VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Vendors & Suppliers - Parts Steele Rubber Co Exorbitant Prices

What has happened with the Steele Rubber Company? I haven’t purchased from them in awhile and their prices now are ridiculous! The rubber floor plug that covers the master cylinder for my ‘37 is $75!!! It’s $8.49 at the Filling Station. I checked a few other parts and the prices have gone up almost 10 times from their catalog issued about 8 years ago. They surely can’t stay in business with these prices. Does anyone know what’s going on? It would leave a huge gap in our hobby if they go out of business.

I noticed that as well. I thought I was going to need a gas filler grommet for my 38 and was shocked by the price. I managed to reuse my old one.

Same here. Two rubber bumpers for doors on 35 Chevy. Price went from 45.00 to 96.00 and they don't stock them, they have to be made.

I wonder if Steele is starting down a "death spiral" similar to the one that took Hampton Coach/LeBaron Bonny under?

I also wonder if their business model has shifted to a "build on demand" for some parts. So they bumped the pricing to cover their set-up costs. They want to minimize the finished goods inventory they hold.

Might also be there supplier’s prices have gone way up also. Just the cost of being in business will have an impact but it does sound like it’s getting out of hand. I’m glad I finished my 47 5 years ago.

Steve from The Filling Station here. Just my two cents worth......look around everywhere - not just this hobby, but everywhere prices are up - way up! We struggle every day to be competitive with our prices while keeping up quality. There are two schools of thought: Cheap prices or Buy American. We have carried Steele Rubber items for over 40 years - always happy with the quality but we have to balance that against the price for USA Made products. Another thing that continues to rise in price is the cost of freight. Last week UPS settled with their drivers on a new contract that pays them up to $170K per year. Where do you suppose that money will come from? - higher shipping costs.

Moderator Edit: I removed a political comment. The rules are no politics, no religion.

The prices at Steele have always been high, compared to other suppliers. But, as Steve points out, the quality is consistently good, better than most others.
They sell some simple rubber sleeves that are used in truck cab mounts. They get $60.00 for a pair. I have them made, locally, in small batches, to use in the cab mounting kits I assemble. I pay about $6.00 each.
You can charge extra for quality but at some point the pricing becomes abusive and someone decides to go into business to compete with you.

Mike

I can say on new parts, ones that haven't been available before, there is a lot of tooling costs involved. I personally machined about a dozen different molds for my '32 Oldsmobile. I have probably at least 500+ hours into those molds. The pieces are made with two part urethane and come out exactly like the originals. When I offer them for sale people tell me I'm crazy for asking $275 for a pedal area closeout (about 6 x 9). If I sold 50, I'd probably break even in labor and materials just for the mold. Problem is, there isn't that many 32 olds left and many owners could care less about having the original type closeout in their car. All the pieces made are unavailable anywhere and my pieces are not priced any higher than comparable ones offered by Steele or Metro. People have been looking for floor mats for their 30's Buick, Olds and Pontiacs. Mac Blair, who has passed had a mold made and had a lot of them made up but now they're gone. No one knows where the molds went or who produced them for Mac. To reproduce those molds now would be a years salary for many. The mold costs are the primary reason for the high cost of the part.

That's great for new parts but the parts I'm referring to have been offered by them for years. Any tooling cost would have been recouped long ago.