TAS Auto closed

[deevergote]

I never actually got around to buying anything from them. I just appreciated the fact that there was another place that catered specifically to the Accord enthusiast base. It seems this chassis's fifteen minutes of fame has come and gone these past three or four years. As controversial a topic as Bisimoto is, I personally felt they did something great - something real - for the F22. Bisi then got shit on so hard (for legit reasons or not, I'm not wanting to get into that here), and appropriately left the Honda scene almost altogether. I think they'll still tune our cars or do custom work if you bring your car to them, but they definitely aren't bringing anything new out or even keeping old parts in production.

Personally, I'm just sick of all the "hating" attached to the Honda community. There are these companies that seem to be trying to help us out, but we don't approve of their methods. Yet, instead of trying to work with them to improve the relationship, everyone is quick to bring them to their knees and we're back to having nothing at all. Way to go, team.

Bisimoto definitely breathed new life into the CB7. The F22A was considered to be a paperweight until he came along. Bisi's personal accomplishments did more for the engine than his business did, honestly.

As for TAS, they did absolutely nothing to help us out. They offered overpriced low-quality parts, or overpriced OEM parts that I guarantee came directly from the parts counter of their nearest Honda dealer. Had they actually brought something new to the table... then yes, we would have embraced them wholeheartedly. We tried, when they first started catering to the CB crowd. For a while, it seemed as if they would actually be interested in legitimately meeting our performance parts needs. It wasn't until their service declined, communication stopped, and their parts were revealed to be total crap that they were written off. They weren't doing anyone any favors. They weren't helping anyone. They were taking advantage of a starved market.
If you go on a crap site like Andy's AutoSport, click on "Accord"... you'll basically have TAS, and then some. That's all they were. Just a re-seller. I agree that it was cool to have a model-specific site like that, but aside from the narrow focus, there was little worth buying. Especially at their prices.

So far, there has only been one company that CB7tuner has been associated with over the years that HAS consistently brought innovative, high-quality products to this community... and that is Explicit Speed Performance. The worst they have ever done was delay production and give refunds for products that were never going to be made when they were ceasing production a while back. Not ideal, but they did nothing shady... nothing that made anyone feel disrespected or taken advantage of. Now they're back, and once again making quality parts for our chassis.
As a community, it is companies like ESP that we should (and do) support. Not scam artists like TAS, or dishonorable companies like Bisimoto.

Just because we're starving doesn't mean we should kiss the feet of the guy that gives us his rotten table scraps. We should support the companies that enrich our lives as enthusiasts.
Sadly, the good stuff costs money. Quality parts aren't cheap to make, especially at a low production volume such as the CB7 market demands. For someone to design and manufacture a high quality part for an aging and fairly unpopular platform means that their price is going to have to be high enough to cover the cost, time, and effort involved. The result is often a price that is far higher than people are willing to pay. Especially when they see cheaper alternatives (why pay $200 for an ESP strut bar when I can get a JDM Performance bar on eBay for $30?) For this reason, the truly great designers and manufacturers of parts have no interest in this chassis.
Aside from our unwillingness to pay high prices for quality parts, we're not really doing anything to drive anyone away.

[deevergote]

Were there any products TAS sold that were exclusive to them? Seems to me they were just a reseller of easy to find parts. Like ROH kits that were hundreds of dollars more than what you could just piece together on your own.

What bothers me about the Honda community is the rampant misinformation and laziness. It seems everytime I google something for a Honda it's a million posts of "how do I do dis" then 10 people chiming in with their opinion on how it's done. Or "lol why do you need to know dat" like why do you think I need an AC pressure chart?

You are being lazy, getting upsold on a ROH kit made from readily available components. Everyone who can google knows it's hubs, rotors, calipers, and pads; you are just throwing away $200 letting someone else put together the very uncomplicated formula for you. "It is effort and concentration that makes life worthwhile" -Bert Munro.

The ROH kit was probably the last thing they provided as a direct result of CB7tuner's input. That happened just before the rep disappeared and the company stopped responding to me entirely. The other biggie was their "adjustable control arms", which were just generic low-grade stamped steel arms with Ingalls ball joints. They sold for about double the cost of the ball joints alone.

I think, as far as the CB chassis went anyway, the "adjustable control arms" were the only "TAS exclusive" parts offered.

As Erik mentioned earlier, their overpriced kits were really just good as a shopping list for parts. I truly believe that TAS simply went to the Honda dealership whenever one of their kits was ordered, purchased the parts, threw them in a box, and charged 25% more than they paid for the service. Granted, that's pretty much how any "kit" re-seller works. Though some do offer prices that can make the kit worthwhile. Treadstone Performance, for example... I'm not sure I could assemble a turbo setup using the exact same parts for less than I'd spend on their kit. If I could, I think it would be close... and if it's close, I'd be willing to pay more to avoid the hassle. Being lazy is worth 5%, maybe 10% more... but more than that is simply price gouging. Taking advantage of the ignorant.

