Coil Spring Replacement Cost

[woolveren]

Never replaced a coil spring before, What is the average labor for coil spring replacement?

I got an estimate(labor only) from an Indy mechanic here for replacing all four coil springs on my 98;

Front = 3.20hrs x $79.5 = $254

Rear = 4hrs x $79.5 = $318

Total = $254+ $318 = $572


And my car is NOT even a quattro (AEB, FWD), really surprised at 4 hrs for the rear and I think it's overkill.. Any comments?

[Turbo_B5]

Das expensive imo. I could do my whole quattro in 2-3 hours. Maybe add another for beer breaks. DO it your self if your mechanically inclined. It is eazy.

[b5a4erik]

I've also got ~ aeb fwd ~ springs laying around if your interested. About 190k miles on them.

If you want them and pay for shipping, they're yours.

[woolveren]

Das expensive imo. I could do my whole quattro in 2-3 hours.

That's what I thought too..it's a bit expensive. I wonder whether he gave me a quote assuming mine is a quattro may need to check with him tomorrow.

I do lots of work my own, but am not that confident with suspension works..

I've also got ~ aeb fwd ~ springs laying around if your interested. About 190k miles on them.

If you want them and pay for shipping, they're yours.

I've got Vogtland springs already, thanks for the offer..!

[Bordom]

Book time is 1.5hrs/corner. He's quoting too much.

You could do it all yourself in about 4 hrs with power tools.

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[adam044]

Lol that's crazy.

I did it myself for the first time ever without power tools and it was only an afternoon. It's rather straight forward.

[Turbo_B5]

Its pretty straight forward. Only problem is the pinch bolt, I just buzz mine off with the air impact. And lining the front shock tower up with the unibody, helps alot if you have someone screw the bolts in while you hold it or vise versa.


edit: for the pinch bolt, i get it turning with the impact and out alittle, then i put the closed end of the a wrench on the bolt, and while pulling the wrench on the bottom of the bolt buzz it off.


A pic of what i mean. useing an actual pinch bolt for reference.

[Seerlah]

You don't need to touch the pinch bolt.

-Get cheap, yet quality Craftsman coil spring compressors from Sears for $50 or so (what I have)
-With that corner in the air, place your hydraulic jack under the outer CA ball joint the assembly is bolted to
-With that CA supported by the hydraulic jack, undo the outer ball joint from the spindle and sway bar link from the CA. It only needs to be unbolted from the CA and can stay attached to the bar.
-Pop off the 2 protective plugs in the engine bay that hold the top hat to the chassis
-Undo the 2 nuts
-Lower hydraulic jack slowly and you can easily slide the whole shock/spring assembly out
-Undo strut from lower CA
-Swap springs, install in reverse (I recommend getting aftermarket Bilstien or Koni struts at the same time, and scooping 034 strut mounts. replace the strut mounts regardless. Also when placing back into position, you will also have the strut bolted to the CA not fully torqued and use the hydraulic jack once again to get the assembly back into place.)
-Post if you need assistance.

[Turbo_B5]

^but isn't the tophat still screwed to its mount? (by two 9ishmm bolts) and be more difficult working in the wheel well?

[Seerlah]

Top hat will stay on the car, along with upper CAs. It's the two 13mm nuts (can be accessed through engine bay, once plugs popped off) that hold the top coil spring seat to the top hat. When you torque down that damper rod nut that goes through the strut mount, it holds everything in place. I installed my coilovers this way.

[Turbo_B5]

Ah.... The top hat is part of the strut assembly and its mounted by two nuts to the mount (top hat in your explaination) has the two arms bolted to it in my thinking.

[Seerlah]

Top hat is what the upper control arms are mounted to. I think you may be confusing the top hat with the top coil spring seat.

Spring seat, which you unbolt from the top hat via 2 13mm nuts

[Turbo_B5]

yea I am.

[Bordom]

I'm pretty sure those bolt to the top hat. Hard to reach and get to the spring seat which would mean it has to come down regardless. Unless King and I are not understanding

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[Seerlah]

Like I said, they can be accessed through the engine bay. Most, if not all cars can (not counting fancy expensive cars). Most cars, that is how they are removed with the strut/spring assembly basically sovereign and supported on the bottom end however they choose (bolts). On our car, they are hidden under two plugs that can be pried/popped off.

