Replacing whole suspension, costs?

[Hellotalkie]

This is a continuation from my other thread
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2055549
I figured out the problem, its the after market suspension that is causing the excessive tread use. My mechanic quoted me 1187 for a whole suspension job w/ alignment.
The body shop quoted me 1400.

Is the first price a good price? That includes parts and labor.

 

[jlee]

If by "whole suspension" you mean springs and struts, that's high. You can probably use the same struts you have now and just go back to OEM springs, which you should be able to find on a forum somewhere for 200 bucks (or less). It's not a hard job and if everything's not rusted to hell, you should be able to do it in an afternoon. Or bring it here and we'll do it. I imagine NH is a little far, though.

 

[Hellotalkie]

Yeah the front and the rear. Right now the suspension is modified to make the car lower. I have no idea why prices are so high around here. These are local mechanics too; not some monroe or Midas etc...

 

[Vette73]

Get parts from rockauto.com and have a shop put them on for you.

I woudl also replace the tierods as well and check the ball joints to make sure they were not damaged by the hack work. Usually not to much extra if you look it up.
Also a 5% off coupon at Fatwallet for RA

RA has...

Springs Front $79 set
Springs Rear $57 set
Struts Front $41 basic $52 good each
Shocks Rear $14 basic $25 good each
Strut Mount $18 each
Control Arm WITH ball joint only $45 each
Tierods $11 each

Some you may not need but its cheap and easy to do at the same time and get your problem fixed.
All those parts (using good shocks/struts) only comes to $438 (before discount and shipping)

 

[Hellotalkie]

How many hours is that job though? Only reason as I ask is because I dont know if the shop will back their work if I use external parts. The shop I go to uses good parts, they are a local family owned business but are expensive! They do good work though. I don't want to insult the guy if I went out and got my own parts, I made it seem like I was going forth with the estimate so maybe he already ordered the parts. Btw lowered estimate to 1000.

I just don't want to get ripped off : /

 

[MJinZ]

If by "whole suspension" you mean springs and struts, that's high. You can probably use the same struts you have now and just go back to OEM springs, which you should be able to find on a forum somewhere for 200 bucks (or less). It's not a hard job and if everything's not rusted to hell, you should be able to do it in an afternoon. Or bring it here and we'll do it. I imagine NH is a little far, though.

Jlee, are you state police or local police in NH? I hate the staties in NH.

 

[jlee]

Jlee, are you state police or local police in NH? I hate the staties in NH.

Local.

 

[Lotheron]

Go find a low mileage car at a junk yard and take them off yourself. Probably cost you $200 max. Buy new parts if you need to supplement.

 

[brblx]

so the car is lowered and has too much negative camber now? is it in the front or the rear (iirc focus has a solid axle in the back, so that should be fine)?

you probably just need an aftermarket kit for camber adjustment. even easier, you can just remove the front struts and wallow out the holes on the bottom mounts to allow for some extra camber adjustment. some eccentric bolts will make this adjustment easier, but are not required. if you go the kit route, that will probably adjust camber/caster at the top mount.

 

[MJinZ]

Local.

Oh good, I had 2 run ins with those guys. One in Milford and one around Nashua. Bastards have nothing better to do than write me for doing 60 in a 55.

What town are you in?

 

[Hellotalkie]

Car is lowered and yes they suggested a camber kit but found out I guess nothing is adjustable and a camber kit would be useless. Plus the tire rubs on the side wall if I hit too hard or turn

 

[jlee]

Oh good, I had 2 run ins with those guys. One in Milford and one around Nashua. Bastards have nothing better to do than write me for doing 60 in a 55.

What town are you in?

PM'd.

 

[Vette73]

How many hours is that job though? Only reason as I ask is because I dont know if the shop will back their work if I use external parts. The shop I go to uses good parts, they are a local family owned business but are expensive! They do good work though. I don't want to insult the guy if I went out and got my own parts, I made it seem like I was going forth with the estimate so maybe he already ordered the parts. Btw lowered estimate to 1000.

I just don't want to get ripped off : /

Did they say what they were replacing? What I listed was just about everything that can cause your problem and also other parts that may have extra wear from the bad lowwering.

So my list is complete, theirs may be much less. That and go to another shop. When I had my shop I don;t care if someone brought parts. As long as they were either new or in good shape.

