1983 308 GTS QV Suspension Bushings

Second quote looks reasonable, the bushes themselves are not terribly expensive, the labour to take the arms off, grind off the welds and press the new bushes in plus painting is where the expense is, probably a days labour for a shop that knows what they are doing. The other quotes are frankly ridiculous.

 

Without breakes ?
I've paid approximately 10.000 without breakes, but anything else included.
With breakes I've paid 17.500 Euro in total (8500 for parts and 9000 for the work)
IMO 4000 is VERY cheap, 9700 is the Reality.


Best wishes
Markus

 

We had ours done this past winter. I think it was around $6500. Dealer wanted $10500.

It is a bit of an undertaking. Especially if the bushings don't pop out nice and easy. Imo anything under $8k is a fair price. I would question the $1900 quote

 

As a guide to what parts cost please see below;

Suspension Parts for Ferrari 308 - Superformance

 

I think the $1,975 is the fair and more reasonable price. Of course if you add the Ferrari taxes that might vary from shop to shop or country to country, then all bets are off. It's hard to find shops and mechanics these days that are not adding the "Ferrari" symbol taxes.
I would go with the $1,975.

 

Even if you don't have the ability to do the work yourself, as a bare minimum you can do the following:

- Research precisely what you need in terms of the parts (plenty of reading material here on the forum)... You have obviously done a bit of this, based on your comments about squeaking bushings, etc.
- Figure out the best place to get these and then either point the shop doing the work in the right direction or ask if you can supply them the parts (then get them yourself)

I hate the 'fire and forget' approach in this kind of thing unless the shop you are dealing with has an outstanding reputation in maintaining 308s...

Some shops may not like your getting involved in what they are doing, but there is clear evidence of people encountering all manner of problems as a result of Previous Owners skimping or being 'taken for a ride' on service over the years.

For myself, I ordered the complete rear suspension bushing set from Superperformance (189.95 Pounds) and had a local classic car restoration shop do the work as I did not have tools or a place to work on it myself at the time.

 

It doesn't even add up to $2K US for the parts! You can also see an eBay retailer called maseratisource MASERATI GHIBLI INDY PARTS, MASERATI 3500 GT AND GTI PARTS items in Maseratisource store on eBay! or FERRARI 308 400 328 PARTS - Maseratisource , they have sales on occasionally - I bought a set of all the bushings, tie rods, and ball joints for under $600.

Your estimates #1 and 2 could be fair, depends on exactly what parts they're including (ball joints, bolts, etc) and how many hours labour are included. #3 is way out to lunch. Can you ask #2 and #3 for a breakdown of their estimates?

 

Folks, I'm in the midst of doing this myself in the garage, and frankly I think there's a misunderstanding either on labman or the respondents' view of the potential scope of what this job MIGHT entail.

There's bushings "light," where you can replace the rubber inner bushings (16) at around $40-50ea. Having a shop do the work, you're talking about pulling the wheels, disconnecting brake lines, unmounting the wheel hubs with calipers and rotors attached, and removing the 8 control arms. Each bushing has two or three tack weld that need to be grinded off and hydraulically pressed out (and likely the metal bushing sleeves will have rusted or bound up in the arm, so it's tough). Once the bushings are out, most people choose to paint or powdercoat the arms to recondition before installation. So THAT'S your shop time.

You can do this first job cheaper and easier if you install polyurethane bushings because they don't need to be welded in the same way and can fit into the old bushing shells in the control arms without having to grind them out first.

The next level of bushing work is "full bushings" which includes the outer bushings in the rear and ball joints in front. The rear outer bushings include some small disc bushings that can cost $100ea and add up to $$$$.

The next level beyond that would be doing the shock bushings and even the shocks if you're planning on "full suspension."

In short, you can buy polyurethane inner bushings for less than $500, OEM rubber for about $800. If you want the "full kit" with the outer bushings, drop link bushings, swar bar bushings/fasteners, and ball joints, your costs for parts alone can approach $2500-3000.

Add $1200-2000 for shocks if that's in the cards.

Now add shop time.

It must be articulated to the shop (and perhaps by the shop to you) how deep you want to go with this in order for you to compare apples to apples on service estimates.

 

At any rate, I'd be skeptical it could be done properly for $1900. And parts alone CAN add up to $2000-3000. Taking others' estimates of a single shop day at $200/hr, $4-5k sounds like a minimum. You'll need to specify if you want the control arms reconditioned while they're off, which could result in a little longer shop stay.

