E46 (and related) platform specific, but we will be working to expand the lineup to other popular models used in road racing.  These products are designed, developed, tested, and manufactured here in the US.  While you might be able to find less expensive options, we know our products are of the highest quality and come with the best support in the industry.  Beyond our own in-house developed products, we’ll also be working harder on finding, testing, and offering unique and useful products from other innovative small companies.

$9.99
From: $299.99
$4.49
From: $327.99