went to my dealer yesterday to order springs...i figured it would be easier to have them throw the springs on while i was getting my first oil change...$199.00 for the spring kit...$469.00 for labor and another $35.00 for alignment...total would've been $759.24 w/tax!...i laughed out loud when they told me....i know it takes about 2hrs to put them on..thats close to $235 an hour for labor...even if took them 3hrs it would still be over $150 and hour..what a f'n joke...

 

yeah..dealers make a killing on labor. Not worth a penny.

I suggest you take it to a smaller shop... for the tC ...the front struts are easy to remove...however the rear requires abit more work..have to take off all the side panels to retrieve the top strut. it's alot of work... but nothing a regular import shop can't do.

 

They go by whatever it says in the book (time wise) then they charge you accordingly.

 

my friend charged me only $50 to put springs on, on my previously owned cars...sucks that he moved!!

 

i have an xB but all together i paid around 660 to get my trd springs and trd struts n shocks. that was including installation!

 

That's also how the mechanics get paid. If the book says a job takes 3 hours, and they do it in 1 and a half, they get paid for 3 hours

 

I have trd springs on mine and i was only charged $395.00 for springs and install, I dont consider that a good deal but its worth it to keep my warranty.

you should go to another dealer and check, I was told from scion personally that even the parts you buy from the dealer and have dealer install will be covered under warranty and will have pure pricing , weather you buy it when you order your car or get it later, scion said it will be the same price

you should talk to scion about that dealer!

 

yes for scion parts, but i dont believe the same applies to TRD parts. different areas charge different labor rates depening on the local area. major city labor rates arent going to be the same as a scion dealer in a small town

 

yes as far as the TRD products they are supposed to priced the same but i think that they make all there money on there labor

that pure price has nothing to do with the amount of labor they can lie there asses off and people who have never changed springs or whatever the part is would have no idea

thats the way everything in life works,
every body eats out of someone elses dish

 

putting springs/shocks/struts on is not that hard, just takes a little time. i would suggest doing it yourself. you can go rent tools at autozone, when you get done and return the tools you get all your money back. even if someone is only going to charge you 50 bucks, it's worth it to put them on yourself.

 

won't that void your warranty though? :?:

 

warranty on what? your powertrain?
i doubt it. you are allowed to use whatever you want on your car as long as they are deemed comparable to toyota parts. just like you can change your own oil with watever oil and oil filter you want to use. won't void tha warranty.

 

No- only if the dealer can prove that the modification you made to the car created the problem.

So if you change the springs and your engine blows up, they still have to fix it.

If you put a 15psi turbo on the car and the engine blows, you are screwed-

 

yeah i'm going to do it myself..i just thought if they had it for the oil change and it would only cost a couple hundred for the install then i'd have them do it...a guy that works part time with me put the TRD's on his tC himself..thats how i know it only takes 2hrs...he said most of the time was spent with disassembly(the rear hatch area being the biggest pain) and re-assembly..said it only took 10 minutes on each corner for springs themselves...he did it at his house on jack stands...which is ironic because his full-time job happens to be a service writer for the other Toyota/Scion dealer in the area..he got the springs at cost but didn't want to pay what they were going to charge him for the install which was better than the quote from my dealer but still too much for the job...he also said it won't screw up the warranty...

 

There was a $100 difference between 2 dealerships on the TRD Lowering Springs. One wanted $299, the other $199. Both charged installation over that price. The more expensive one said it was pretty difficult.

He also said that the Rear Sway bar was expensive for installation because you "basically have to drop the whole rear end." <--quoted directly. I thought that was a load of crap.

Wont be going there for my mods.

 

My dealer wanted $260 just to install the springs/shocks. I went to Pann auto for $100 instead

 

Actually man you can get to the hardest to get to nut without pulling the panels. I did my springs and sway bar on my car a few weeks ago. It's not that hard, took about 4 hours.

 

Wow that is a complete load of crap! It bothers me how people can completely lie to customers about stuff like that I installed my swaybar myself in about 30 minutes.

 

I also have notices dealers raping customers around the Dallas area. The place where I bought my tC wanted 695 for XM installed. They wanted 695 for springs installed. They wanted 1695 for the leather package. I told them to shove it on everything but floor mats and I should have known better on those. Could have gotten them for half the price. Bought the car 2 weeks ago and still waiting for the fuggin floor mats to come in. BAH!

 

Please tell me how you can get to the nut without pulling panels. I might actually install the springs/shocks/swaybar myself.