How much should it cost to install springs?

"Rainbow" (rainbeaux) 07/13/2019 at 06:06 • Filed to: None

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I bought some lowering springs with that exhaust a couple days ago, and I don’t have the means to install them myself. I’ve emailed a few shops and just heard back from one this morning: with an alignment, they want $585. There’s no way that’s fair, is it? I’ll just go out and buy a spring compressor for myself if that’s what it’ll cost.

One guy in my Kia Soul group said he took his front shocks off and brought them to a shop, then had the springs replaced for $40. There's no way that removing them is worth $545 in labor. I was expecting to pay $150 tops, honestly.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Rainbow 07/13/2019 at 06:22

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some one is trying to gouge you

Rainbow > pip bip - choose Corrour 07/13/2019 at 07:18

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For sure. What would you say is a good range?

pip bip - choose Corrour > Rainbow 07/13/2019 at 07:42

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shouldn’t be more than $200

unless the Soul has a complex rear suspension set up?

Rainbow > pip bip - choose Corrour 07/13/2019 at 07:53

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Nope. The rears require the removal of a single bolt.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Rainbow 07/13/2019 at 08:01

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if that’s the case, DIY

Cash Rewards > Rainbow 07/13/2019 at 08:07

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Most autoparts stores rent or loan tools like spring compressors. Just a deposit needed

GoodIdeaAtTheTime > Rainbow 07/13/2019 at 08:36

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It all de pends on shop labor rate and what they charge for book time, no one charges actual book time, lots of variables involved with older cars . Each sh op is different.

Bring it to me. $100. Do all 4 springs, alignment, and check tire balance. And a comprehensive inspection.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Rainbow 07/13/2019 at 08:40

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You’re doing all four corners, or just the rears? I’d imagine half an hour +/- a few tenths per wheel. Average labor cost  at indy shops is about $110/hr around me, so I’d think with tax it would be around $250 for the whole car. $585 sounds like they just don’t wanna do the work. 

Khalbali > Rainbow 07/13/2019 at 09:20

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Honestly I’d do what the other guy did, rears should be super easy and removing the whole strut assembly shouldn’t be hard either, but I wouldn’t fuck with spring compressors, I did a dozen or so sets in my time as a mechanic and it scared me every time, and that was with the proper tools and a real wall-mounted spring compressor. But if your car isn't super rusty it should be pretty easy to dyi everything else.

Manny05x > Rainbow 07/13/2019 at 09:46

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150$ is what a friend of mine paid recently.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Rainbow 07/13/2019 at 10:25

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That’s not outrageous for a quality shop. If this  is a strut type suspension, b ook rate is probably somwhere around an hour per corner , plus $150 or so for the alignment. Figure $120/ hour labor rate and that’s in the ballpark for what I would expect. That said, if you invest in a spring compressor there’s money to be saved over the long run. The problem is a spring compressor you want to trust your life to costs $600+ and takes up space in the garage.

The intermediate route on this job is removing the old parts, taking your new springs, struts and mounts to a shop loose and paying them like an hour of labor to put it all together on their big boy spring compressor. Install the assemblies yourself, and then take the car in for an alignment.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 07/15/2019 at 08:21

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$150 alignment!?!?!

Jesus, I get 2 wheel alignments done for $49, 4 wheel can be found for $69....

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness 07/15/2019 at 10:58

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$150 or so is the going rate for a *good* alignment. I’ve only heard of them cheaper buy either inferior shops where a probably poorly trained tech is simply adjusting until things are in the range without any concern that alignment specs are huge ranges with vastly difference handling qualities all within the specs, or as part of a strategy where there will always be extra work sold, whether it’s needed or not.

Broken down, it’s an around an hour work by a highly skilled person on a very expensive machine that requires an expensive subscription to keep the software up to date with the latest specs on basically every car ever made in the last 60 years or so and can talk to ecm on most modern cars to calibrate steering sensors. Figure around $120/hour as the going labor rate for any quality indy shop, plus something for rack. On any modern car, there’s the test drive before hand, suspension inspection, hooking up the sensors, weighting the car to spec, going through the first measurement process, adjusting as needed (and likely at all four corners on anything modern to catch the camber and/or catch the toe without going crazy on the caster ), remeasuring, recalibrating the steering angle sensor followed by the second test drive.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 07/15/2019 at 12:03

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The shop that does my alignments charges $49 for a 2 wheel, $89 for a 4 wheel. The align it perfectly within spec and will do “custom” alignments based on what the customer wants. This is from a good indy shop.

The dealer only charges $99 for a 4 wheel.

I know how alignments work and I don’t trust just any schmuck to work on my vehicles.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness 07/15/2019 at 12:39

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That’s a pretty amazing price.  That doesn’t even cover the time based on labor costs.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 07/15/2019 at 12:43

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I would guess they come out ahead in the end. Figure probably 75% or better of cars that come in for alignment don’t need anything, so it gets put on the machine, every checks out, the owners pays the $89 for less than 1/2 hour’s worth of work.

Then there’s people like me who trailer their vehicle in because they just replaced every suspension component, takes them 3 hrs to get the alignment right, but my alignment was already paid for by the 4 alignments before me.

My biggest pet peeve is shops that won’t do 2 wheel alignments. My van/car are straight axle in the rear, with no adjustment, so why are you trying to get me to pay for something you’re not even touching?

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness 07/15/2019 at 12:54

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2 wheel alignments apply to such a small number of vehicles anymore, aside from bof trucks (and even then, they really don’t) . From a billing strategy, there’s not significantly less time spent on a 2-wheel job. You’re still hooking up sensors to rear and doing all the other work, and then you’re precluding yourself the option of shim plates on the rear axle when its alignment is out of whack a on leaf spring setup (or shims at the rear hub on a torsion beam setup). The just feels to me like setting yourself up to deliver an inferior service these days, unless you’re a shop doing work for a really price sensitive customer base.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 07/15/2019 at 16:01

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Everything I own except the new van has nothing to align in the rear........

In reality, for the rear on things with trailing arm or leaf springs to be out of alignment would pretty much require something to be bent, to which parts would need replacing.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness 07/15/2019 at 17:12

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Or it is an American made vehicle with a frame that was “close enough” when it left the factory . The amount of variation in rear alignment on even brand new trucks from one to the next is pretty impressive.