[H311RA151N]

I never actually got around to buying anything from them. I just appreciated the fact that there was another place that catered specifically to the Accord enthusiast base. It seems this chassis's fifteen minutes of fame has come and gone these past three or four years. As controversial a topic as Bisimoto is, I personally felt they did something great - something real - for the F22. Bisi then got shit on so hard (for legit reasons or not, I'm not wanting to get into that here), and appropriately left the Honda scene almost altogether. I think they'll still tune our cars or do custom work if you bring your car to them, but they definitely aren't bringing anything new out or even keeping old parts in production.

Personally, I'm just sick of all the "hating" attached to the Honda community. There are these companies that seem to be trying to help us out, but we don't approve of their methods. Yet, instead of trying to work with them to improve the relationship, everyone is quick to bring them to their knees and we're back to having nothing at all. Way to go, team.

I understand what you are saying.

[SOHC-FTW]

The accord scene has never been what the civic hype was and even that has died down a massive amount over the last 3-4years as well as people's Hondas and related stuff getting stolen. Which to me is a win and if we're anything like the sbc,sbm,sbf crowd in this generation of car enthusiast we will keep weeding out the crap companies, thus making the already unpopular chassis a stronger "team" as a whole.

As with life things will go on.

[deevergote]

Exactly. I'd rather have 3 high quality companies producing truly effective parts than a dozen companies selling cheap crap.

Just look at our suspension options. The market is flooded with cheap knockoff junk. What will happen when brands like Koni and Bilstein stop making shocks for us? Or when H&R and Eibach stop making springs for the CB? By buying the cheap knockoff junk, we're telling those companies that we don't want their stuff. For every set of TruHart or LoTek shocks you buy... for every set of D2 or Skunk2 springs you buy... for every set of Emusa or Raceland coilovers you buy, you're telling the quality companies that they are not wanted... and they will take the hint sooner or later.

TAS was not our friend. TAS was slinging low quality junk (or overpriced OEM parts... which is simply insulting). Support the companies that actually respect and appreciate their customers. Companies like ESP, for example. Or Fat Four Customs. Or Chedda's Auto (Chedda didn't quite grasp how things work around here, but I respect the man's work, and he's taken care of every customer I'm aware of... I support that.) Those are the companies that we, as a community, should be supporting wholeheartedly.
To hell with the companies that sell crap. To hell with the companies that sell overpriced kits. To hell with the companies that sell inferior craftsmanship and blame the flaws on the customer. They don't deserve our support. They deserve to fail. If the discontent with TASauto's crappy products and obscene prices expressed on this site contributed to their downfall... then I agree... way to go team... with no hint of sarcasm.

[Grumpys93]

What will happen when brands like Koni and Bilstein stop making shocks for us?.

Guess I better start stocking up on these parts so if they go out of business (hopefully not). I'll have another set for when my current set up goes.

[cp[mike]]

Guess I better start stocking up on these parts so if they go out of business (hopefully not). I'll have another set for when my current set up goes.

you should look at my garage not just companies going out of business, but them discontinuing CB parts.

[deevergote]

Guess I better start stocking up on these parts so if they go out of business (hopefully not). I'll have another set for when my current set up goes.

They won't go out of business... but I don't expect they'll be supporting the CB platform much longer. We got a bit of a reprieve due to the fact that the CD shares the same general suspension setup, I think. We likely have an extra 4 years tacked onto the life of our shock/spring options.


The crappy companies will (or at least should) go out of business. The quality companies will just move away from unprofitable platforms.

[Accrdwgnguy]

My thoughts exactly. It's not like you can't buy brake rotors and control arms EVERYWHERE for these cars. If we want true exclusivity then we need to support the makers that support and better our cars, and not just resellers lining their pockets with our hard earned cash.

Exactly. I'd rather have 3 high quality companies producing truly effective parts than a dozen companies selling cheap crap.

Just look at our suspension options. The market is flooded with cheap knockoff junk. What will happen when brands like Koni and Bilstein stop making shocks for us? Or when H&R and Eibach stop making springs for the CB? By buying the cheap knockoff junk, we're telling those companies that we don't want their stuff. For every set of TruHart or LoTek shocks you buy... for every set of D2 or Skunk2 springs you buy... for every set of Emusa or Raceland coilovers you buy, you're telling the quality companies that they are not wanted... and they will take the hint sooner or later.

