Shock replacement: $1400??

Question

I just got an estimate on replacing the shocks on my 96M. My usually trustworthy garage wants $1400 to put 4 Bilstien HD shocks on my car. They say:

1) The hours are really high because they have to disconnect both upper and lower control arms off to get at the shocks.
2) They have to do a 4-wheel alignment afterwards.

I can see that 1) implies 2), but is 1) really true??

$1400 seems pretty rediculous for replacing 4 shocks.

Hell, I could by a spring compressor, take a couple days off w/o pay to do it myself and still end up ahead of the game.

Marcio Watanabe · Accepted Answer

Is this $1400 labor only or includes the price of the shocks? When I did mine, it took me 5 hours, but I really struggled with compressing the springs (lousy compressor). With a decent spring compressor and air tools, an experienced person can't possibly take more than two hours to do this job.

-- Marcio Watanabe

Grant Edwards · Answer

That includes almost $500 for the shocks. I just called the dealer and they want $950 for the job, I didn't specify shocks, so I imagine they're planning on using crappy shocks worth a total of about $150.

The "official" Mazda method seems to involve disconnecting ball joints and/or control arms or something pretty drastic. Then you have to have a 4-wheel alignment (included in the above quotes).

I don't do much work on my car anymore, but there's just no way I'm paying $800-$900 in labor for replacing shocks. It's been a long time since I've done a set of shocks, but with the instructions from miata.net (and assuming I can find a spring comperessor), I don't see how it could take me more than one Saturday. And I can spend the savings on swaybars and braces!

Lanny Chambers · Answer

Agreed. I think the record is about an hour and a half.

It took me 4 hours, working alone in 95F heat, with basic hand tools and jackstands. Most of that was struggling with the compressor. It also included a few...um...rehydration breaks, yeah, that's the ticket.

Grant, do it yourself. For $450 and an afternoon, you can have Konis.

Tom · Answer

When I had mine replaced, the total labor charge for the install and 4 wheel"Lanny alignment" was $520...   bought the KYB AGX shocks on line for $325for set of 4.

Shock replacement: $1400??

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