Cost of Strut Mount Replacement on 2004 S60

estrekal · Post by **estrekal** » 07 Aug 2019, 10:22

Hi all,
This isn't necessarily relevant now that the work is already done, but I just wanted to get some opinions on what I recently paid to have my front strut mounts replaced. I took my car to the only independent Swedish repair shop in Reno and asked to have the strut mounts replaced and it ended up costing $869, which seemed abnormally high. Is that standard? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I had it done, the car feels SO much better, but it seemed a bit steep maybe.

When I had it at the dealership the previous spring, I thought they said it would be roughly $450-500 for the work, and that would come with a lifetime warranty. When I had all of my control arm bushings and some motor mounts replaced the following year, the dealership only charged me just over $1000, and again, parts came with a lifetime warranty (a detail, and complimentary software update). I'm just wondering, for future repairs, if I should continue going to the dealership maybe?

I welcome and any and all input and advice, and thank you in advance!

Best,
Edan

Post by **abscate** » 07 Aug 2019, 10:28

Look at the bill and break out parts and labor

Parts you can price at FCP - your indie will charge more since they have to markup of course.

Labor is hours times rate. Im guessing 3-4 hours for struts is probably reasonable

Front or rear?

estrekal · Post by **estrekal** » 07 Aug 2019, 10:34

Hey abscate,
Thanks for the reply, it was the front strut mounts! The labor was roughly $310 if I recall (2.5 hours), the strut mounts themselves were around maybe $180 a piece if I recall correctly, and the bump stops were $45 each. My numbers might be slightly off here, but that's what I'm remembering from the invoice. If it matters, they did use genuine Volvo parts too.

-Edan

Post by **oragex** » 07 Aug 2019, 11:45

$180/piece smells like Genuine parts (hopefully). Because the aftermarket parts are not that good at this moment and run for like $15-$40 (some suspect Lemforder and a less known Cortego)

Bump stops again it's a genuine price. I guess the spring seats were done in the past ?

All in all, I'd say it's reasonable, 2.5 labor time is more than decent for a garage to pull and tear down each strut

How many miles on it ? The genuine strut mounts are usually good for the life of the car. Was there any reason to swap them ?

Post by **abscate** » 07 Aug 2019, 12:39

It sounds inline. Its expensive to get stuff done, but even at $100 an hour, the shops arent eating steak. The problem is when you hire 3-4 people to try to scale your overhead, you no longer are a mechanic but a supervisor of mechanics; a completely different job.

estrekal · Post by **estrekal** » 07 Aug 2019, 12:51

oragex wrote: ↑07 Aug 2019, 11:45 $180/piece smells like Genuine parts (hopefully). Because the aftermarket parts are not that good at this moment and run for like $15-$40 (some suspect Lemforder and a less known Cortego)

Bump stops again it's a genuine price. I guess the spring seats were done in the past ?

All in all, I'd say it's reasonable, 2.5 labor time is more than decent for a garage to pull and tear down each strut

How many miles on it ? The genuine strut mounts are usually good for the life of the car. Was there any reason to swap them ?

Hey oragex,
Thanks for the response! My car just hit 122K miles, and for the past maybe 5-7K, I was getting some clunking and rattling from the front end, especially when it was cold. I thought it was time to take care of the strut mounts. Basically, I've had the majority of the front end rebuilt or replaced at this point now. I do have some swaybar links from Lemforder that I still need to install, but that's about the only thing left.

I'm not upset about having this work done, it's a great car, and this type of preventative maintenance has made all the difference in the ride quality and handling. I appreciate your input though on this.

-Edan

Post by **oragex** » 07 Aug 2019, 13:08

Hope the clunk stops by now. Usually it starts indeed with the end links. Rebuilding the whole front suspension is a good idea, the car should be good for another 100K miles. May as well look at the front brake flexibles at this point, these can crack where they go inside the caliper, on the side towards the engine

estrekal · Post by **estrekal** » 07 Aug 2019, 16:08

oragex wrote: ↑07 Aug 2019, 13:08 Hope the clunk stops by now. Usually it starts indeed with the end links. Rebuilding the whole front suspension is a good idea, the car should be good for another 100K miles. May as well look at the front brake flexibles at this point, these can crack where they go inside the caliper, on the side towards the engine

Thanks for the heads up! I recently did the brakes, but definitely something else to consider for the longevity of the car. I fully intend to keep this thing for a few more years. After all, whenever my wife's Q5 breaks down (which is often), it's the S60 that comes to the rescue and keeps trucking

. I got lucky when I bought this vehicle as a one-owner, always dealer serviced at right around 105K miles.

-Edan

Post by **cn90** » 07 Aug 2019, 20:08

I usually do everything (bearing, strut mount, struts etc.) b/c the labor is the same.
Too bad the shop only replaced the mount. They should have done the whole thing since they already took everything apart.

Next time, search FCPEuro for "quick struts", which you can install yourself as it is simply "Plug-and-Play".