thumping noise

I wrote this newsgroup a while back with regards to a thumping noise my Legacy made when turning the steering wheel for a left merge or turn. It turned out to be a wheel bearing on the right side, for anyone who might face this problem in the future. I do have a question though; the Subaru tech took about 10 seconds to determine the right problem while test driving, quite impressive. When I asked how much it would cost, they told me parts, duh, plus 4 hours labor. 4 hours!!! I took it to another garage and the mechanic there only took 2 hours. And charged less per hour as well. I understand they go by the "book" to charge labor for specific jobs but why such a discrepancy between 2 garages? Is it just a "gotta make our money somehow" kinda deal? Has anyone of you faced this as well?

Pete

Reply to
Peter
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Dealers usually: A) Stock more repair parts B) Have factory-trained techs C) Pay union wages D) Charge more because they can

Besides the labor issue, I've had them quote list price plus 10-20 percent for parts (Ford).

Reply to
Jim Stewart

Reply to
Edward Hayes

The labor charge is usually compiled of two things:

  1. [mechanic] removing and reinstalling the steering knuckle
  2. [machine shop labor] pressing out the old bearing and installing the new one

The .1 hour difference between two single charges and doing both sides at once is probably jacking up the car and billing/paperwork (all of that in six minutes? wow! :)

I've been billed 1.5 hours + 1 hour machine shop time at $90/hr PER SIDE for wheel bearings on a 91 VW Golf.

florian

Reply to
Florian Feuser /FFF/

Unless you are getting it done under warranty, the TSB apparently does not apply concerning the amount of time involved. Dealership I spoke with says that 1.5 hours (for both sides) is all Subaru will _allow_ them, but said it can't be done that quickly. (Yes, this is in a shop where they DO have the latest tool made to speed up and simplify the job.) They hate the warranty aspect for that reason, and that might be why Subaru of America is unwilling to pay labor costs when they offer any coverage beyond the warranty period: they know the dealerships will be unhappy to perform this since they it is not a profitable proposition for them. Thus, from what I have seen, SoA concedes to paying for parts, but the labor charge is harder to get them to swallow. As to a related question discussed under another post, the technician at the shop I spoke with said he agreed to current SoA recommendation that grease NOT be added when installing the new bearings. This was a change in attitude for him, too, he admitted. He said the new tapered roller bearings come totally pregreased, preloaded, ready to press into place with the new tool made for this job. Any regreasing before this would involve disassembling the bearing setup, which would in itself subject it to possible contamination, overgreasing, undergreasing, or wrong type grease. Thus SoA wants this controlled carefully, so they make sure this is all set to specs before parts are shipped out. Makes sense to me, but I can't tell you how much credit it should be given. You must decide on that score. My biggest concern is how much liability SoA is going to take for these bearings over time. I came to Subaru in 99, buying two new Foresters that year, and have so far been very happy with them, with only minor problems I accept as reasonable issues. The bearings, however, fall into a very scary category of costly repairs that might crop up over and over, according to what I have read here and in other forums. SoA so far has sidestepped what I consider to be fully responsible behavior, and instead seems willing to gamble away customers as they try to save money on what is, to me at least, a clear issue of poorly designed/engineered bearings, which seem to be underbuilt for the reality of the loads with many Forester's normal usage. I only base this assessment on the fact that premature failures are much too common to ignore. This being the case, I am not willing to gamble on keeping a car that might cost me several hundred dollars (every 6 months, a year, 2 years, whatever it turns out to be) to repair a part that should almost never fail on these vehicles if it is properly designed, installed, and maintained. Nothing in anything I have read suggests that maintenance issues play any part whatsoever in these failures, so the responsibility MUST lie with Subaru of America, (other countries too, experiencing this problem? I'm not aware of differences from place to place?) I am currently in early negotiation with SoA for at least one rear bearing failure, and if I have to shell out bucks for something that is this clearly SoA responsibility, that will be the end of two more SoA customers, as we will be forced to look elsewhere for all future vehicles. I hope this is not the case, because we very much hope to keep driving Foresters for a very LONG time to come! I personally think this complete issue could have been dealt with much more diplomatically by Suburu if they accepted full responsibility for bearing failures and in the process bought LOTS of satisfaction and pride from those Subaru folks who have suffered the expense of these failures. This kind of FULL acceptance of responsibility by Subaru would still be much cheaper than doing a complete recall on these vehicles, but would in essence allow customers and potential customers to breathe easier knowing that IF they had an unfortunate failure, it wouldn't cost them an arm and a leg to get it fixed, nor would they be left worrying that they might be repeating this expense in another year or two (or less.)

Reply to
D H

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