I took my 2009 Fit Sport to Open Road Honda in Edison, NJ for new brakes and rotors (I know, my first mistake). They told me I need new struts because the current struts were weak and leaking. Meanwhile, while driving the car there are no signs of bad struts. And when I examined the struts, they were bone dry. 100% zero sign of leaking. Honda wanted to charge me $1705 for new struts. To me, this is essentially criminal. What's the best way to complain to Honda that would actually have some impact?

Here's just one photo of several I took. There's no leaking. I felt around the blind side, and no leaking. Went to a local mechanic, put the car on a lift, moved the boot for additional visibility... and no leaking.

 

There is nothing criminal with a dealership recommending that you replace the struts. Especially when they are rusty and look like they have never been replaced to start with.

Personally I would just change them out myself.

 

I unfortunately agree with the above response. Servicemen aren't legally obligated to give you the most cost effective option, and there's no way to prove that strut isn't leaking unless you cut it open or believe the symptom diagnosis/verification testing. Lotsa modern struts are full of nitrogen now rather than hydraulic fluid.

There's no crime unless they do the work without your consent and then bill yuh..

But you could get and install all new KYB suspension for $300 in parts. I'd charge $200 for labor if you keep oem springs, 100 for full coil on spring assemblies provided that the customer was cool. Could prolly find a mobile mech near that price point. kyb's just as good as oem

 

If they lie and say they need replacing because they're leaking, and they're not leaking and don't need replacing that's a fraudulent claim, isn't it?
I'd make the case that if they said I needed new tires, and the tires aren't down to the wear bars, that's wrong too. They should explain why the tires need replacing even though they haven't reached the wear bars yet. Need is a strong word that implies necessity.

 

Thanks for the insight on the possible leaking. I really appreciate it. The local mechanic said the struts were ok, but he simply visually inspected them. Since he wasn't trying to sell me anything, I liked his opinion over Honda's $1705 opinion. I plan on mentioning your comments to my local mechanic. Yeah, I didn't think Honda could be held criminally responsible,... that's why I said, "to me, it essentially feels criminal," because I feel like they're trying to rip me off. Years ago, they told me my power steering fluid was turning brown and needed to be replaced... despite the fact that there is no steering fluid in the car. Always a fun time at the Honda service dept.

 

What if the tires are old. Old tires don’t need to be on the wear bar to know they need to be replaced.

 

Hey uh, don't be shocked if whatever mechanic you hit up adds at least $100 to keeping the OEM springs, or a couple bucks to the full coil on spring assembly.

Here's why: Keeping the OEM springs is actually a fair bit of work and a person taking their time might spend a couple hours on it because you need a spring compressor and specifications *or* experience to know to measure the top nut on the coil/spring assemble beforehand.. and if they screw around trying to remove the nut rather than using an angle grinder.. there's just some stuff there that a dude may not think of that would slow work. Also if you don't buy the full assembly you'd need/want new mounts..

As for the coil on spring price going up, a by the book guy would replace the lower strut bolts. For me, thats a run to the dealership, and possible delay if they don't have them. They were cheap if I recall correctly, I don't think I've ever gotten a bolt at a dealer that exceeded $4. but there's little things like that which are awkward to handle/bill for.

Our old family mech in CA, John's Automotive, whenever we brought a car to his shop for it would stay for 3 days. 😂 I assume they'd get everything in order while working on other cars, or they'd start, and if they hit a snag, shift back to a different vehicle, organize their parts runs to autozone. Their prices were fair.

As a sometimes driveway wrench I just work with friends n neighbors. Get them or me a shop service manual, order parts from rockauto ahead of time when possible.
Keeps prices way down.

One other consideration at your own risk: If you think your struts are fine you dont have to replace them right now. Slightly bad shocks/struts affect handling. if it's minor, it's minor. Some people just don't care about that stuff.
Every single suspension component on my girlfriend's escape is blown and has likely been for over 5 years, but she drives slow and we can't afford to fix it yet. Hell, she's not sure she wants to. Anyways, if you dont care about road manners and drive slow, blown suspension isn't catastrophic. Just make sure the tires don't start forming irregular wear characteristics (tires are expensive,) and give yourself extra space to stop (suspension absorbs/regulates forward momentum of vehicles stopping.)

