Struts/Springs installation ... Dealership Rip!!

[kronos98]

My dealer wants me to pay $210 for installation of the front struts/springs, $210 for the rear struts/springs, and $95 for alignment!

What the mother? That's over $500 in labor...AND, they will take all day to do it. Is that messed up? Or is it supposed to cost that much and take that long?

[kronos98]

holy jack. another toyota dealership wants ~$300 for the front, $250 for the rear. another $80 for alignment.

toyota direct wants $505.82 for labor and $89.95 for alignment.

maybe i shouldn't have bought these struts and springs.

[indiglosolara]

bring it to a local discount tire or something. Discount tire in el monte in so.cali is charging me 129.99 for install(front and rear). then 68.99 for allig.

Discount tires do a good job. its alot cheaper and they gurantee their work.

Kenny

[kronos98]

does that affect warrantee at all?

what the freak is wrong with these dealerships? they also wanted like $800 and 3 days for installation of a S/C. ridiculous.

[mrdish]

Another way is to look in the yellow pages of you phone book under automobile, performance and etc. That way you can call them up and they can give you a ballpark price to install.

[happy_aggies]

Spring/Struts front and rear install should be around $150 total.

The alignment sounds reasonable around $90.

[HKSV6SLE]

yea about 100-150 is about right for the install...i paid about 90 for the alignmtnet, but thats cuz they permanently corrected it...so...oh yea...when i got my springs put in it took them...the whole day..cuz everything in the back half of the car has to come out....all the way down to the body of the car....

[HKSV6SLE]

oh yea one more thing..at least your dealer is willing to attempt the alignment..the dealer i go to won't even touch my car...to do the alignment, and i know the service manager...

[kubi]

yea about 100-150 is about right for the install...i paid about 90 for the alignmtnet, but thats cuz they permanently corrected it...so...oh yea...when i got my springs put in it took them...the whole day..cuz everything in the back half of the car has to come out....all the way down to the body of the car....

how do you permanently correct the alignment?

[Luc]

You have to remember that in the Midwest, there isn't much competition among shops that will work on Toyotas, thus, higher prices compared elsewhere in the country. Of course, dealer will always inflate the labor charges, but you'll be assured of a proper job (hopefully). Most 3rd party shops won't even realize that the rear sensors on the Gen4/Gen1 Solara platform are fragile, thus, you may get the habitual ABS or TRACtion (A/T) lights coming on afterwards.

Of course, you can also get yourself ~$150 worth of proper tools to do all the installation yourself, even with the S/C. It's money well spent, and priceless knowledge gained.