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If they're used no need to let them settle, get the alignment done. Also, changing out springs is a breeze. Pick you up a spring compressor from harbor freight and do it yourself, then you just gotta pay the 90 or so dollars to get it aligned
... Shop is gonna charge you $200 or so per hour of shop time if you supply the parts...even if the "Shop rate"is lower....they need to make up for the lost mark-up on the parts you bought in to avoid loosing $$... cuse a different car could be on the lift, with the owner paying the mark-up on parts AND LABOR.
Sometimes a trusted shop that knows you will cut you a deal....but as a walk-in...they will feel they are doing you a favor.
So they are basically charging you 2 hrs and a alignment....$500.
In modding, parts are cheap...the labor and know-how is the $$$ part.
If they're used no need to let them settle, get the alignment done. Also, changing out springs is a breeze. Pick you up a spring compressor from harbor freight and do it yourself, then you just gotta pay the 90 or so dollars to get it aligned
Spring compressors aren't needed for the F56 if you have access to an impact driver or air tools.
I paid $480 and then $550 to have springs installed, then swapped back out 4 years later. R&R all four struts, and take them apart to change the spring, so it takes a while, 4.2 - 4.8 hours on the bills that I paid.
I didn't know the new Cooper's had so much travel. No bueno.
It is a good thing. It's only "so much travel" compared to the earlier generations. The 1st and 2nd gen had unusually low suspension travel compared to most cars (even high performance sports cars). That made suspension modding options very limited.
THANK YOU all for the input.. Im glad I asked to bring my expectations back to reality!
2nd question, with H&R Springs, do you think I'll have any issues running 15mm spacers in the rear? I have the 18" vanity wheels fwiw ...I want a nice clean rear end (lol) a little lower a little wider and to push the wheels out..
you know HR springs only drop 1.1" or so, so I dont see rubbing being an issue..
Someone please tell me this is not the going rate for an install like this ?
The shop said it included an alignment.. however, the car only has 1800 miles on it... wtf...
before I react ( kind of already did internally) is this the going rate for a springs-only install ?
I got quoted the same thing. It's due to the fact that these are basically bmws so we have to pay BMW prices... I'm gonna bite the bullet and pay that to get them removed. We installed them ourselves but 8 hours is not worth $600 to me.
I wish I could help on the spacers. I don't use them but I did buy wheels with a bigger offset that pushed them out. They did rub at first with coilovers but I just kept adjusting them until they were right at the height they did not rub. Problem is I do not know exactly at what drop I ended at.
Here are a couple pics of my car with H&R springs, 215/40 18 Michelin PSS, and 15mm spacers on the rear. (you can see them in the picture) I hear it about once a month just barely rub/brush, no big deal.
It gets pricey but I rather pay a little more for piece of mind. I got lucky and I know a shop owner who handles race cars and can squeeze me in. Hoopty I'm looking for tires for some 18x8 et 50 that I'm about to get soon. I wanted to run 225 instead of 215 do you think that would be an issue?
My stock 16 looks like this now. Might have to wait for the wheels before I decide on the tires (the offset 50 throws me off)
