I stopped by my mechanic today to get a quote on some things that needed to be done to my 1994 Maxima GXE.

I needed new struts (Back and Front), front brakes and alignment done.

He gave me the following quotes:

Front Struts: $180
Back Struts: $140

Labor: $250

Brakes: $140
Alignment: $55

Does that sound good to you guys? I don't want to get ripped off as this is a new guy, but I've heard nothing but good things about him so I am eager to give him a shot.

 

please give us a little more detail....

what's the $140 for brakes? parts and labor? parts only? which parts?

and the $250 labor is for what, struts only or struts and brakes?

 

www.internetautomart.com

get your parts there and for your struts if you want better preformence i would get a set other then the monroe.

and im guessing you mean brake pads? that is kinda of a rediculous price for pads. Thos can be changed out quick and they dont always cost an arm an a leg for a nice set. No alignment the cheapest i have found was 39.99 so thats not to bad....If your up to it and your max is down a day or two you can do it all your self and save. except the alignment.

 

Sorry about that, alright, the $250 labor is for the struts only. The $140 for the brakes is the front brakes, parts and labor, this also includes new brake lines because mine are leaky. The alignment is labor.

 

Word of Advice - Wait for a couple of the vets on here to tell you what brand to get. I have replaced so many things stock when there were some really awsome after market products....like for you.....struts there are some nice ones out there that don't cost you to much more then stock and they will be 10 times better for handling. so w/e youo chose to do it's your car and w/e you like.

 

$250 is a little high.. I do them for $125 here.. usually takes me 2-3 hours. (so at $75/hour mechanic time it's about right, but still highway robbery!)

pads for the front brakes shoudl run about $30-60 a set, depending on what you get.
rotors are about $100 a set.
labor, plan an hour or labor. ($75)
Lines are about $15 each.
so if he's quoting $140, then he's probably not replacing the rotors.

$55 for an alignment is good- assuming he's doing a 4 wheel alginment, which he should.. they're usually 55-80 around here.

 

Alright, so pretty much the labor on the struts is a bit high, I'll give him a call and see what he can do.

 

yup..
as for brands on the struts, see what he quotes you as well.

brands, in order of preference:
Koni
tokico
KYB

If he says OEM, get the SE model struts only.
If he says Monroe, tell him to suck an egg and use something better- or you supply your own.

 

The struts are Tokico. I just got off the phone with him, he says he can push the labor down to $200.

 

sounds good.. go for it.

 

Yep, alright thanks guys. I love this site ;-)