Pedders suspension quote, reasonable?

[Jimmy2228]

Hey guys I bought my car a few months ago and the guy I bought it off lowered the car himself, he did not change the shocks (they are original shocks). Its sitting on King Spring superlows on the front and King lows on the rear.
I have noticed squeaking noises from the rear and occasionally rubbing off the back left tyre even with no other people in the car.
I took my car down to Pedders to get the 28 point safety check done and address these issues.

Here is what they found and the cost for parts.
- Very soft front shocks ($300)
- Front Sway bar bushes are split ($75)
- Badly worn Radius Bushes ($40)
- Leaking Rear shocks ($182)
- On the rear, lower bush adjusters fitted incorrectly, nuts missing. ($252)

They have quoted $849 for parts and an extra $660 for labour and $110 for a wheel alignment. Does this sound reasonable? Im getting a second quote from my local mechanic on Friday but was after your guys opinions.

As well as lowering the car himself he told me he installed the IRS himself too. What are your guys opinions on this? Sound reasonable? Can any of this be done cheaper?

Thanks

[5ivespeed]

how the hell can you put irs in a live axel car?

[danja]

Is it just me or does "lower bush incorrect, nuts missing" sound like a dirty joke?

Seriously, don't know about that one, but the other parts look about right. Labour looks a little over the top to put on some new shocks and a couple of bushes. I'd have expected about half that, though I know the front sway bar on the VT was a real pain to do, and you'd pay a lot for that, VS might be similar?

$110 is Ok if they do a proper wheel alignment, and balance all your wheels on the car, but for just a computer alignment that's a rip off.

As always, get a few more quotes, see if you can't beat him down a bit.

[Jimmy2228]

how the hell can you put irs in a live axel car?

I have no idea, but if its not possible i guess it was IRS all along, whichever the case its IRS now.

Is it just me or does "lower bush incorrect, nuts missing" sound like a dirty joke?

Seriously, don't know about that one, but the other parts look about right. Labour looks a little over the top to put on some new shocks and a couple of bushes. I'd have expected about half that, though I know the front sway bar on the VT was a real pain to do, and you'd pay a lot for that, VS might be similar?

$110 is Ok if they do a proper wheel alignment, and balance all your wheels on the car, but for just a computer alignment that's a rip off.

As always, get a few more quotes, see if you can't beat him down a bit.

Yeah I thought the wheel alignment was a bit dodgy, and yeah the labour does seem a lot for the springs and bushes as people do them by themselves but I dont want to screw it up.
Yeah ill gather a few more quotes and try to bargain

[Adamvr93]

I have no idea, but if its not possible i guess it was IRS all along, whichever the case its IRS now.



Yeah I thought the wheel alignment was a bit dodgy, and yeah the labour does seem a lot for the springs and bushes as people do them by themselves but I dont want to screw it up.
Yeah ill gather a few more quotes and try to bargain

Its pretty hard to screw up replacing shocks and a few bushes.. the thing most people screw up is getting parts that dont match.. like wrong springs for the shocks and stuff... maybe you could buy the parts that you need off pedders as they will select the parts properly and then do it yourself.. if you get a gregorys manual it has all the info you will need.. or have you have mates that are pretty mechanically minded get them to give you a hand..
will save alot of money that way..

[hako]

It all depends on what you expect your car to be - if you just want to get rid of the squeaks then just get the bit that squeaks fixed up. Remember that Pedders 28 point safety check covers 28 separate points....they will inspect each of those points which represent just about everything in the front and rear suspension and anything that is not in good condition is marked as requiring attention and quoted on. It's like going to the doc with a busted finger and him doing a full body check-up and discovers you've got all these problems that you never noticed before....and possibly don't need to know. But if you want the car 100% safety wise and have peace of mind then as suggested above get a second quote.

[DannyboyDS]

Here is what they found and the cost for parts.
- Very soft front shocks ($300)
- Front Sway bar bushes are split ($75)
- Badly worn Radius Bushes ($40)
- Leaking Rear shocks ($182)
- On the rear, lower bush adjusters fitted incorrectly, nuts missing. ($252)

The front shocks could be about right, its normally around $55 to remove and refit a front shock (Per side) so thats $110 gone the other $190 is the cost of the shockers, I would hope though they are throwing in some strut tower bearings though.

Front sway bushes is probably right too, or close enough, depends are they only doing the bushes or the aftermarket link arms as well? it should be about $30 worth of bushes and $50 worth for bushes and link arms.

Radius bushes $40? are they only replacing the ones in the control arm? 99% of places will charge around $400 to do all four radius rod bushes, it's nearly $100 worth of rubber bushes.

Leaking rear shocks for $182 shocks will probably set you back around $150, its a 5 min job so once again, roughly correct, you would be up for allot more if you needed shortened shocks.

