GS_Geoff

OK, I have a W-Body, but I'm trying to help a lady I work with... so I need help from you guys.

She has an 01 Camaro L36. 17k miles. It's her baby, she has a beater that she drives a lot of the time so that she can keep it in the garage. So it is by no means abused.

She was hearing a rattling sound, so she took it back to the Chevy dealer to see if they would help her out at all due to the low miles/etc. Obviously they thought they could take her to the cleaners, and came back saying an absorber on top of the coil spring was bad, and it would be $700 to replace. I'm not familiar with the front suspension on the F-Body (dunno if it's MacPherson strut?)... but have any of you heard of anything like this? They told her it wasn't the mount... but an "absorber" on top of the coil spring. They said it was going to be that expensive because it's a "sports car" and it's more complicated than a normal car .

Obviously the car only has 17k miles... so nothing should be going wrong at this point... do you guys have any clues?

Because I'm pretty sure I could re-do the entire suspension on her car for $700.

Also if anybody has any links that have a blow up of the front suspension (or anything like that) that would help to, as I am simply not even familiar with
what they have.

LS1vazquez

What? The absorber on the front strut is a rubber donut piece, I don't see how it could "go bad".

GS_Geoff

See that's what I thought... same as on W-Bodies. I'm thinking they're trying to charge her $700 for a <$20 part.

If anybody else has anything, feel free to chime in.

2K2WS6TA

iTrader: (2)

Here's a how to article on replacing the front shocks, just so you can see what it entails (doesn't seem $700 worth of complicated)
http://www.ls1howto.com/index.php?article=6

GS_Geoff

Hey that link is great, gives me an idea of what I'm dealing with before I tear into the car . I replaced all my struts/springs with Koni/GMPP on my W-Body, and it took less than 2 hours... and my friend has a spring compressor from when he swapped springs on his car. So I figure we have this covered.

I didn't even think to check the how to's for anything other than engine stuff.

OK, so I really don't see anything that they could be talking about, but I told her to make them give her a part number. So we'll see what these fools are talking about tomorrow. If it is something legit, I suppose I'll update. If not... I guess we'll have to keep looking.

2001 White Ws6

iTrader: (1)

The only thing I think "absorber" would be is the bumpstop inside of the shock shaft cover. It sure as hell isn't $700 to repair including labor costs.

If anything make them show her or you at what they are talking about since it's a high cost.

OneFast97Z

I just finished installing my bilstein shocks and springs and that price is total bs for just replacing an absorber... i installed my sh*t for free and in only a couple hours... remove the wheel and caliper, remove the spindle arm from the upper control arm, UNBOLT THE TWO SWAYBAR MOUNTS!!! (When replacing my struts i found this to be the entire reason i could not get enough play to get the strut out), and finally remove the four bolts in the engine bay holding the top of the strut and the 2 bolts holding the bottom to the lower control arm... Remove the strut...

waiting2bl33d

i suppose they could be talking about the upper strut mount? they are like 50 bucks at autozone and mine went out and it made a rattling sound so maybe thats it?

1999 SS

iTrader: (3)

i replaced mine on my TA with 65000 miles on it when i put in new shocks and i didnt need to, i did it as pm.
of course the new ones looked way better but the old ones could have been reused without any problem i feel.
this dealer is totally tryin to take her for a ride