01 intrepid struts

01 Chrysler Intrepid ES 74,000 km

Both front struts are leaking and need to be replaced (according to my
extended Warranty appointed shop, and the struts by the way are
conveniently not covered under my warrany). I will be having a second
shop, which I trust, look at the car on friday. In the meantime I'm
wondering what the expected life of the struts are on these cars (ie.
2nd gen LH series).

I've been quoted nearly $1400 canadian for munroe struts, mounts and a
left inner tie rod with 4.5hrs labour @80/hour and an alignment. I will
be calling some other shops for quotes as well.

Any info would be appreciated

 

I just had my '99 Concorde's original front struts replaced at just over
130k miles, though people on the Intrepid and 300m forums claim that
they generally need replacing long before that. You sure yours are
really leaking at that mileage? (or is someone scamming you?)

You might look at the KYB brand - Model GR-2 (happens to be the only
model KYB makes that will fit the LH cars), but people are happy with
it. Comments on the forums are that people like them better than the
Monroes, and the good news is that they actually cost less (something
like $67 ea. for the KYB's vs. $85 for the Monroes if you shop around).

Suggestion: See if a shop will let you buy the parts and have them
install them. I didn't do that and got raped on the parts cost - the
shop charged me full list price for the struts: $150 ea. vs. $67 ea.
(all prices I'm quoting are $US) that I could have bought them for (and
similar gouging on the strut mounts/bearings). The only downside on
that is that with the shop supplying the parts, they would take care of
any warranty issues if there are problems. I figure saving $300 on the
strut mounts and struts would have been worth the risk of a warranty issue.

On the left inner tie rod: That's a little strange. On these cars, you
would normally change both inner tie rod *bushings* for what one whole
inner tie rod cost. You gain nothing by replacing the inner tie rod
other than a new bearing - that's the only part that wears there. Get
both bushings replaced - they *do* go bad, and they come as a set -
about $20.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
adddress with the letter 'x')

 

Meant to say "...other than a new bushing..." there.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
adddress with the letter 'x')

 

You've hit the nail on the head with my suspicions that maybe this shop
was trying to pull a fast one on me. As I stated in my op, these guys
aren't who I normally take my car to. I stopped by my usual shop on the
way to this one to clear up some invoice issues pertaining to my
extended warranty and upon hearing who I was supposed to take my car to
I was asked if I wanted them to take a look at the car first to really
find out what the problem could be. I declined only out of a need to
get back to work, but will be calling them tomorrow. I am skeptical of
their diagnosis, especially the tie rod, which as you pointed out
usually isn't the problem, but instead the bushings. And though I
couldn't find much strut life info on our cars on the web, it did seem a
little short.

Thanks for the suggestions and the info. I really appreciate it

 

4.5 hrs for the inner rod bushings is way to high, especially with the
overlapping time of the strut replacement. The struts dont have a high
failure rate and will normally last up to the mileage on your vehicle. Alot
of shops wont install parts that are purchased elsewhere for warranty
reasons.

 

maybe i wasn't clear about the hours of labour... it's 4.5 for the whole job

 

But if the shop and the customer mutually agree that any warranty issues
will not be the shop's problem, then what's the beef. Or is this a
situation where some stupid law precludes a shop not warrantying the job
even if mutually agreed to?

It's ridiculous that I pay them a fair labor rate, and then on *top* of
that, they charge me $150 for a part that I could have bought for $67
(actually there was a deal internet at the time for $50 with free
shipping) and I know they pay less than I could ever hope to get it for
thru their discount arrangements with the local parts stores. Basically
they made around $450 in profit on parts over and above the labor charge
(that already covers overhead).

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
adddress with the letter 'x')

 

I just had the front struts on my 99 300M replaced under the CHyrsler
maximum car extended service plan. If you have that plan they are covered
with a $50 deductible. Made a tremendous improvement in ride and probably
makes the warranty a bargain right there for that issue alone.

 

But if the shop and the customer mutually agree that any warranty issues
will not be the shop's problem, then what's the beef. Or is this a
situation where some stupid law precludes a shop not warrantying the job
even if mutually agreed to?

Speaking from a dealers stand point here. We offer 12 months or 12k miles
on parts and labor, most parts bought thru another parts store do not
honor that kind of warranty and they sure dont pay the labor to reinstall
it if it does fail.
And once again when the liars, I mean lawyers get into it.....you loose
even if you win.
I have had to install non Chrysler Parts before and the only gaurantee I
give is that is wont fall off.

 

But you do offer that as an option - that's all I'm talking about.

I agree about the lawyer thing. If anything comes to a warranty or
legal situation, in most cases, I cut my losses and take care of
whatever problems myself (I'm talking about as a DIY'er or "consumer").
For the little pitiful healing that any warranty adjustment might
give, I'll take my chances and save several hundred bucks on the job (as
the customer) by bringing my own parts if that is an option vs. paying
$200% parts markups on top of the labor/OH charges for negligible
benefit to me.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
adddress with the letter 'x')

 

around).

I don't know if this applies to all applications or not, but the
previous owner of my 944 installed new KYBs on the rear a few months
before I bought the car from him. A few months *after* I bought the
car, I got a really scary rattling/clanking noise from the rear, and I
didn't have time to look at it myself. I dropped the car off at a
Porsche specialty shop and the owner called me up after getting the car
on the lift and basically tore me a new one for using KYBs until I
apologetically explained that they were on the car when I bought it. A
pair of Bilsteins later the noise was gone never to recur.

Maybe their shocks are better for domestic applications, who knows...

nate

 

Maybe. In either case, whichever brand one goes with, a lot of money
can be saved (with the giving up of a questionable benefit of
"warranty") by supplying your own parts (a lot more than the difference
between the two commodity brands).

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
adddress with the letter 'x')