Ok, well the rs has hit the 100k mark, i finnaly am getting a credit card, and know that the suspension needs work. Now here comes the part that i am scared of, the money. At a ruff estimate, what would a shop charge to do/replace pretty much everything suspension (plus tranny, motor and other drive train mounts and bushings). I am talking about all of the bushings, tie rods (as neccesary), struts, shocks, possibly some brake work, the full nine (with in reason). I want her back in shape. I have been pretty much just driving her and want to try and keep her in decent driving condition. So estimates please. Don't bother telling me to do it my self, i neither have the time or the tools to do it and would rather take it to a good shop than run the risk of my ameature **** screwing up my car and loosing a wheel at 70mph.

 

That would be what I like to call "ridiculously expensive"
For a shop to do all of that labor, they're going to estimate several hours. $40.00 - $70.00 per hour of labor (depends from shop to shop)

 

No ideas? I mean i know it is gonna be painful, but it needs to be done. Just wondering how much K-Y to bring.

 

I would say anywhere from $300.00 - $400.00 pure labor.
Nothing over $500.00, get estimates from as many shops as possible and play hardball and pit them against each other to get the rock bottom estimate.

 

Cool, thanks. Not quite as bad as i had thought (figured atleast 1100+ so to get out of it at maybe 900 tops or even less sounds good.) so i guess after the 1st of the year its off to the shops i go.

 

Bring about two gallons of K-Y Im think $500 would be a hell of a deal...as usual, though, youre gonna end up paying a lot more than those estimates. Parts themselves can run pretty high too, I suggest you look into the cost of that first, then decide whether or not you would do it yourself, as the parts can get costly too. Theres plenty of info on the boards on doing various jobs, and im in the process of a rear end swap and a suspension, brake, wheel/tire overhaul. Space it out over a couple of weekends and it can be done. Good luck, Efrain.

 

Watch out for this situation:

You take your car to the shop. They look up in their book, and see that it takes 1.2 hrs (for example) to do a ball joint. You want 2 ball joints done. That's 2.4 hrs. Then they look in ther book to see what it takes to do a control arm bushing. OK, 2.6 hrs. You want 2 done. So they add 5.2 hrs to the quote. Then you say you want 2 struts done. So they look in their book, and it shows .8 hrs per strut. So there's 1.6 hrs more. Then they look up for your springs. Book says, 1.6 hrs a side. There's 3.2 hrs more. By the time you're done, they're quoting you 16 hrs or so of labor for the front end. They'll even show you in the book where it says how long it's supposed to take to do all those things. But they're real nice guys; they'll cut you a deal because they want your business, and do it for 10 hrs of labor. You gulp and say OK.

You stand there and watch. One guy cames out and does the entire thing in about 3 hrs. (about what all that takes in a fully equipped shop), and since you already signed on the dotted line, you write them a check that pays their entire month's utility bill and buys the whole shop a trip to Hooter's for after-work snacks.

What just happened?

When they look up in the book to do a BJ, the time includes putting the car on the lift, taking off the wheels, taking the brakes off, disconnecting the steering, popping the sway bar end link off, undoing the strut, and finally changing the BJ; then putting it all back together. Then when they look up in the book to do the ctrl arm bushing, the time it quotes includes putting the car on the lift, taking off the wheels, taking the brakes off, disconnecting the steering, popping the sway bar end link off, undoing the strut, busting open the ball joint, compressing the spring, removing the control arm, changing the bushings, and putting the car back together. Then when they looked up the time for the spring change, the time they got was for putting the car on the lift, taking off the wheels, taking the brakes off, disconnecting the steering, popping the sway bar end link off, undoing the strut, busting open the ball joint, changing the spring out, and putting the whole car back together. And so on..... what happened, is they got you to pay about 5 times for most of those tasks that only had to be done once. That's where they make their money.

Don't let it happen to you.

 

i couldn't agree more......

 

Yeah! I am sorry I did not mention that you're going to have to look HARD for my estimate. A real shop with people who empathize/share your interest in your car to a certain degree. Try to find a shop that is used by the local car club (domestic) and has a good standing reputation for real prices and real labor estimates.

BTW, this happened to a friend of mine. He wanted his stage1 3400 SFI heads installed, and figured it would be a great time to also get the headers installed (makes sense right?). Shop quoted an estimate of around 19hrs, Roughly $1200.00 labor

He turned around, left and never even thought about it again.
He got a local import & turbo shop MP motorsports (they had a domestics guy too) to do the installs for about $450.00! That's what I am talking about - people who share the love

 

it is true. i am a mechanic at a shop, and although we dont do this, i know of shops that do. so look out. i can look up book times if anyone wants it.

 

Believe me i have heard, and seen that happen. I am well aware of those pitfalls. Being that this is my daily driver for school i can really only afford about two days down time tops and thats barrowing one of my roommates cars for a day or so. Thats why when this all happens it will have to go to a shop because i don't have the time to take it apart and put it back together all week end (seeing as currently i have a saturday class, have class monday through thursday and work monday through friday at ups from around 5pm-10:30 or later). Not to mention my lack of appropriate tools. Thank you for the advice and numbers.

 

Ok, I'm going to be the first to call you a complete sissy.

Sissy

Reason being, all this crap is EXTREMELY easy, and cheap. Instead of becoming your auto mechanics best friend, go to Kragen and Sears. Shops charge horrific amounts for parts usually and labor can be painful. All the work you mention is extremely simple for the most part. The hardest thing I can see is possibly the front sprints/struts if being done. $400 including a torque wrench, a jack, a chilton's manual, and jack stands will get it all over with in a couple of good weekends. Not to mention the fact you'll have developed a great skill and be proud of the work you've done. Most of this can be done by yourself too, even bleeding the brakes.

 

Fine i am a sissy, but it doesn't change much, i have no real time to work on it. I have a hard enough time finding the 15 minutes to change my oil, and the 45 it took me to do plugs, and i don't even want to think about those damned plug wires. Sissy, i guess so, but thats not the point of my thread, in fact the first post included the fact that i don't really want to hear, GO DO IT YOURSELF, i just wanted estimates on the damage a shop would charge.