I took my SVT in to get an alignment done at Belletire earlier this week, and interestingly enough, both of my front wheel bearings (Amongst other things) are fubar. I could tell that the front-right side was not good anyhow, as the vibration and lack of grease in the bearing made it clear that their was an issue.
I was quoted about $700 as well, however, this included both front wheel bearings, left control arm (The outer-tie-rod, ball-joint, and bushings are worn badly), four-wheel alignment, taxes and labor.
So I did some shopping around.
$50 Wheel bearings ($25 each at Autozone)
$82 left control arm (Includes shipping, bushings and ball joint, eBay)
$25 Outter tie-rod (Autozone)
$40 pizza money bribe to a mechanic at Sears for pressing bearings in and out.
$65 four-wheel alignment (2 years of adjustment, so free alignment after I put new struts and mounts on later - woot?)
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$262 : Total
Granted, the most difficult part for an average person at home is to have a proper hook-up for pressing bearings in and out. I have a guy who works at sears who will work for cash-in-hand beer money when the shop is slow.
You can expect to pay ~$40 per bearing at a machine shop though. Which is a little bit of money, but that's the average rate.
I'm a mechanic, so doing all of the work my self is no problem - I just don't own an alignment rack nor do I have the skill of the old-timers and their damned telescoping broom-handle shenanigans; nor do I own a proper press to safely remove and reinstall bearings. I have a vice and sledge hammer.. but, that just doesn't have the same finesse!
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So my point here, is that the quoted price that you were given is exorbitant. A fair shop price for two wheel bearings should never exceed $350 IMHO.
- You need to factor in the bearings them selves ($50 for both at autozone for us, stealership will probably double that)
- About one hour of labor (With impact tools, each side is 15 minutes of actual work, but they will round to to an hour but that's fair IMHO). If they estimate more than an hour, then there is an issue to be addressed. If they demand one hour of labor Per side, then that's a good place to avoid giving your money to. Stealerships will charge as much as $100 per hour for labor, while a mom-and-pop will charge as little as $55.
- Factor in the cost of machine work (pressing), which most shops don't have the equipment in-house to do; sears is one of the exceptions to this rule for retail-chain garages.
- Factor in employee time for dropping off and picking up the bearings at the shop.
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One last tip, ask the places that you getting quotes from if you can just give them the new bearings, so you are looking for a labor-only quote. This should save you a bit of $$ up-front. If they are
ty with you about that, then it's an early-warning sign of a place which could potentially take you for a ride. If they are cool about it, then that attitude should be reflected in the quality of work that they do, rather than the quantity. As I mentioned, sears has all the equipment in house to do this, so call them up for a quote. No, I don't work there, I just know that it's a large-enough-chain to cover your area. I've found this chain to always be reasonable, accountable and responsible as well. Those are difficult things to find in a garage IMHO.