 

[Hellotalkie]

Front Strut Assembly
Quantity: 2
Unit price: 280.00
Total: 560.00

Rear Shock Assembly
Quantity: 2
Unit Price: 63.39
Total: 126.78

Rear Springs
Quantity: 1
Unit price: 131.42
Total 131.42

Labor (85 hour)
Front Struts
2 hours
Total: 170.00

Rear Shocks
1.7 hours
Total 144.50

Rear Springs
1 hour
Total 85.00

Alignment
79.95

GRAND TOTAL 1388.49
this was the first estimate I got, the second one is a 1000.

 

[jlee]

How mechanically inclined are you? Springs/struts is an easy job.

 

[brblx]

Car is lowered and yes they suggested a camber kit but found out I guess nothing is adjustable and a camber kit would be useless. Plus the tire rubs on the side wall if I hit too hard or turn

uh, the point of a camber kit is to turn non-adjustable into adjustable. it sounds like these guys don't know what the fuck they're talking about.

even if no one makes a kit, there is ALWAYS adjustment at the strut/steering knuckle.

...but they do make a kit.

http://www.focussport.com/camber.htm

that was the first link from google. $60 for 1* of front camber adjustment.

is this car like retardedly low or something?

 

[Hellotalkie]

Its retardedly low; I kinda want to get rid of the modified suspension all together, its too low for the stock 16's

btw the camber kit came from the first estimate; they said it wont work.

Im going with the second estimate; they gave me an estimate over the phone but still want to look at my car to complete the estimate. We never discussed a camber kit.

 

[Hellotalkie]

I'm not that mechanically inclined on cars; i've never tried because im too afraid to fxck something up since its my only car. I can do other things, build computers, house maintenance etc but cars is something I cannot touch because of limited knowledge.

 

[brblx]

okay, so if you need to raise the car back up-

get on some ford focus forums and buy someone's throw-away stock springs. then pick up some monroe shocks and struts (~150 for all four from rockauto). then find someone competent to install them.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Rear shocks are easy to do yourself. Front struts would be more work but I have done front struts myself. It is just time consuming and you really need to have the right tools for the job. You'll need a full socket set of whatever fasteners are on your car. Being as it is a Ford you'll probably need metric. A good quality impact wrench would be handy for freeing those stuck bolts and for tightening suspension parts down after you've replaced the struts. You'll also need a set of spring compressors and some open end wrenches and screw drivers.

Oh, and a torque wrench. It took me about an hour and a half to do the left front strut on my Maxima and probably half that to do the other side (it goes easier the second time around).

Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to replace the tie rod ends while you're in there and have a look at the wheel bearings.

This is why I stay away from modified cars. People generally just fuck a perfectly good car all up when they start trying to make it look cool.

I'm curious, why'd you buy this car to begin with?

 

[jlee]

An impact is nice, but a good breaker bar will do just as well and won't necessitate a compressor. I need a good impact gun..mine is junk and needs to be thrown out.

 

[Hellotalkie]

Bought this car because it was cheap LOL

 

[JulesMaximus]

An impact is nice, but a good breaker bar will do just as well and won't necessitate a compressor. I need a good impact gun..mine is junk and needs to be thrown out.

I could not free the lower strut bolts on one side with a breaker bar. There just wasn't enough room in there to get at it and get enough leverage on it...even after removing the brake caliper. An impact wrench was the only thing that loosened that bolt. I had to go out and buy an impact socket to fit that bolt so I was trying everything to remove that part before going out and spending more money on a tool I'd probably only use once.

 

[jlee]

I could not free the lower strut bolts on one side with a breaker bar. There just wasn't enough room in there to get at it and get enough leverage on it...even after removing the brake caliper. An impact wrench was the only thing that loosened that bolt. I had to go out and buy an impact socket to fit that bolt so I was trying everything to remove that part before going out and spending more money on a tool I'd probably only use once.

Odd- typically my problem is that I can't fit an impact in at all.

I've broken two 1/2" breaker bars - my impact was utterly worthless. I should get a better one.

 

[brblx]

I could not free the lower strut bolts on one side with a breaker bar.

...put an extension on it?

breaker bar should work fine in that situation. problems only arise when you're under the car in the driveway and have no clearance to use it.