Took my car in for inspection 1 today, and asked my SA to get me a quote to install the sway bar and springs from a Cooper S I was thinking about purchasing from a NAMer. They came back with $1725.00! Apparently that would cover installing all sport suspension stuff (which would be 2500.00 for the oem parts I'm told.) seems nuts to me.

Can anyone give me a rough time estimate for installing a sway bar and springs? What have others paid, at dealers or elsewhere? I'm not equipped to do it myself.

 

Dealers are expensive for this type of work. I had springs installed at a local
wheel shop for $150.00. Alignment check was $35.00 ( NM springs. all alignment factors were within spec). Sway bars are more involved. Is there a local club with some mechanically inclined members. Usually beer & pizza with get something installed.
Don't forget local indie shops and the neighborhood wheel/tire shops.

 

$420 or $450 forgot, for rear sway, springs, camber plates and a specific alignment I requested (-3.0 front -1.8 rear) previous MCS.

 

$1725.00......That's almost 11 hours labor at $165 an hour (common dealer rate in CA)

 

Pretty outrageous! My MA agreed it was nuts and suggested I go to an independent shop with aftermarket parts. I'll be calling around I guess! I talked to a few places but so far no one wants to touch aftermarket parts, refusing to install anything they don't sell for liability reasons.

 

shops also want to make money from parts. I would not use a shop that would not put your part on. I assume you are not in California?

 

You could always do it yourself:
Springs: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ll-how-to.html
Sway Bars:
Front: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ll-how-to.html
Rear: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ll-how-to.html

 

I'm sure that's the biggest factor, but of course liability is the reason they give. I'm not in California, I'm straight north in Victoria, Canada.

I'd like to learn more about the car and start working on it myself, but I don't have much of a knowledge base, or the tools or space to work on it, so for the time being it's going to have to be done for me. I'm going to have new tires mounted pretty quickly, as we're not having much of a winter here, so I will be asking around at the tire/brake/suspension places if I can have it all done at once.

 

Installing springs and sway bars are very heavy labor installations.
The springs aren't that bad, but it is still work and the tools.
Rear sway bar requires dropping subframe.
Front sway bar requires dropping front subframe.
Would do it for you but your in Canada and I'm in FL.
LOL

 

you can always check on youtube. Mini madness gives instruction for installing a rear sway bar.
I could be a good learning process

If you really want to have it done by a professional don't go to MINI themselves (way too expensive)
Is there a local tuner shop you can go at ?
I wouldn't pay more than 200$ for the installation itself

 

Where are you from? If you are local, I can help you w/ the install

 

$400-450 is about right for a spring install. The REAR sway bar should be maybe $80. A front sway bar would be considerably more. I would guess in the min. $250 range.
It sounds to me the the dealer quoted you for assembly and install of all four corners plus both sway bars and an alignment. At dealer rates that quote makes *relative* sense.

 

I had my suspension installed for under $400. Shocks, springs and rear bar. Don't forget to get an alignment after install.

 

Thanks for the offer! I am in Victoria, BC. Are you anywhere near?

I did get a more reasonable quote from a tire shop today.. $450 for springs, sway bar, and alignment. Not too bad! I bought my wheels/winter tires there as well. I told them the wheels are heavier than I'd like and they said they can take them back and I can get something else. I'll probably lose a few bucks on that deal, but it's a good sign that they're willing to work with me.

 

I heard Victoria got quite a dump of snow a few days ago. Must be because of this statement you made

I think $450 is not cheap but not too expensive either. The installation s.b 3 to 4 hours max.

I'm also waiting to install springs, sway, and rear lower control arms when the weather looks a little more stable.

 

This was not for a 1st gen but it should not matter. I had the JCW suspension installed on my 2009 JCW at a dealer for $450. That was a flat rate but they wanted to charge $200 for an alignment, which is way too much. Took it to a local tire shop. They charged $75 for the alignment.

 

Haha.. yeah, I should have kept my mouth shut! I was further north in Nanaimo for most of this month, and having snow tires really made life easier. My commute is all hilly country roads with no city services. I'm very pleased with how the Cooper handles deep snow, slush and ice with the right tires!

$450 seems pretty reasonable and I get along with the guy at the shop, so I will likely go for it. It will also be nice to swap out these heavy-*** wheels and do everything in one trip!

 

Keep in mind that that $450 price was to remove all 4 springs, front sway bar and rear sway bar and replace with new JCW parts. I think that price from the dealer was very fair. $200 for an alignment is not.

 

I think you lucked out. Seems like your dealer is one of the few reasonable ones. There is such a huge variation in pricing from one dealer to the next.

 

That's a far cry from the $1725 I was quoted just for spring and swaybar installation. From what I understand I just got the book quote for installing the springs, swaybar, shocks, etc. even though I was very clear about what I wanted.