I was quoted $800 for the installation of shocks/struts, lowering springs, and alignment. Is this a fair price? I am in the Washington DC area.

Anybody can recommend a shop in this area?

 

That's about what I paid. Around 750ish. The struts required assembly. You can get the assembled ones that may cut down on the install cost.

 

that sounds fair... or, you could save $800 and grab a buddy and go to town on it on your own Really not that bad. Best done if your buddy knows how to do it (in case you didn't).

 

I found a guy on my local Facebook car club, he's a mechanic at a Kia dealership. Did everything, shocks, struts, springs, lca's and brackets with an alignment for $150. Shop around a bit, $800 is just crazy.

 

to be fair though Matt, that sounds like a "friend" type of price. No regular shop would do all that labor for 150. I mean that's a great deal and all, so you'll just have to hook the OP up with your buddy. lol

 

Friend rates are great...my supercharger install cost me $180. Granted, I was there turning wrenches too, but my car occupied his main bay for several days. A regular customer would have spent close $1000.

 

Or a bottle of 18 year old scotch

 

You can try to do it yourself, it's not hard, I did my suspension myself and it's basically unscrewing and screwing bolts. I followed the write ups I found from AM's website and other sites online. The hardest part was loosening all the bolts. I just got a spring compressor and torque wrench, no power tools, I used a breaker bar(sure it's not recommended, but I did) to loosen all the bolts. After I finished, I got a wheel alignment done for about $75 bucks.

It was my first time doing it, so it took me 2 days, 1 for the rear, 1 for the front, but now I know more and think I can do it way quicker.

Are you using aftermarket shocks/struts, or are you going to reuse your stock ones I got Koni Yellows, Steeda Springs, and GT500 mounts, I assembled the fronts myself and just installed them, I kept the stock ones as one unit after I took them off.

 

I think $800 is steep, but I don't know the average cost of labor for this. My old car I had coilovers installed by my mechanic, and he only charged me $250 not including alignment.

 

Which shop was it? I know one in Springfield/Lorton I've used before for stuff I don't feel up to task tackling. They do great work, but they're on the expensive side though. And for this, you can definitely do it yourself.

A buddy of mine used a different shop and he's been happy w/ the results and they were definitely cheaper than the shop I used. I can get the name from him.

I've had the front suspension apart so many times now (long story about a defective ball joints), I can do both sides in under 4 hours. Electric impact guns are awesome.

 

Having never done it myself I wanted to take it on. Took me 6 hours for springs, shocks, struts and caster camber plates. Did it in my apartment parking garage with basic tools and a jack and stands. For sh*ts and giggles I called 1 shop who quoted around $800 and then Ford who quoted around $1000!

Honestly, it was a bit of a pain at certain points, but also a good and somewhat fun learning experience. Saved myself a few bucks as well. Paid $80 for an alignment.

Good luck!

 

Sounds a bit on the higher side. I'm in the SF Bay Area and all of that totaled around $700. I had service points so I saved $100 and so I paid around $600.

 

This shop is in Chantilly.

 

About a year ago, I paid $575 to have Shocks/Struts/Strut mounts, Springs, Panhard, LCA relocation brackets, and an alignment on my 13' at my local Ford dealership. They only charge $67/hr for "performance" work which is quite a bit less than their typical $130/hr for standard labor.

 

I agree guys, I got a hell of a deal. Though I had never met the guy before, just got lucky I suppose.

 

I got the springs and Konis installed last Sunday for $300. Still have to schedule an alignment with the dealer.

 

$800 is crazy. Any shop can do this in 2 hours. Maybe the 2015 is more since the suspension is different.

Find someone on Craigslist. These small shops will do it cheap. It's literally removing the parts and putting the new ones off. Pretty hard to mess up. Then take it to a reputable place for the alignment.

Or you can tackle it yourself with a buddy that has some car knowledge. However don't do this with hand tools, it's a nightmare. You'll want an impact gun to get these bolts off. I'm a bigger guy too. I can rep out 275 but struggled to get the bolts to move, impact take them right off.

 

I 'feel' for you who can't work on their Mustangs because of where you live. I've done my suspension two times for the cost of the spring tool..........$15