w201/w124 - Book rate for replacing front LCA's+all 4 springs

[Sev]

Can someone tell me how long it takes to replace the front LCA's and all four springs on a w201/w124 according to the manual? My mech (a very reputable mech in Los Angeles who'se well-touted on here and Benz world) wants to charge me $400 for it, and his hourly flat rate is $80 an hour. That's five hours, but I believe it should take less time, considering the front springs replacement time will be included in the LCA remove/replace time.

[punkinfair]

it doesn't sound like he's overcharging to me. he's taking the front and rear suspension apart and back together, i'd say only a pro could do it in that much (little) time. there's so many things that can go wrong any time you start taking things apart, and they happen to pros as well as shade-tree or semi-pro mechanics. that's my 2 cents anyhow.

[babymog]

Is he including an alignment with the front LCA replacement? If so, sounds fair.

I've done it, but don't know what book is. I sure hate it when they stack hours for jobs though (like springs and LCAs like they're completely separate jobs, ... then charge for a tire rotation too)!

[Sev]

guys, this car was taken to Mr. MB MOtors in Tarzana, mainly to test him out. It was taken there for non-working AC, a leak somewhere in the coolant system, squealing belt, and to replace the springs and front lca's.

Enrique, the owner of the shop, tested the AC system and determined it was either a bad ground in the wire going to the low-pressure switch on the dryer, he determined that there was a hose clamp not tight enough on the washer fluid reservoir causing my leak (a hose that goes to the overflow valve tee's off into the washer fluid jar). He spent about 3 hours on these tasks and didn't charge me for it. I was this close to buying a new compressor for the car, but the first thing he did was to bridge the low pressure switch connectors to see if the compressor spun up.

He noted my rear brake pads were shot during the replacement of the springs, and charged me $70 to replace the set including parts.

No alignment after replacing front LCA's but he put the front alingment bolt back to the same setting it was on prior to removal, and I didn't notice a change in alignment before/after. He charged me $400 for this task.

So, $470, and I determined what is wrong with my AC system (either bad MAS relay or a bad ground). In my opinion it was worth it just for the fact that a remaned compressor would of cost me more than the labor of these tasks.