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I'm getting the struts and alignment done over the holidays since I'm taking time off from work. I've had the transmission and coolant serviced and such. The brakes worry me. So far I've only ever replaced the brake pads. The mechanic tells me at every oil change that they are fine.
On my Mustang, that I drove for 306,xxx miles, I only changed the brake pads and had the rotors resurfaced up until I replaced the whole brake system with an upgraded performance system at 220,000 miles. The brake calipers and other parts were still good and I gave them to a friend that put them on his car for several thousand more miles. As long as the calipers are not leaking, sticking, or such. they should be great. My 03 Vibe GT has the original brakes, just had pads replaced over it's 223K miles.
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Originally Posted by BellaLind
The paint is chipped up. Mostly from rocks and such thrown up by trucks I guess. Most are little things down to the primer. I don't care except I don't want it to rust. I use touch up paint on the bigger ones and the ones down to bare metal. My windshield is badly pitted too. But that's easy to replace. I might do it this spring.
This was a common issue with the early Vibes. I understand they used water borne paint, to be environmentally friendly where they were assembled in California, and the paint does not hold up well. Mine has like 100+ rock chips on the hood and front fenders. I used touch up paint also, but up close it looks like it had bad acne! My son's 06 Vibe has no paint issues and very few chips on it
Quote:
Originally Posted by BellaLind
Made the appointment to get the struts replaced. I was wrong only the front ones need to be replaced. I was also wrong on price. I didn't mention it here but I had it in my head the repairs were going to be over $2k. My mechanic told me no, it would be just under $1k and that's for front struts and 4 wheel alignment. Now it I could just get that recalled airbag replaced the car would be perfect again.
Alignment should not be more than $100. So that is about say $300 in parts and $100 alignment and the rest is labor? I would not want to pay more than $150-200 for labor, and that is a lot IMO for just the front struts. I can change them both in about an hour, and labor rates for a shop should not be more than $100 an hour. But if this is a good trusted shop, then it might be worth paying a bit more than market rate. But not $300-400 more! Now if they are getting GM struts, which I would not necessarily do, I could see them paying more for those parts.
I would ask them for an itemized list of the parts and service charges BEFORE you have it done. If they are charging you $300 per strut and $250 in labor and $100 alignment, they are marking it up way too much IMO.
The car probably has about 5 years more life in it if it's been reliable. Look at some new/used cars to determine what your payments would be and for how long. Weigh that against making needed repairs to last 5 years.
When was the last time you had the oil system and radiator flushed?
Your idea to get a mechanic's report is very good.
On my Mustang, that I drove for 306,xxx miles, I only changed the brake pads and had the rotors resurfaced up until I replaced the whole brake system with an upgraded performance system at 220,000 miles. The brake calipers and other parts were still good and I gave them to a friend that put them on his car for several thousand more miles. As long as the calipers are not leaking, sticking, or such. they should be great. My 03 Vibe GT has the original brakes, just had pads replaced over it's 223K miles.
This was a common issue with the early Vibes. I understand they used water borne paint, to be environmentally friendly where they were assembled in California, and the paint does not hold up well. Mine has like 100+ rock chips on the hood and front fenders. I used touch up paint also, but up close it looks like it had bad acne! My son's 06 Vibe has no paint issues and very few chips on it
Alignment should not be more than $100. So that is about say $300 in parts and $100 alignment and the rest is labor? I would not want to pay more than $150-200 for labor, and that is a lot IMO for just the front struts. I can change them both in about an hour, and labor rates for a shop should not be more than $100 an hour. But if this is a good trusted shop, then it might be worth paying a bit more than market rate. But not $300-400 more! Now if they are getting GM struts, which I would not necessarily do, I could see them paying more for those parts.
I would ask them for an itemized list of the parts and service charges BEFORE you have it done. If they are charging you $300 per strut and $250 in labor and $100 alignment, they are marking it up way too much IMO.
Doing some googling for this car you can get all 4 of them starting around $170, about $400 with the spring. I realize they have to make their money but $400 to $600 dollars for something that should take about hour at most is a little steep.
You must be one HELL of a mechanic if you can change 4 struts in an hour. I bow to you on master god of mechanics!!!!
I'm reviving my old thread since it has a bit of history in it.
I replaced the struts and also had a lot of other maintance done such as transmission fluid replaced and coolant flushed, etc to the car since my original post. I hope to keep it longer as I really enjoy not having a car payment and I like my car. It just passed inspection and emissions.
Now I'm down to optional repairs. I am really thinking of having the windshield replaced. It's very annoying in the morning sun and hard to see. It's like the windshield is dirty. It's very pitted after 12 years of driving.
I've also read about repairs. It seems like replacement is the way to go and it will cost me about $300. I have no idea how much repairing the windshield will cost or if it can be done with the amount of pitting there already is on the glass.
My questions are, is replacement the better option and if so, how do I determine the tint of my windshield? The options are green and blue green and I just don't know. I don't think that information is in the manual either.
Last edited by BellaLind; 06-08-2016 at 07:22 AM..
Reason: Evil autocorrect. Had to fix the errors.
You just need a new windshield if it is pitted and worn. Repairs are just for if you have a star chip from a rock or a small crack in the glass, and that is just to keep it from spreading. Repairing a rock chip usually runs $25-40 or so, but you can't repair pitting and small chips in the glass surface.
Luckily I haven't had to replace any windshields in our Vibes, but on our other cars they have run from $165-$275. So you might want to check around on it.
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