[Turbo_B5]

I feel like I would get pist off trying to work in the well, when i can just remove the whole assembly from the car and fiddle with it out there. But sticking an extention down there may be easy. I personally have had no problems removing the pinch bolt. I have removed the struts about 3-4 times using my method.

[Seerlah]

I very highly suspect you are not giving the credibility of how simple the way I said it is compared to yours. Trust me when I say the way I explained it is much much easier. Two bolts up top and one bolt on the bottom to remove the assembly out the car. You just need to drop the lower CA the strut is bolted to to allow room to get it out. And that is by simply removing the CA from the spindle and swap bar link from the CA so you can just drop it. But you need a hydraulic jack underneath to get it off and back into place, due to the spring rate being too much to overcome by pure muscle.

[Turbo_B5]

I can visualize that now... Will have to try it when next time calls.

[Bordom]

I will have to look for those plugs tomorrow.

[Turbo_B5]

You talking abooot this plug eh?

[Johns]

I installed my c/o's using the method Seerlah described. I imagine it's miles easier than messing with the pinch bolt. Took me about 9 hours total but I ran into a ton of rusted/seized bolts. I also disconnected the front swaybar from the end links because I figured the torque from removing the strut could damage them. Probably just me being over cautious but better safe than sorry.

You talking abooot this plug eh?

Yeah and theres another under the hardlines near the firewall. Bit of a PITA

[Turbo_B5]

Well I will deal with the pinch bolt. I will not damage that plug.

[woolveren]

On a side note, I went and asked the shop why rear labor is more compared to the front and whether they actually made the estimate assuming mine is a quattro..

And this is what he said;

"According to the repair manual it actaully calls for more labor than what we are charging you for a FWD. To do the rear you have to take out the rear seats which adds more labor."

Do we actually need to remove the rear seats?

[adam044]

On a side note, I went and asked the shop why rear labor is more compared to the front and whether they actually made the estimate assuming mine is a quattro..

And this is what he said;

"According to the repair manual it actaully calls for more labor than what we are charging you for a FWD. To do the rear you have to take out the rear seats which adds more labor."

Do we actually need to remove the rear seats?

Wtf... No you don't have to remove the seats.

What car do you have?

[woolveren]

Wtf... No you don't have to remove the seats.

What car do you have?

98 AEB FWD.

I think he is right, there is a difference in AWD vs FWD rear suspension setup. I saw this below online for FWD rear strut replacement;

>>

>Unbolt suspension strut from axle beam

>Remove rear seat backrest side bolster cover or backrest, refer
to ⇒ Body Interior; Rep. Gr. 72 ; Removal and Installation .

>Unbolt upper suspension strut mount

Apparently, after watching a youtube video of AWD rear strut replacement I think its very easy compared to the FWD setup..

[Bordom]

Wow. That's horrific

[Turbo_B5]

That doesnt sound right. The side bolster removal is easy... im scanning a page of my repair manual gimme a sec.

[Turbo_B5]

You pry up on the trianle/arrow and the bolster pops off. super easy

[adam044]

Well screw fwd

[woolveren]

Well screw fwd

Well yeah.. Miss the quattro AWD, but less weight and maintenance are the only benefits for FWD.

That doesnt sound right. The side bolster removal is easy... im scanning a page of my repair manual gimme a sec.

Hmm, I saw the pics and doesn't looks like a 4 hr job removing the side bolsters unless they charge a separate rate for spring only replacement which is highly unlikely as the process involved in replacing rear strut or spring is the same for FWD cars..

[woolveren]

I think its better to do these work myself or at some other shop. I went back and told them that the rear seat doesn't need to be removed as it only requires side bolster removal to access bolts but they are still claiming seat needs to be removed and will take 4 hr to do the rear suspension work blah ,blah etc..

I think he is just trying to give some stupid excuses to charge more from people. An old grandma may believe his words as such, but not me..

[Turbo_B5]

Goto them, remove bolster, show them the bolts, then tell them to fuck off. then write them a 1star google review.