Do you think this is a rip-off?

[GordonJ]

Ok, so I called a local garage near my house and asked for a ballpark figure of what the install for the springs would be (ballpark).

I told him I have an 03 Protege 5, and want to put some Eibach springs on it, with less than 1.5 all the way the around.

Anyway, he says the install would take at least 5 and a half hours, at $75 an hour.
He also told me an Eibach "camber plate" was a necessity, and that that would take another hour or hour and a half to install, for about 7 hours labor at $75 an hour, for a grand total of $525 for just the labor.

...

Oh yeah, an alignment he says would be another $100.

So what do you guys think? You think this is an insanely high quote? And whats the deal with the "camber plate"? I thought that would only be a real neccesity for a 2+ inch drop?

 

[P5LawnMan]

Me and my buddy did mine , 3 hrs , we took our time. That was for struts and springs , no camber kit.

 

[garretts77]

no camber kit needed...

It took us like 8 hours to do this on my car but were were total newbies, and that counted the time it took to try to figure out the busted-ass spring compressor and the time spent to get another one. I would say that 3-4 hours is a reasonable amount of time to charge. Anything beyond that is too much.

And you can drive to a different alignment shop. Mine was $50 for a 4-wheel alignment back to "factory-specs". It isn't exactly factory, I have more negative camber now, but not a lot. Tire wear is normal.

 

[mountjonas]

my uncle and i did it in just about 2.5 hours. i don't think that eibach makes camber plates for our cars, bolts...yes, but not plates. either way, i got mine aligned to within factory specs without bolts so you should be fine. tell that shop to go fist themselves.

 

[garretts77]

Oh, another example was on my integra, for like $750 I got Neuspeed springs, 4 KYB AGX adjustables, and installation.

 

[Dlovtsur]

I paid $200 out the door with an alignment. No camber kit need. S-Tech springs.

 

[Captain KRM P5]

525 is a crazy ripoff

 

[FunkyBuddha]

no camber plates needed yo. 500 is crazy. Even 300 is crazy. I paid under 200 for install and alignment. Ask a local tuner shop to hook you up.

 

[igdrasil]

thats crazy

I paid $20-$25 for each spring plus $50-$60 for alignment....if I remember correctly...

Either way, it was less than $200

 

[Sir Nuke]

RIP-OFF....and i will explain why....

I installed my Eibach Pro Kit BY MYSELF. I had NO AIR TOOLS...only a manual spring compresser....and had NEVER BEFORE done a lowering spring install on a Protege...or any other car for that matter....with the HOW-TO from the board....it took me a whole 3 1/2 hours to do the complete job, everything cleaned up and put away as well. I took the car to the Mazda dealer where I baught it and they did the alignment and it dialed right in....no camber plates involved...and its driven like a dream ever since.

 

[vaMP5er]

I paid $250...at a shop that is known to be a little pricey.

 

[Lil Freek]

took 2.5 hours for us to do the Racing Beat springs onto my car.. and we spent like 45 minutes just messing with the endlinks.
although we had an air compressor and 4 jack stands and 3 people working on it.

 

[proman]

definitley too high. And as said before you won't need camber plates. shop around some more

 

[Jspec]

Took my friends and I about 4 hours and I had no clue what I was doing until I was done with the first one. Then it was cake from there on out until we got to the point where we couldn't the endlink off but we didn't have airtools.

 

[JOS3]

i would have laughed and walked out.

 

[Gbourdon]

I did mine in about 2 hours by myself and had never done suspension work before. No camber plates and I have the sportlines which have more of a drop.

5 hours for springs by a mechanic is way too long.

 

[Mike R]

I did mine in 2-3 hours without a spring compressor, taking my time. Eibach doesn't make camber plates for mazdas, or any car that I've seen. 100 for an alignment is F'ing crazy. Heck even the local dealers are only 50 bucks! 200-250 is reasonable for install and align.

 

[GordonJ]

Ok, so I called another shop today.

This time, it was a "Gemini/Goodyear auto care" shop.

So I tell the guy the same stuff I told the other one, and here's what he says.\

He gives me a SLIGHTLY better quote, but still really high. He says for the front springs it will be $120, and for the rear it will be $180, for a total of $300.
He also tells me "Camber-Castor plates are required for any drop, and that is a seperate charge." He then goes on to recommend a "Bump steer kit" for $180, saying its really good to have, and I can have it for just $180.


So what the **** is going on, guys? I trust you all infinetly more than any of these guys, but what is the deal with Camber plates? Why do these guys all I say I must have them? Do I really need or want these things for this drop?
Like I said, I trust the people on here far more than some guy offering a sales pitch who probably thinks I'm talking about a Mazda 3, but what is all this other crap they keep saying I MUST HAVE?

 

[vindication]

Listen, no camber plates are needed. I installed my tokico illuminas and spool springs which is a 2" drop and got them aligned, no camber plate or bolt needed. Also it took me all alone around 3 hours. really simple. I never done any suspension work before, all straight forward. do it yourself, there are enough how-to's floating around

 

[Owned]

got my teins installed for $120.. (dunno)