Kdh Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 I've had a quote from a small independent garage to change the springs on my 2008 2.7 manual and to do the geo afterwards. I am supplying the springs. Quote is £800 - 10.5 hours at 65ph plus vat. I am in Eastbourne, south east. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mavrik Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 (edited) I'm in Eastbourne too fella 😁 Which garage? ... I'd suggest that's a fair price for labour tbf. Have they suggested also changing out the top hats/bump stops? ... How many miles on your shocks? I recently changed my own springs on my CS to H&R (and also changed to Vogtland springs on my 350z GT HR 313) and it took me roughly all day (9hrs) outside my house with reasonably standard tools etc.... The previous owner luckily had already recently had new B4's with new top hats fitted so I only had to sort the springs.... I then got fairly aggressive geo done to my specs at Eastbourne Tyre Co (they have the latest Hunter 4 wheel lazer setup - cost me £125)... I also elongated the front strut top mounts to give slightly more -ve camber 😁 Now running geo at Front: Camber -1*35" Toe 0*01" & Rear Camber -2*00" Toe 0*08" ... I'd of liked a lot more front -ve camber but can't justify adjustable LCA's tbf as I only do around 2-3 track days a year at Brands... Julian... Edited March 9, 2021 by Mavrik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kdh Posted March 9, 2021 Author Share Posted March 9, 2021 (edited) Thanks for the reply - you seem to know your onions. I'm changing springs purely for looks, I don't do any trackdays or anything. I've just bought the Eibach pro sport kit which hopefully lowers it a bit but doesn't ruin the ride. My car's on 73,000 and no-one's mentioned the top hats/bump stops and I don't think the shocks have everbeen changed. I've recently gone from 18"wheels down to 17's as the ride was too bumpy around these Eastbourne Roads and that's helped a bit. I hope the lowering springs won't ruin it even more? I'm slightly concerned about shelling out £800 to then go back to square one with a harsh ride. What do you think? Very nice cars btw. Edited March 9, 2021 by Kdh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 (edited) Lowering springs will definitely make the ride harsher. If ride quality is a concern, then I would leave the stock springs on, personally. Sounds like you need to weigh up ride quality against aesthetics and go from there. Cost wise, that's a bit pricey to me. But garages here are much cheaper and will happily avoid VAT with the right form of currency... Edited March 9, 2021 by Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red7 Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 I’ve had a set of Eibach Pro springs on mine and haven’t noticed any harshness in the ride at all, my trusted local garage charged me £360 labour, I left the car with him for the day, he also changed my friends 991 springs to Eibachs the other week and they were finished by mid afternoon, 10.5 hrs seems a bit high imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kdh Posted March 9, 2021 Author Share Posted March 9, 2021 Difference of opinions there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevenfourate Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 My 987 goes in Sunday for some work. Inc the fitting of lowering springs. My mechanic has fairly recently lowered another 987 via springs; and I’m pretty sure he said it “wasn’t a bad job - and took him around 5 hours”. **Ive had 5 cars lowered via springs in the last 10 years or so - inc my current daily less than 6 months ago. And none have even been close to 10 hours Labour. Unless I completely misheard ref the 987 install time - that sounds high to me..... BTW: I’ve always fitted: and am again fitting Eibachs. For purely road use. Harshness / crashiness / compromise over standard aren’t words or terms I’ve even considered so far with these springs. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennym1984 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 (edited) It's a bit of a ball ache changing shocks/springs on a cayman. The fronts can probably be done in less than an hour and a half but the rears are more involved requiring the handbrake cables to be removed, the rear driveshafts to be disconnected, and various arms disconnected. Assuming that nothing is seized, you're looking at a few hours there. I did mine back in September and it isn't hard so much as it is time consuming. I had to cut off a rear coffin arm which added about 15 minutes to the job Edited March 10, 2021 by Lennym1984 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kdh Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 Many thanks for replies, I think I'm going to try and find a slightly cheaper garage to do the job as £800 is a bit too much at the moment but I do appreciate it's quite a bit of work. Can any competent garage be trusted to do this? Mavrik - do you know anyone down this way? cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mavrik Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 (edited) Try Elite garage on Lottbridge Drove, opposite Tesco... I know the manager & one of the Mechs. .. Tell them Julian with the Blue Cayman S & 350z referred you... They'll be happy to quote for labour... As Lennym1984 says the fronts aren't hard work but the rears are more involved also requiring some of the rear trim to be removed to get to the turrets... I haven't noticed any real harshness in ride quality on H&R's tbf but lowering will inherently tend to add a degree of firmness imo... You'd need to get them to check the condition of the shocks/top hats as these are wear items and imo at your mileage may be false economy not to change them out? Unfortunately I'm in the process of moving but would have done it for you for a lot less than £800 lol... Edited March 11, 2021 by Mavrik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mavrik Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 On 09/03/2021 at 17:52, Red7 said: I’ve had a set of Eibach Pro