I have no idea on the last point.

Oh and is it bushers, or bushes? I can never remember. :P

[danja]

@Dannyboy: The first set of figure (which you quoted) was just parts, labour is on top of that.

[Goose!!!]

yeah, i'd say do it yourself.... only thing you may have trouble with is pressing the bushes out.. Do you have a press? I remember doing my bushes, and i couldn't press them out.... It ended up taking 4 tones of pressure to get the bushes out of the control arm.

[ephect]

if the lower bush adjusters is just a camber kit, then there is no wrong way to install them.. they have a metal cylinder in the centre of the bushes which adjust camber/caster..

i would be getting a second quote some figures are too high. some of its pretty easy to do yourself

easy way to remove original bushes, drill into them a few times and they should almost slide out

[Calaber]

how the hell can you put irs in a live axel car?

I'd like to know that too. The IRS models had a different rear floor pressing to accommodate the totally dissimilar mounting points. I think the rear chassis rails might have been different too.

The only ways I can think of would have been a cut and shut, or by removing the entire rear floor pan from the car, starting about the rear footwells, back to the boot floor, and that's only a guess as I'm not familiar with the IRS on pre-VT's.

[gslrallysport]

Here is what they found and the cost for parts.
- Very soft front shocks ($300)
- Front Sway bar bushes are split ($75)
- Badly worn Radius Bushes ($40)
- Leaking Rear shocks ($182)
- On the rear, lower bush adjusters fitted incorrectly, nuts missing. ($252)

At a quick glance (I can do the rest if you want), the shock prices are a little high for what is just rebadged Monroes...

In a KYB we could do the fronts for $270pair, and $115pair for the rears.

[89 vn]

Weird how he installed IRS when you compare an IRS and Live axle car underneath and they are quite different. How do you know its IRS, have you looked at the VS manual or another irs/live axle car to compare? seems like he must of been a genius to do it himself or really skilled

[Helicopter]

Yep,

My car developed a loud banging sound under hard acceleration, which to me at least appeared to be coming somewhere from the rear suspension or failure of the center bearing. Took it to Pedders, the experts. They drove it and then put it on the hoist.

Well....."we can't see anything obvious and will need to start pulling the IRS apart to investigate further". Well if it was bleeding obvious on looking underneath I could fix it. Their quote, lets start at $700 and work up from there!

Solution, my mate diagnosed the problem in less that 60 secs. Replaced damaged passenger side engine mount, and $15 later perfect.

Say no more.

[DannyboyDS]

@Dannyboy: The first set of figure (which you quoted) was just parts, labour is on top of that.

Uhh I must have mis-read his first post, a second check revealed he did say they are parts only.

It's a bit expensive to be honest.

[89 vn]

Why is it any company involved in automotive WILL try and scam you unless you know what your talking about? yeah i know cash..sad

[Jimmy2228]

@ 89 VN, I believe it is IRS as the rear wheels have negative chamber, also Pedders and a local shop confirmed it. It could of been IRS all along, and the bloke who owned it was a holden mechanic, but he didnt exactly look like a 'genius'.

@ hako, your right I should probably shop around and only fix what is absolutely necessary at this moment in time and let the rest wait until i can get some more money.

@ Helicopter, classic example of a good ending hey? wish everything could be like that.

@gslrallysport, i appreciate the offer mate, but like you said they seem overpriced which is what i was after. Thanks mate

And if I do decide to replace the shocks I might do it myself with a few mates as they tell me its an easy job.

Thanks guys

[vs wagon 3800]

yer the quote they gave u sounds a bit over the top... i would shop around see if other brands will suit your needs... i just renewed all the suspension under my VS i got a quote of pedders and it was $500 more than king springs with gabreial rear shocks and front struts... so best thing to do is shop around and look for the best value

[bittsa]

read about 6 of the posts then gave up, so here is my 2 cents, as i have just done this. i did the work myself, i paid $260 for lowered front shocks. they where noname brand, aussie made though. and 160ish for monroe lowered rear shocks. do the rear shocks your self, no technical no how required. jack it up, take off the wheel, undo the shock at the wheel hub, undo it in the boot, reverse this to put it back in. the front where tricky, but can be figured out. as for the bushes. fark that man, id just get them to do it.

good luck anyways

[DannyboyDS]

bushes can be very easy to do, if done right.

you need a tool that can apply allotof pressure (A 15-20 tonne bottle jack is good) a stick welder will help as well as some different plates and fittings and brackets that you will need to bend up.

plan the job out from under the car, draw up your proposed temporary press, go weld it up, once the job is done and test drives are complete, you can dismantle the press untill you need to do another bush, which should be a different one, unless you are unlucky and the ones you just did failed for some reason, anyway when you do a different bush you will need to set the press up differently.

Think outside the square.