Gauging Interest - Steel Cat protection from Talons Garage

After the past year, we are finally catching up, and getting to where we can expand with some more products. Right now we are doing a trial run on a powder coated steel option for the 2022 Tundras. I wanted to jump in here and see if there was interested in a powder coated steel Tacoma option.

We are looking at 3/16 steel as we also advertise as an off road skid plate.
Right now we are working on our powder coated process, so things could change, but we are using a black wrinkle powder coat for testing. I attached a few photos of the tundra plate for reference.

EDIT: Pricing is looking at somewhere around the 250 mark per plate powder coated.

 

Thumbs up. Let me know.

 

Cat shield and skid plate. Nice. Do you have an estimated MSRP yet?

 

I just added it to the edit. Right now the Tundra is 300, but we are doing a "Blemished" sale on it for 250 while we get our powder perfected. Just incase someone gets a plate with a light area or minor issues.

We will be doing steel for the whole set, and I am going to get the transfer case setup done SOMEDAY! It has kicked my butt to say the least!

 

Looks good to me! For a catshield (and I am no expert here), Id like to be as factory-looking as possible so anyone wouldn't know it isn't supposed to be there or that it can even be removed. So I'd take the smooth black finish if its an option.

 

What about just raw stainless steel?

 

Stainless steel is very expensive. My vision of my product is to be both an off road skid plate, and cat protection. Stainless steel really doesn't fit into that equation economically. I could use thinner stainless to get the price down, but then it would really reduce the effectiveness of it being a skid plate. That is a big reason why we are going to offer the Tacoma steel plate in 3/16. IT aligns with our off road market vision.

My wife and I have discussed offering an "economy" version of our plate that was thinner, but I want my plate to make a thief think twice if they try to cut it. I think if I offered something really thin I would lose sleep at night wondering if I sold a product I really believed in.

This might be poor marketing strategy, but it is what lets me look in the mirror each night and feel good about helping people rest assured.

 

Gotta respect sticking to what you believe. That’s why I left the military after 23 years. To stay they wanted me to change what and who I was and what I believed. Not happening. Let me know when you get a final product/price.

 

I have your Tundra plates.

That doesn't sound like a bad deal for my Taco

 

Interested? Possibly
Questions/concerns:
What gauge steel plate are you buying - 6, 7, or 8 gauge?
Powder coating in Connecticut has not been found to be very durable. Our deicing chemicals and climate can eat through that coating in a couple of seasons. If it were stainless steel (316) I'd give it serious consideration.

 

When I was still working full time in the hospital I had a buddy talking to me about marketing. He asked me if I thought I would have repeat customers and I said no, not really. They only have one car.

I look at post like yours, and laugh at how wrong I was. I am also very grateful to have you all!

Also, there is a raffle going on at Tundras.com for a fun raiser for a gentleman who lost his son. If you win one of my plates, I will gladly swap it for a Tacoma plate.

 

Ha! That's awesome!


I'm already entered in the raffle! so

 

7 ga steel plate is what I have quoted.

Your concerns with powder coating as the same as mine. We are working with our suppliers to come up with a solution and processes that will hold up, but real world results may differ. Its hard for me to tell the future on how the powder will work for sure. What I can do is just try to make sure I take the information out there, and don't skip steps on applying the coating properly.

 

Thanks for responding.

 

This market is saturated and it's hard to be a differentiator here IMO.

 

How about coating with Rhino lining or Line-X?

 

Probably burn off and scrape off

 

I did an aluminum Tacoma plate today that was in the scrap pile to see how it would look

 

You under estimate us. We all lie to ourselves and say we’re going to mod slowly and cheap. Lol

 

I have your Aluminum cat plate on my Tacoma.
I sleep a whole lot better at night knowing it’s protected.