springs on mine and haven’t noticed any harshness in the ride at all, my trusted local garage charged me £360 labour, I left the car with him for the day, he also changed my friends 991 springs to Eibachs the other week and they were finished by mid afternoon, 10.5 hrs seems a bit high imo. £360 Labour is dirt cheap imo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kdh Posted March 11, 2021 Author Share Posted March 11, 2021 Thanks very much Julian. Appreciate it. However, if you want the job...I can wait. Having someone knowing what they're doing is most important. We've moved house twice during Covid, first time, the removal men downed tools in the middle of a 5-bed house move from Brighton to Eastbourne and left the three of us with a completely packed up house. My son and I hired the only white van left in Brighton and did the rest ourselves over 7 days and God-knows how many trips. Back-breaking work when you have 5 sofas. I hope yours goes smoother. Let me know if you'd be up for changing them. cheers, Kim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red7 Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 16 hours ago, Mavrik said: £360 Labour is dirt cheap imo... I didn’t think I was having my leg lifted for sure, he’s looked after all my cars, 911, Z4M’s, Datsun 240Z and our family daily’s too, finding a good garage is priceless 👍🏼 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mavrik Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 (edited) On 11/03/2021 at 17:28, Red7 said: I didn’t think I was having my leg lifted for sure, he’s looked after all my cars, 911, Z4M’s, Datsun 240Z and our family daily’s too, finding a good garage is priceless 👍🏼 At roughly £75hr labour? & 5hrs that's amazing tbh... OFC, if you just whip off the springs & just bung on the new ones without going to the trouble of lubing & greasing & cleaning stuff b4 replacing then I guess it is feasible? Difference between a Mechanic & Fitter, I guess Also is that price including laser geo setup?? ... I've heard horror stories though of seized fasteners etc which will obviously take longer to sort... Edited March 13, 2021 by Mavrik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mavrik Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 @Kdh I'm moving to Eastbourne Harbour at the end of the month but I'd be happy to do it for you if you can wait till the weather is better lol (end April?)... TBH I'd be charging £100 a corner to do & the geo setup will be roughly another £125. If you can get it done for £360 as @Red7 suggest then that's a bargain!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red7 Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 27 minutes ago, Mavrik said: At roughly £75hr labour? & 5hrs that's amazing tbh... OFC, if you just whip off the springs & just bung on the new ones without going to the trouble of lubing & greasing & cleaning stuff b4 replacing then I guess it is feasible? Difference between a Mechanic & Fitter, I guess Also is that price including laser geo setup?? ... I've heard horror stories though of seized fasteners etc which will obviously take longer to sort... I didn’t have a geo done but the springs were fitted properly, he didn’t just bung them on 🙂 it’s a nut and bolt job essentially, doesn’t need to be a specialist, just competent 👍🏼 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mavrik Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 29 minutes ago, Red7 said: I didn’t have a geo done but the springs were fitted properly, he didn’t just bung them on 🙂 it’s a nut and bolt job essentially, doesn’t need to be a specialist, just competent 👍🏼 No geo done!?! Will be wayyy out then fella... I agree its a standard spanner job (Porsche's aint no Space Shuttle) that any competent garage or DIYer can do with reasonably mid tier tools... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red7 Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 6 minutes ago, Mavrik said: No geo done!?! Will be wayyy out then fella... I agree its a standard spanner job (Porsche's aint no Space Shuttle) that any competent garage or DIYer can do with reasonably mid tier tools... I’ll book it in then, fwiw it drives lovely 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mavrik Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 M8... You've been driving without geo being setup to either standard spec or custom!?! ... Your tyres won't like you! Lowering WILL throw out the geo in regards to Camber & Toe no matter how diligent you are in marking everything b4 removing stuff. Very surprised that your "garage" didn't suggest you get your geo set (not ALL garages have proper Hunter 4 wheel laser geo machines) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrea Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Mavrik said: M8... You've been driving without geo being setup to either standard spec or custom!?! ... Your tyres won't like you! Lowering WILL throw out the geo in regards to Camber & Toe no matter how diligent you are in marking everything b4 removing stuff. Very surprised that your "garage" didn't suggest you get your geo set (not ALL garages have proper Hunter 4 wheel laser geo machines) And even with an allignment after istalling lowering springs the geo is still totally off. These cars run out of toe at the back, front camber remain the same while the rear gets nearly -2. Plus on top of that people put 7mm spacer front and 15 rear which basically the opposite of what they need. Love how all the above effectively create more understeer and overall reduced grip yet people have this placebo feeling that their car handles better. I wish people would understand that the only way is to use shimable LCA or top mounts at the front and adjustale toe arms at the rear at least. P.S. Whoever started this 7mm/15mm trend needs to be taken down 😆 Issue with internet is people repeat the same thing over and over without even thinking about why it's just wrong... Edited March 13, 2021 by Andrea 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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