Front Struts and rear sway bar links

[Hellotalkie]

I have a Mazda Protege5 that needs new struts, and the rear sway bar links are out.

Local shops are quoting me around 400 for the struts, 100 for the sway bar links and 80 for alignment. Does this sound reasonable? I don't have a garage, tools nor the knowledge to do it myself.

The one shop i may be bringing it to will be using Monro Sensatrac Struts.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Yeah, that sounds pretty reasonable for the struts. Sway bar links might be kind of high though.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

What is stupid, is that when you are doing work on the struts you have to take the links out anyway so it is really only adding maybe 5 minutes of labor, if that. What they are doing is charging you the flat rate time it would take if you were doing the sway bar links by themselves, and adding it on to the flat rate labor for the struts.

try to talk them down on the links to pay for just parts.

 

[Hellotalkie]

Oh its for the front struts and and rear sway bar links. Not getting the struts done on the rear.
Rear links are 30 a piece and labor is .5 (40 dollars)

Also is it customary to replace the sway bar links in the front even though they are fine?

 

[disappoint]

Also is it customary to replace the sway bar links in the front even though they are fine?

Might as well do them all as long as it's up on the lift.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

Oh its for the front struts and and rear sway bar links. Not getting the struts done on the rear.
Rear links are 30 a piece and labor is .5 (40 dollars)

Also is it customary to replace the sway bar links in the front even though they are fine?

It wouldn't hurt anything. I thought you were doing all four struts and all four links, in which case I would've argued with them over the labor cost. That sounds about right for the labor/parts on sway bar links though.

 

[hanoverphist]

400 bucks for just the front struts? i thought it was a good price for all 4... but i dont know, i dont work in a shop. well, i do for fun, i dont get paid for it, and i dont know how much he charges for it all.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

400 bucks for just the front struts? i thought it was a good price for all 4... but i dont know, i dont work in a shop. well, i do for fun, i dont get paid for it, and i dont know how much he charges for it all.

200 (roughly 100 per strut, depending on what they offer) parts and 200 labor (2 hours flat rate at 100 / hour) sounds normal to me.

 

[hanoverphist]

200 (roughly 100 per strut, depending on what they offer) parts and 200 labor (2 hours flat rate at 100 / hour) sounds normal to me.

ah, ok. mebbe im just skewed because i never pay retail. when you have a friend that owns a shop and gives you his pricing for parts and lets you use the lift and tools to do your own work it becomes much cheaper.

 

[manimal]

200 (roughly 100 per strut, depending on what they offer) parts and 200 labor (2 hours flat rate at 100 / hour) sounds normal to me.

Ya

 

[HybridSquirrel]

ah, ok. mebbe im just skewed because i never pay retail. when you have a friend that owns a shop and gives you his pricing for parts and lets you use the lift and tools to do your own work it becomes much cheaper.

Yeah, DIY is loads cheaper...but there's a reason why you pay a mechanic. So you can save your self the cuss words and bloody knuckles.