Rear control arms first gen. Fx35

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Exotich

Member
SO GUYS ON SATURDAY I WAS AT NISSAN TO GET AN ALIGNMENT AND OIL CHANGE DONE, BECAUSE THEY HAD AN ALIGNMENT SPECIAL FOR $79.99. SO I MADE AN APPOINTMENT AHEAD OF TIME FOR SATURDAY AT 8:30AM. SO WHEN I GET THERE, I WOULD BE IN AND OUT.

WHEN I GET THERE, I'M TOLD BY THE SERVICE LADY THAT THEY WOULD NEED THE CAR FOR THE WHOLE DAY, BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T LOCATE ME IN THEIR SYSTEM. EVEN THOUGH, I MADE THE APPOINTMENT ONLINE AND HAD THE PRINT CONFIRMATION AHEAD OF TIME. I HAD TO BE SOMEWHERE AT 10:00AM AND DIDN'T FEEL LIKE SHOPPING AROUND FOR APPOINTMENTS AND DECIDED TO LEAVE THE CAR THERE AND HAVE A RIDE PICK ME UP.

5 HOURS LATER I GET A CALL FROM SERVICE SAYING THAT MY ALIGNMENT IN MY REAR IS STILL OF BECAUSE MY REAR LOWER CONTROL ARMS ARE BEING SEIZED AND THEY HAVE TO BE REPLACED FOR $1246.88. I TOLD THEM NO WAY, WAIT TILL I GET THERE AND I WANT TO SEE THE CONTROL ARMS MY SELF.

ESTIMATED BILL:
REAR ARMS: $286.87 X 2
ECCENTRIC BOLTS: $18.67 X 4
ECCENTRIC WASHERS: $14.45 X 2
ECCENTRIC NUT: $4.15 X 4
PARTS TOTAL: $693.92
LABOR: $552.96 WTF??

I GET THERE AND THE TECH SHOWS ME THE CAR ON THE LIFT. THE CONTROL ARMS ARE PERFECTLY FINE, JUST THAT THE WASHER BEHIND THE BOLT WAS MISALIGNED, WHICH WOULD INDICATE BAD BUSHING. I TOLD THE TECH IF HE COULD REPLACE THE THE BUSHING, THE BOLTS, WASHERS AND NUTS AND HE SAID NO. THEN I ASKED HIM HOW MUCH LABOR RATE WAS, HE SAID $120 AN HOUR. SO I ASKED HIM IT WAS GOING TO TAKE HIM 5 HOURS TO INSTALL THE REAR CONTROL ARMS?? HE HAD NO ANSWER AND KNEW WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT AND JUST WALKED AWAY.

AS YOU CAN SEE HOW THESE STEALERSHIPS OPERATE. CAN I REPLACE THE BUSHINGS THEMSELVES AND NOT THE CONTROL ARM? I KNOW GETTING THE WASHER AND BOLTS IS GOING TO BE TOUGH, BUT WITH A 1/2" impact wrench AND A SAW I SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET THE BOLTS OF AND POP THE BUSHINGS OUT AND I COULD SAVE A LOT OF MONEY WITHOUT BEING RAPED. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?
 
If you are going to use the Hr's he is charging to disqualify them, then at least educate yourself on how many hours that job really pays first. If it pays 5 hrs and he can do it in 2hrs because of his experience and training etc, do you think he should only charge you 2hrs? Absolutely not! Because the same can be said about a job that pays 2hrs, but takes the tech 5 hrs to complete. Should they be able to charge you more than the 2hrs? NO... Are there some techs and advisors that abuse and manipulate the system, absolutely but that's why you either find yourself a trustworthy tech or advisor or educate yourself on what standard labor hr rates should be for certain jobs and state your case as such...

Sorry for the rant, but I used to work in the dealership setting and would hear your argument all the time. Yes I know first hand how crooked the dealership can be but not all of them are the same.

Good Luck,
Dan

---------- Post added at 04:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:01 PM ----------

BTW, in answer to your 1st post. The labor sounds legit seeing as you are from up North (winter snow and salty roads). Those bolts are probably going to be a PITA to get out. Also, does those 5hrs include a new alignment? Probably does.

Dan
 
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Just wanted to post a follow-up, so this maybe helpful to others in the future.
Today, I took the car to a well known local shop with an in-house alignment machine. After a thorough multi-point inspection, the mechanic basically told me that NORRIS NISSAN lied to me about my rear controls arms being seized as I suspected, and wanted to up sell me something that was never damaged in the first place. Regardless, the shop was able to perform a total four-wheel alignment by appropriately making adjustment of caster, camber and toe in on all four wheels. The car drives 100% better than before and had NORRIS NISSAN did a proper alignment the first place, and not try to take an advantage of me, I wouldn't be going through all this trouble. Instead of paying them $1246.68 for BS/FRAUD, I paid another $90 to have the alignment done correctly.

I expressed my concerns to the service manager at Norris via e-mail and sent him the invoice and work up this shop did, that shows how they were able to align all 4 wheels without a problem. Nissan Corporate was notified as well. Always get a second opinion no matter what!!

