Ft Lauderdale or Miami Anyone?

[BiologicalAn]

Can you recommend any shops i can take my vibee to drop suspension? Thanks, Annie

[BiologicalAn]

i received my eibach sportline springs on thursday. i've called around to a couple tire places and they won't install for me. so i called my dealership, pines pontiac, who's service department does a great job with my maintenance. the manager said that it's not a good idea to install new suspension because it kills my coverage of suspension on my warranty. well i'm on extended warranty now since i have over 43,000 miles on the vibee. (i need to get an oil change everyother month!) what could possibly go wrong with my suspension? i don't race my car or anything. all i what is a drop! what to do?

[Stang2Vibe]

Dealers are known for lying about warranty issues. Legally, the only parts that would be voided from warranty coverage would be those which are directly affected by the aftermarket parts you intstall. But enforcing the rules with a dealer can sometimes be quite an effort. They bank on the fact that the vast majority of people aren't going to hire a lawyer to prove their case and come after them in court, so they can frequently deny warranty coverage for stupid and/or invalid reasons and get away with it. There also seems to be a conspiracy among many dealers that they feel the need to prevent car owners from having any fun whatsoever with their vehicles. They are like the grumpy old neighbors down the street who still wash their clothes by hand and mow the lawn with an antique reel mower because they are so resistant to any sort of change. GM has been especially guilty of this but has recently been working hard on trying to change this image.I know Pep Boys would gladly install them for you. There are probably many shops in your area that will perform the work. You can check the yellow pages, too. Many larger national chain muffler shops also do suspension work and won't hassle you about warranty mumbo-jumbo. There should also be specialized suspension shops listed as well. Just don't get ripped off by getting gouged on price. It really doesn't take a 5 star mechanic just to change the springs. Any reputable shop that is equipped to do the work should do a fine job doing this for you. Be sure to call around and price shop, I'd be willing to bet that the charge for this work will vary a good bit from place to place.

[BiologicalAn]

my dealership would gladly install the springs for me for $500 ! i think i will be calling around. is it really that expensivie? i only paid $200 for my springs.

[Stang2Vibe]

Yeah, that sounds like the typical dealership. Like I said, you probably want to try some independent suspension shops (can check your phone book or online) or the National Chains that will stand behind their work (like Midas, etc.). You probably shouldn't have to pay any more to have the springs installed than what you paid for them. I am guessing that a decent mechanic should take 1 to 1 1/2 hours to perform the work. Remember, there are often many mechanics out there not working at dearships that are just as good and sometimes better than the ones who do work at the dealerships. Don't be afraid to go somewhere else for this work. The springs aren't particularly "high-tech"---they don't have electronics attached to them. It's pretty much just turning wrenches to do this job. They need to use a spring compressor as well, of course, but I'm sure you get the idea of what I'm saying.

[Stang2Vibe]

Here, check this out. Too bad you don't live in Dallas... http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=6868

[BiologicalAn]

i finally found a place locally that will only be $175 including alignment. funny you mention dallas because i was considering moving there. i have family that just moved to frisco in august. dallas is all restaurants!

[Stang2Vibe]

quote:i finally found a place locally that will only be $175 including alignment. Well there ya go! That sounds really reasonable. And it sounds like they want to do things the right way, too. After doing major suspension work, like changing the springs, you should have a 4 wheel alignment done on the car to adjust everything to proper specs. Good job!