TAS was not our friend. TAS was slinging low quality junk (or overpriced OEM parts... which is simply insulting). Support the companies that actually respect and appreciate their customers. Companies like ESP, for example. Or Fat Four Customs. Or Chedda's Auto (Chedda didn't quite grasp how things work around here, but I respect the man's work, and he's taken care of every customer I'm aware of... I support that.) Those are the companies that we, as a community, should be supporting wholeheartedly.
To hell with the companies that sell crap. To hell with the companies that sell overpriced kits. To hell with the companies that sell inferior craftsmanship and blame the flaws on the customer. They don't deserve our support. They deserve to fail. If the discontent with TASauto's crappy products and obscene prices expressed on this site contributed to their downfall... then I agree... way to go team... with no hint of sarcasm.

[Ralphie]

Any 15 minutes of fame that this chassis got, was around the time Joey(Stickydiljoe) was around and got featured on Honda Tuning(first, ever I believe).

They gave that kid so much shit and a lot of hate from this community right here even though there were plenty of supporters. He said fuck it, and sold the car and moved on just like Bisi and others have.

That is not central to this site, as people hate on success on all forums and all aspects of life.

I agree, shitty companies never make it and TAS did nothing exciting or new for this platform other than sell more garbage.

Can't even compare that to Bisi or Joey.

[deevergote]

Bisi did us no favors. He just overcharged for crappy products, then failed to support them when customers had problems. He drew attention to our F22A engines, and for that, I suppose we owe him some thanks. Although, the aftermarket for the F22A didn't really increase, and good F22As became harder to find thanks to all the Civic guys snapping them up... but whatever. We thought they were essentially boat anchors until Bisi came along, so I give credit where credit is due. At least he tried to offer us some exclusive and original parts. TAS was just a reseller of junk.

Joey was the real deal. He just appeared out of nowhere with a fully built CB7. Automatic, mainly a show car. Nobody here knew him, at a time where damn near every noteworthy CB7 either belonged to a member here, or had been discovered by a member here. We all discovered Joey when he appeared on the cover of Honda Tuning. Nobody knew him. Nobody knew his story. Everyone assumed he was some rich kid that got mommy and daddy to build his car. Turns out he had a show-winning Camry that he parted out to pay for the CB7, and then built the CB7 very quickly. He knew how to build a show car, and he had the right connections to get featured in a magazine.
This community was definitely unnecessarily harsh on him, I agree. I was myself, though he and I have since patched things up. He didn't sell the car because he was sick of the CB scene, though. He sold the car because he's that type of enthusiast. Once he completes a project like the CB7 or the Camry before it, he moves on to the next one.

[oni_cb7]

Joey was and always will be a die-hard fan of the cb7. I spoke to him at one of his car meets several years back and he could rifle off cb7 facts just like the best of us. He even told me that he wished he kept his cb7 (especially considering what happened to it after).

As for Bisi, what's there to be said that hasn't been said... sad excuse for a tuner. I met him at a Turbonetics car meet and was just completely disgusted by him. His personality and his smugness is just repugnant. He honestly acts like he's God's gift to the F22 and Porsches. Apparently, he is starting to work on his F22 again. I am just gonna ignore any "progress" he makes.

[AccordWarrior]

Joey was the real deal. He just appeared out of nowhere with a fully built CB7. Automatic, mainly a show car. Nobody here knew him, at a time where damn near every noteworthy CB7 either belonged to a member here, or had been discovered by a member here. We all discovered Joey when he appeared on the cover of Honda Tuning. Nobody knew him. Nobody knew his story. Everyone assumed he was some rich kid that got mommy and daddy to build his car. Turns out he had a show-winning Camry that he parted out to pay for the CB7, and then built the CB7 very quickly. He knew how to build a show car, and he had the right connections to get featured in a magazine.
This community was definitely unnecessarily harsh on him, I agree. I was myself, though he and I have since patched things up. He didn't sell the car because he was sick of the CB scene, though. He sold the car because he's that type of enthusiast. Once he completes a project like the CB7 or the Camry before it, he moves on to the next one.

His crew was what made it tough to like him, from what I remember. He had a beautiful car, but it was the people around him that tried to basically speak for him that caused the tension. It's a shame, because it was a beautiful car.

[H311RA151N]

The good ol days weren't so good. No one ever says to the present "these are the good ol days". There are dozens of reasons and causes as to why what's happened has happened but it's best to just let it all be and know that it's just the way it goes with every chassis. Most of us have moved on to bigger and better things that we're happier with anyhow. I know I have. It's all good and good memories as well for the most part.