So Dan, can I disqualify the NISSAN tech on BS now?




---------- Post added at 12:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:56 PM ----------
pmanliu said:
I think you left the words impact wrench uncapitalized

Sent from my SCH-I535 2
Click to expand...

I wanted to make an impact by writing it that way. :smug:
 
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few years back Glendale Infiniti in California tried something similiar. 1st gen rear axles tend to make clicking sounds when not lubed, so they told me i needed to change my rear wheel bearings for $1500. Initially i told them the rear end felt loose. They insisted and tried to convince me it will all go away after the bs bearing job. I told them to fuck off and took the car at a local alignment shop the car felt better after.
 
Dracula said:
few years back Glendale Infiniti in California tried something similiar. 1st gen rear axles tend to make clicking sounds when not lubed, so they told me i needed to change my rear wheel bearings for $1500. Initially i told them the rear end felt loose. They insisted and tried to convince me it will all go away after the bs bearing job. I told them to fuck off and took the car at a local alignment shop the car felt better after.
Click to expand...

Some of these dealers think that we are all Sheeples. Glad you didn't get straight prison raped by them and were able to see through their BS!
 
Exotich said:
I wanted to make an impact by writing it that way. :smug:
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So you felt compelled to yell your entire story at us?

I think half the reason you are not getting the usual "You got a bad dealership, try XXX dealership they are better", or "That sucks man what a bunch of cocksuckers they are" answers I see on IS, is because you decided to leave caps lock on and thats becoming the point of this thread.

Either way, good job on realizing they were taking you for a ride, but don't bet on Nissan giving you shit back just because some other shop said that your rear control arms were fine.

I can imagine the email you are going to receive back already:

Hi XXX,

We have looked into the situation reported to us regarding Norris Nissan. Unfortunately these matters are left up to the discretion of the tech and service adviser, if they believe that a piece of your car may be worn out or prone to fail prematurely they can and will advise you that this piece will need to be replaced.

Sincerely,
XXX
 
How tough is the control arm swap on the FX? I swapped one side on my wife's GS and it was not that bad. Took me a while, but most of the time was me being careful and watching youtube videos. On a lot of these jobs I teeter between being lazy, and not wanting to lose my man card. I had a mechanic try to recommend them changing the wiper blades once, and I said I couldn't do that even if it was free lol.
 
tomwetherald said:
How tough is the control arm swap on the FX? I swapped one side on my wife's GS and it was not that bad. Took me a while, but most of the time was me being careful and watching youtube videos. On a lot of these jobs I teeter between being lazy, and not wanting to lose my man card. I had a mechanic try to recommend them changing the wiper blades once, and I said I couldn't do that even if it was free lol.
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Honestly if it's not causing wear issues on your tires and making any type of sounds, I wouldn't worry about it. It's good preventative maintenance but not needed right now. Hell, I think you can get the whole set left and right off eBay that are genuine Nissan for a couple hundred, and install them yourself. It's not hard and you can borrow most the tools for like at pep boys or auto zone.

---------- Post added at 11:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:24 AM ----------
meme405 said:
So you felt compelled to yell your entire story at us?

I think half the reason you are not getting the usual "You got a bad dealership, try XXX dealership they are better", or "That sucks man what a bunch of cocksuckers they are" answers I see on IS, is because you decided to leave caps lock on and thats becoming the point of this thread.

Either way, good job on realizing they were taking you for a ride, but don't bet on Nissan giving you shit back just because some other shop said that your rear control arms were fine.

I can imagine the email you are going to receive back already:

Hi XXX,

We have looked into the situation reported to us regarding Norris Nissan. Unfortunately these matters are left up to the discretion of the tech and service adviser, if they believe that a piece of your car may be worn out or prone to fail prematurely they can and will advise you that this piece will need to be replaced.

Sincerely,
XXX
Click to expand...

meme405 said:
So you felt compelled to yell your entire story at us?

I think half the reason you are not getting the usual "You got a bad dealership, try XXX dealership they are better", or "That sucks man what a bunch of cocksuckers they are" answers I see on IS, is because you decided to leave caps lock on and thats becoming the point of this thread.

Either way, good job on realizing they were taking you for a ride, but don't bet on Nissan giving you shit back just because some other shop said that your rear control arms were fine.

I can imagine the email you are going to receive back already:

Hi XXX,

We have looked into the situation reported to us regarding Norris Nissan. Unfortunately these matters are left up to the discretion of the tech and service adviser, if they believe that a piece of your car may be worn out or prone to fail prematurely they can and will advise you that this piece will need to be replaced.

Sincerely,
XXX
Click to expand...

Sorry, for all the caps, but I am hardly yelling, and I don't appreciate you insinuating that I might be. I actually have had quite a few members PM me feeling sympathetic towards my issue, and recommending me different options/ getting a second opinion. I'm thankful for their positive suggestions, that I was able to save a ton. And thanks for the "how to post on the forums" lesson, however I manage quite well on my own!
 
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You have educated me by sharing your experience, which is the reason I joined this forum. Thanks for taking the time and good lookin out!
 
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