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Time and cost to lower car

3K views 19 replies 14 participants last post by  Gilles 
#1 ·
I dropped my car off to get lowered today and on the computer system the budget is 1-1.5 hours for the front springs and 4-5 hours for the back wheels. Is this about right? At say $120/hour of labor (i'm in LA), that's about 700 in labor alone to lower a car.

I searched around on the archives and saw quotes at 1 hours to 8 hours. What is everybody's charge hour-wise? ($$$ is less important since different cities have different hourly charges)

With alignment and th ecost of the springs, its costing me over a grand to drop the car.
 
#2 ·
I don't know, but if you're spending all that labor, you might as well do it right and spring for full coilovers. My $.02...
 
#4 ·
Yeah, that sounds about right. That's how much it will be to get it lowered in Dallas as well. Then you would have to pay for the alignment at 150-200.
Because of that I am still thinking if I should just do the coilover since the labor is the same.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Scryana, I just had my Cayman lowered about two weeks ago in the L.A. area, here's my break down:

Cargraphic springs $ 349
7 hrs. labor @ $ 118 $ 826
Alignment $ 220
_______
Total $ 1,395

I also had the RS-98 wheels mounted (not included in the price above) with the car lower it has a better more aggressive complete look, worth the $ IMO.

Fort Felker is right, its a big job to replace the springs.

Mark C.
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the input guys. yeah, i didn't realize the labor effort would be so big to get the car dropped. My installer actually asked me if i wanted to consider using coilovers instead because labor would be cheaper but for me, i'll take 300+700 over 1700+500 anyday since my baby isn't a weekly track animal. I will track the car one day, but definitely, I dropped the car for aesthetics. Guess i'll just hold off the spoiler purchase till another date.
 
#12 ·
You can save some $$$ by removing all the interior trim pieces yourself before you take the car in to be lowered. It's not rocket science, but it is tedious (and therefore expensive to hire someone else to do it). Instructions are given in the Porsche Service manual for all the trim bits that need to be removed.
 
#13 ·
I actually think under $1500 total is reasonable.

I paid ~$500 for a 2 year maintenance that did not include a brake bleed. The maintenance is checking stuff and doing a simple oil change.


I will lower my CS one day.
 
#14 ·
It took me a couple of hours (first time) to remove all of the interior bits. 2 nights in the garage after dinner. Now getting the coils out---that is another story!
 
#16 ·
If a person cut out the trim piece above the strut tower to gain access, would that work? I would imagine drilling a few small exploratory holes to get visual access than trace the final cut size needed. Then cut that out, do the spring work and make a fancy little cover.

Is this doable? Any feedback?
 
#18 ·
If so, then no problem. But I keep reading that removing the interior pieces is the most time consuming part. (or putting them back together!) Am I missing something here? No doubt with your weight reduction program you've gotten quite used to pulling things apart!:)
 
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