 

I had an indy do my front. He wanted me to buy the parts and I did. Watch Maserati Source (I think it is) put them on sale on ebay. I think the whole set can be had for $700.
Or here's a front end for $780 which I think is a bit high.
Then Arena Motors did my rear about 2 years later. He used the rest of the kit I bought for the front.
If you are inclined to do it yourself, check out Birdman Busings. IMHO - don't use Polyurethane & don't burn the old rubber out. Buy a 10 ton press from Harbor Freight & go at it. I just did my front shock bushings last winter. No disconnecting brake lines, just moved the calpers out of the way. There's several good threads here on it.
Grinding the old out is cake. I'm not comfortable welding the new bushings in, so I would have lined up some local shop to do the welding for me.

 

+1 on Maseratisource. They blew out about a dozen front end sets last year on eBay and I picked one up for $300, saving $1200 off list. T rutlands sells "mega kits" with all the necessary bits collated for about $1500 per end."

 

Quote 2 does NOT include your ball joints, sway bars, drop links, or outer rear bushings (the pricey bits).

Dunno what quote 3 involves, but I'd buy the parts myself and bring them to the shop to ask for new quotes. Doing the outer bushings and ball joints as well shouldn't entail too much extra labor because those would have to be removed and reinstalled anyway with control arm removal.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. You certainly can get away with just the inners, but if everything else is worn, you won't get the full benefit.

 

Tirerack has the Koni shocks on sale : $285*4 = $1140 Plus you'd need shock bushings.
That's cheaper than reconditioning.

I saw a couple go for $500 when there was no minimum bid. At $300 you got a heck of a deal.

 

I went with a little extra with mine and I did about half the labor. I replaced every bushing on the a-arms, shocks, and sway bars. I also had the shocks rebuilt and painted, powdercoated the sway bars and a-arms. I went with the energy bushings for the a-arms and original for the shocks. The total was about $9k. Then I realized the steering rack also needed to be rebuilt and new tie rod ends. It does add up.

Oh, and I was originally quoted $4k to just replace all the bushings without the shock rebuild and the powder coating.

 

I also remember a choice in original bushings. Harder or softer for the rears.


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Wow! Thank God I did this on my own.

 

A-arm bushings should be about ~$300/ corner. I had two shops tell me this, one a Dealer. Shock labor wouldn't add much as you're pretty much pulling them off to so the arms. Sway bars are simple, so not much cost there..... you Will get a fair amount of "while you're in there", but anyone who thinks $9,000 for a suspension refresh is crazy....

 

You may be looking at two variables: scope and parts supplier.

Are the shops including room for the other stuff they may find? You are probably going to need new ball joints and possibly suspension forks as well. Tie rod ends?. What about the shocks... Are these quotes including some of these?

I've done my fronts myself and am doing the rears at the moment. An indy who knew the car well quoted $4000-5000 in 2012 for both depending on exactly what was needed. I had no reason to think he was wildly off... there can be a lot of labour in this and variability of scope. It all depends on the condition the suspension is in now. For example, I took my entire front suspension apart in less than 2 hours this January to replace some poly bushes. In 2012 the same job took 15 hours due to frozen fasteners, rust etc. I would think a good shop will want to see the condition of the car for an accurate quote.

The other source of variability is where are the parts coming from? The price of parts varies depending where you buy them. Superformance/Maseratosource are cheap but I doubt a mechanic is going to use them unless you supply them yourself. Instead he is likely going to put factory approved parts on there if he values his reputation. Some of the high quotes you have may just reflect that.

Out of interest I just did a price check on factory silentblocs from the UK and non-factory Superformance parts and the price is almost identical: $28.31 factory, $26.62 superformance. I don't know what Ferrari US charges for these but Ricambi is charging $51.49 per silent bloc. (Which is why I order factory parts from the UK these days)

Just to come back on having the Konis rebuilt, the cost from Koni in the US in January was and I quote "The price to rebuild the KONI Ferrari shocks is $140/ea. plus parts. Parts generally range $50-$80 per shock ... The current lead time is 7-8 weeks"

Regards
David

 

I agree. The "while you're in there" can add up. Also remember, these cars never come apart as easy as they should which is why labor can add up quickly.