Hi all,
 
I am currently looking to buy a pair of genuine front control arms and ball joints for my AW11 and have been shopping around for the best price. i thought we could have a discussion on what options there are for buying overseas vs buying locally.
The following prices are for 2x AW11 control arms in AUD.
 
Toyota Castle Hill (NSW) $725.48 pickup
Amayama (UAE stock) $200 plus shipping (No stock available)
Amayama (JPN stock) $290 plus $61 for shipping
Lithia Toyota (USA) approx. $250 plus approx. $115 for shipping
ToyotaOnlineParts.com (USA) approx. $235 plus approx. $80 for shipping
North Shore Toyota (NZ) approx. $231 plus approx. $44 for shipping. 
 
So Amayama appear to be hopeless at returning quotes these days and Toyota Australia is kidding themselves with their pricing.
 
Where are you buying your genuine parts from???
 

ive noticed a lot of those cheaper parts, are usually parts that didn't pass quality testing by Toyota, ive ordered a part for my celica from one of those cheaper genuine sites, a waterpump, and it lasted 8 months. until it leaked and was ****ED
so just keep that in the back of your mind when buying,
some are cheaper for a reason, sometimers, you get a very good one, that only failed due to being out of spec by a pipteenth, other times, theres a good reason..

Hmm...ghey about amayama. They're normally pretty good.

Tried dylan? Also try sqengineering.

And maybe if you ask Gatesy(iirc) nicely he works for toyota.

North Shore Toyota NZ? They are great at answering emails and pricing is very similar to Lithia/Amayama but with shipping closer to Amayama.
I always tend to order off Lithia, but that's because I do larger orders where the postage cost doesn't matter as much.

Gatesys SW20
ive noticed a lot of those cheaper parts, are usually parts that didn't pass quality testing by Toyota, ive ordered a part for my celica from one of those cheaper genuine sites, a waterpump, and it lasted 8 months. until it leaked and was ****ED
so just keep that in the back of your mind when buying,
some are cheaper for a reason, sometimers, you get a very good one, that only failed due to being out of spec by a pipteenth, other times, theres a good reason..

I wouldn't think Toyota would sell dodgy parts though? I mean these are correctly packaged up/sealed Toyota parts. I understand buying something remanufactured from Rockauto would be risky.

I might try North Shore NZ for a comparison. Thanks maj.
 
 
Keep the information and suggestions coming guys! This might help some of the new MR2 owners locate more affordable parts. 

Yeah if you are talking genuine Toyota parts from a dealer who also provides an official Toyota receipt and parts carry the correct stamping, then you can't go wrong. Lithia and North shore are actually official Toyota dealers. Amayama hides nothing about where they get their parts from or the way the business operates to explain to you how they are able to offer parts for as cheap as they do.
 
I don't like the idea of always sending my money overseas, since you need to remember supporting Australian businesses is what keeps our country ticking over, but when you are talking an import that Toyota Australia admit they are ALWAYS going to order from Japan, there's little wonder most of the parts carry a 200% price increase, which is sad. For some of us that's simply not an option.

Total agree with you maj about keeping money in the country and supporting Australian jobs etc.
I buy all my small parts and bits and pieces from Toyota Australia. Actually picked up a bonnet prod rod clip I ordered a week ago (which came from JPN)
That part was $12 and overseas it was $4 or something. Obviously makes sense to buy in Oz for that one.
 
When you are talking 200-300% price increases on multiple $100+ dollar parts it quickly adds up and gets out of hand.

maj, with North Shore NZ do you just message them from their website? http://www.nst.co.nz/parts/parts-enquiry/

Gatesys SW20
ive noticed a lot of those cheaper parts, are usually parts that didn't pass quality testing by Toyota, ive ordered a part for my celica from one of those cheaper genuine sites, a waterpump, and it lasted 8 months. until it leaked and was ****ED
so just keep that in the back of your mind when buying,
some are cheaper for a reason, sometimers, you get a very good one, that only failed due to being out of spec by a pipteenth, other times, theres a good reason..

how exactly can you tell the difference between a part that passed QC at toyota and a Part that didnt?
im very curious to know.
you say that it was only out by a pipteenth, did you actually measure it before and after and with a part that passed QC??
im really suprised there can be two types of genuine parts, i wuld have thought that not passing QC means they go in the bin and get recycled..
 
Nick - lithia toyota has been usually quite good and Twosrus
cheers