cdc2787

I already bought RSR Downs not thinking the install would cost all that much. Most of the garages I called around me wouldn't even give me an estimate. The one shop who seemed competent (they do a lot of custom work) and did about 5 minutes of research quoted me at $700. They said the adaptive variable suspension makes this install more expensive. Is this price ridiculous? This is the first car I ever did anything to so I'm kind of oblivious to install costs.

The car has almost 50,000 miles on it so now I'm thinking well if I'm going to spend this much money maybe I should just pony up and buy coilovers seeing that I'll probably need new shocks soon. How much move could I expect the coilover install to be? I live about 45 minutes west of Philadelphia, PA if that helps.

Again, I wasn't looking to spend all that much and now I'm stuck with do I even want to install the springs at all, pay the $700 or bite the bullet and get coilovers. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

TarmacSL3

$700 seems pretty high, and thats a bunch of crap about the adaptive variable suspension making the install cost more, its just removing the motors. I had RSR Downs installed on my GS350 and paid $400 which included alignment.

Sasnuke

The adaptive variable suspension motors on the rear do not even need to be touched as they are on the strut, and the spring is seperate. Since they are only changing the spring, there is no need to remove the strut.
On the front it only takes a few minutes to remove each motor and cover...and same to reinstall. There is no calibration or setup that needs to be done after.

Price will always be market driven, so really depends on what folks are charging in your area.
Having said that, $700 is high, even if the alignment was included...which it sounds like it isn't.

cdc2787

I called some more shops today and found a place that would do the install for $570 which is some what reasonable to me.

Now my question is, at 48,000 miles should I be proactive and have them replace the shocks while everything is taken apart? I spent the day reading and pretty much ruled out coilovers for cost and comfort reasons.

cliffhokie

I thought I read on here that coilovers vs springs, the coilovers actually had the better ride.

E46CT

good stuff rides better than bad stuff. doesn't matter if its coilovers or traditional. you can buy crap from both camps.

a typical install is $200-300. not sure how $500+ became normalized.

at 48,000 miles, your stock dampers are degraded. i'd consider replacing them. sure you can ride them out for another 10-20k but you'll be paying for labor all over again.

TOPENDMS

You really should upgrade shocks when lowering. Factory shocks blow out pretty easily when lowered. I'm not ecen sure who makes aftermarket performance shocks tho.

The factory manuals and/or spring instructions should have an estimated time to complete, then multuply that by the shops posted rate.

chinox22x

that's because most shops estimate it by the hour, most of them will estimate the install at 5-7 hours x hourly rate of 85-100$ depending on your location. This is the normal practice nowadays at shops. Save yourself some money for another mod

It took me around 3 hours to do but i was going slow and i was replacing some rusted bolts. all i had was an impact wrench, two jack stands and a pneumatic jack for safe support.