I brought the XK8 to an indy shop recommended to me. Had the fluids and filters changed and had a once over on the car done. I was told the car needed a front end alignment and front shocks. Alignment was only $90.00 but I was quoted $800.00 for the front shocks. I look up the cost of the shocks online and see they are about $110.00 each. Is it really that much labor to install two front shocks? BTW the shop labor rate is $95.00 an hour. I have not had the work done yet so any advise would be great. Thanks!

 

Lorwood
All Data says 2.6 hours for labor for both front shocks, so $800.00 is way to high for replacing the front shocks. I would ask to see his labor time for that.
Doug
2001 XKR Silverstone

 

They are probably also considering the cost of OEM shocks, which are another $100 each. I'd ask if you could provide the new bilsteins yourself ($100 is about right for each online) and if they could just do the labor. I'd estimate $400 for labor depending on the type of equipment they have available to put the coil-over assembly into (to compress) and remove/reinstall the new shock.

Be sure to check your upper mounts...no reason to get the whole thing apart only to find out your upper mounts have deteriorated. If there's crumbling orange rubber debris in the area, or the center bolt is offset, or it looks unusually high thru the body, might as well replace them as well. There are a few 3rd party mounts that exceed the OEM specs, and should last you much longer than the original type ~ $200 ea however. Your call though.

BTW, what year and how many miles? That info is neither in your post nor your signature to reference.

 

Thanks!

03 37500 miles

 

wow, shocks at 37.5k miles, that's hard to believe. I finally changed mine at 125,000...and probably only needed it after 100k. They responded to what seemed allright, but over time, the initial 'resting' point on them had lowered my front end to 15.0 inches ride-height when measured. New shocks brought it back up to about 15.4 inches.

It is much stiffer now. BTW, my front mounts crumbled at 60k, replaced them then.

 

I think I will have somebody else look at it. The car does track slightly to the right so I expected the alignment but I have no real indication from driving it that the shocks are gone. Is the front end of these cars anything special or should any good front end shop be able to make a determination? Thanks again. P.S. If anybody has a good recommendation on Long Island I would appreciate it.

 

Lorwood
I agree with Matt at 37,500 you shouldn't need shocks I've got 80,000 and mine are still fine. I will probably replace them at around 100,000. I'd check around, You should be able to get the job done for under $500.00 and I think a reputable suspension shop should be able to determine the reason why it is tracking.
Doug
2001 XKR Silverstone

 

Have they explained to you "why" you need new shocks?

Have they shown you any leakage, etc?

Or, is this just an upsell?

 

I don't know. This is an indy shop that specializes in Jags. They did an oil change/coolant flush/Power steering fluid change/brake fluid flush and went over the car for $300.00 which I thought was reasonable. I was told the only thing he found was the alignment and shocks, told me the tires were wearing unevenly. He told me to find the best deal on tires on-line and have them shipped to his shop because he could not beat prices from places like Tire rack. It all seemed to be on the up and up except.......I was the only customer there! I got there when they opened up and was there for about 3.5 hours. No other customers. Now it is a small specialized shop but it did cross my mind that in this economy they may need to up sell to keep the doors open.

The one thing I was sure of was that $800 for a pair of shocks seemed steep.

 

due to the inherent camber in our cars (-0.3 - -1.2 spec range) the inside edge will always wear more than the rest of the tire. Expect it to wear 2x as fast as the rest. If the negative camber increases (mine had -1.4 at one time) that will place more weight/pressure on that inner edge...its just going to happen. To reduce the amount of inside wear, the toe needs to be perfect too. A jag specialist knows how to load the tire before setting it, that way, when you really drive it, the resulting toe is straight, not toed out (a very common mistake made by regular alignment/tire shops). When its toed out, more inner tire wear results...combined with negative camber, that can really eat the tires up faster than expected. That might have been the case with your car before you purchased it.

 

Well now you know that there is $300 labour in the job. He already offered on the tires, now also supply the shocks.

BUT, find out WHY you need new shocks.

 

I would seriously doubt you need shocks, upper front shock mounts sure. Theyre 8 yrs old and time as well as miles kill the upper mount foam. I have used the after market upper mounts, and the differance in cost and then added labor to build them doesnt justify the small differance in price IMO.
Just ck youre upper mount foam for deterioration, if not bad, pass on the shocks

 

Ouch.

I have an indy shop that will fully rebuild my suspension... bushings, ball joints, shock bushings, etc... for $3k if I provide all the parts. I was gonna come here to ask if that was a fair price, but from everything I've been reading, it's a bargain.

 

XENOPHOBE REALLY. I WOULD DO YOUR FRONT AND REAR SUSPENSION FOR ABOUT $2200 INCLUDING ALIGNMENT AND AT THE DEALER IF YOURE BUYING PARTS.

 

Wow really? Maybe I better look around some more.

 

California is just too darn expensive to live in anymore...even with its perfect weather. I can't believe how much it costs...land, homes, taxes, environmental fees, etc, and the state is STILL in a budget hole. You know how many people I know that lived there once, then moved to TX? They purchase a home 2-3x the size and quality as out there and the only thing they miss is access to the coast.

 

h20boy, Your right on the money with $100 Biltein shocks. The price Lorwood was quoted must have been right out of the dealers book. Dealer wanted $256 apiece for "Jags" . My shocks looked fine but growled when compressed. Believe it or not, Dealer is putting in new motor mounts $800 new upper contol arm bushings and alignment $500 and is going to install my aftermarker, yes, aftermarket shocks for free. He's not going to loose any money and I know it will be done right. The Indies by me are questionable. Jack

 

Indy shop? What is this?

 

Independant shop not dealership

 

I think that's a very fair price...and he does have to remove the shock to get the mounts off anyway...so that's a very good arrangement. I remember the dealer doing my upper mounts, upper a-arm bushings, lower shock bushings for every hour in the computer, no matter if the R&R was redundant. However, I have received a great deal of 'assistance' when other issues arose. In my opinion, I am way ahead at this point. A good relationship with your dealer service consultant, and even the tech if you get the same one over and over, pays dividends in the future.