tire dealer wants to charge me 5.5 hours of labor to install KYB shocks (front & rear) ... is this reasonable? Thanks

 

No! Do it yourself and save the $. Here is one good write up: http://www.innerbean.com/housecor/strut_install.html

 

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? 5.5 hrs!!!! are they going to be sleeping for the first 2.5 hrs? when i had my install done (springs/shocks) it only took about 2 hours max, but i went to a very professional shop here in chicago who work on suspensions daily (car boutique) good luck with the shop who is going to charge you for 5.5 hrs of labor! you should ask them is it even necessary to wear your pants when you bring them the car, that has to be the worse case of rape i've ever heard of! i wonder how many hours they charge to actually change a tire? you may have to leave the car overnight or something!

 

Maybe a first time do-it-yourselfer would take 5.5 hours, if he only had the car's scissor jack and was pretty drunk.

With hoist, air tools, and some experience this should be a 2 hour job for a mechanic, MAX!

 

FASHIZL took approx. 1.5 hours when he did my struts/springs with a lift and air tools.... I also helped phenryiv1 do a complete swap of his I30 suspension in less than 2.5 hours with a spring compressor, garage jack, and 4 jack stands....

In other words... I have to call on 5.5 hrs...

 

It took me 4 hours by myself. Borrow some tools and do it yourself. Like UGAd13 said, look at housecor's site. It's what I used

 

I have about as much mechanical experience as the dog right above this post, and it still only took me like 3.5 hours to do it by myself! I'd say try it yourself, and if you still feel sketchy, and don't want to try it yourself, look elsewhere. That's WAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY too much.

 

No way. Either do it yourself or have it done at a shop. Shouldn't take them more than 1-2 hrs with their lift and spring compressor machine.

 

Last suspension I did on a 4th gen, which is similar- took me bout a hour and half to do. Due to a stuck bolt on the rear suspension that was stripped out. 5.5 hours at around 90-100 bux a hour is alot of $$$ to just install shocks !

 

While I agree that it isnt too hard of a DIY job, don't feel bad, I did end up having my springs/shocks done by a shop due to time constraints....but it only took them 1.5 hours and cost only $125.

My recommendation, take it to a motorsports shop that does import tuning.....much, much cheaper than ANY dealer. Good luck.

 

it takes about 2.5 hours

 

i could do it in 1.5 hrs myself

done suspensions like 50 times

 

Yep professional shop should charge about 1-2 hours or $70-$150

I met a few nissan folks from my area and we did 2 maxima's in 3 hours.