I've got a quite recent story about a ****ty HVAC guy trying to push a new furnace on us and not disclosing that our current set-up (furnace exhaust paired with water heater) was back-drafting monoxide into our house, causing the poor air quality that prompted our conversation. What can yuh do?

 

Thanks for the responses. All is appreciated. The bottom line is the car handles the way it's always handled. The tires have 20,000 miles and no cupping. The struts don't have visible leakage. And Honda wants me to get new struts for $1705. Thanks, but no thanks Honda.

 

In fairness the TYPICAL reccommended time to replace struts is 60,000 miles. However. $1705 is an absurd number.

 

New Koni shocks or something similar should be under $450, find a good independent shop, save yourself a ton of money

 

Point taken but I hope you understand my point- if they say something false to get you to spend money, they're thieves.

 

Is there a typical recommended time? I don't think it's like an oil change where there's a recommended time or mileage. For struts there may be an average but it's based on symptoms, right? If they're fine then they're fine.

 

Of course it’s based on conditions, but you can typically expect to see issues and failing around that time. Manufacturers do recommend changing at 60k. It’s just that no one ever does.

 

Is that anywhere in Honda documentation? I've taken a few cars past 100k and maybe I replaced struts once, a long time ago. And I'm in NY where there are a lot of potholes, and I don't slow down much for speed bumps.

 

I suppose. There’s a reason dealerships are referred to as the stealership. They’re going to always recommend stuff be at it’s best, and at an extremely high price. Just the way up sells work in dealerships.

 

It’s usually not listed in any Honda specific documentation, but having worked for Honda, a honda dealer alternative, and a few other shops. This is how we did things, in every place. A quick google search shows most places will tell you between 50,000 and 100,000 miles.

 

I didn't notice before, but welcome aboard @Indey !

Those service intervals sound (and I know you know that they are) fair, honestly. I always try to recommend that people keep their cars in tip-top shape, and have even gotten pretty upset with folks for letting brakes/tires wear out.. done lotsa services at cost.
There's so many car accidents in Atlanta!!

I think people forget too, since the changes are gradual, just how nice their cars used to be to drive. Really enjoy replacing suspension in particular because it's so often neglected that once replaced, you can get a wonderful reaction of "it feels like a new car!"

so. i push all kindsa repairs on people, often absorbing a good deal of labor.. at times helping with cost. If everyone drove around with well-maintained vehicles, we'd all have more friends, or at least a good deal less angry injured folks.

Dealership prices, although beyond what a lot of folks can afford, do contribute to manufacturer profit significantly I imagine. I like to think it helps motivate 'em to produce such budget friendly vehicles as the Fit.

 

Well, I know that dealerships seem to be more motivated by profit than reason. A friend of mine took her old Lexus to a dealership and they told her it needed something like $1700 worth of work. I immediately said no, it doesn't. She told the dealer to talk to me, they sent me the list of everything they said was necessary. Including things like wheel alignment. Why? "It's recommended." I asked my friend- are the tires unevenly worn? No. Does the steering pull to one side? No. Did you hit a bigger than normal pothole? No.
So no alignment. I went through the list and most of it was totally unnecessary. Some I didn't have enough knowledge to say no to, but still got it down to under $700.

Now it is a couple of years later and another long list. Waiting for my friend to send it to me. (tried to stop her from going back to the dealer)

So "We usually recommend" without any basis in data doesn't work for me.

 

Thank you for the welcome! And this exactly. Gradual changes like struts are usually not noticed at all, until they’re 100% dead, or close to it.

 

Take a new strut, and take a strut that hasn’t been leaking, but has done 60,000 miles, and give each a shove to compress it. Struts wear gradually, sans having something hit and destroy them. Just because they’re not throwing shock oil out, doesn’t mean that they’re not on the way out