ROW M030 installation help in Balt./Wash.

Well, my new suspension finally arrived from Sunset. I had considered installing it myself but I don't have a lift(yet ) and my garage averages about 85F these days so I'm looking for an indie in the Baltimore/Washington area. The closer to Ellicott City the better. So far, I have a quote from AtSpeed for ~$1000 plus $200 for align. I have a call in to Ralph's in Owings Mills but haven't heard back yet. I also talked to another shop I won't mention who wanted $1500. He insisted the car had to have a corner balancing and an immediate alignment after driving around the parking lot to settle the springs. I told him that I had read a different opinion here. The conversation deteriorated rapidly after he made a disparaging comment about Rennlisters . In searching the forum here it seems prevailing wisdom is to drive the car for a few days to let the springs settle before the alignment. Additionally, I have seem a number of posts stating that corner balancing is only relevant for an adjustable suspension like a PSS9. My questions: Anyone have experience/recommendations with local shops for suspension install work? What was the cost? Any particularly good or bad experiences? Any comments about my suspension assumptions above? I don't plan to track the car if that's relevant. Thanks in advance!

In June I had an Indy install a used MO3O in my 99 996, and was charged $396 for installation and alignment. Unless you have coilovers, there is no way to do a corner balance. I think your prices are a bit high and hopefully another Rennlister will be able to give you some names of other indies in your area.GL

Thanks for the reply. I know this is an expensive area but that's quite a difference!

with MO30 you do not need corner balancing... try http://gtperformanceinc.com/ thats the only place I trust..

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Thanks for the feedback. Do you recall their labor rate?

I paid $600 for install and alignment. That was at my indy in Vegas. And they are VERY reasonable in their pricing and their labor rate. Further, they would NEVER charge more than the "book" rate. The reason "Atspeed" is charging you $1200 is b/c they have to support a race program. You will get that at ALOT of the race shops. As has already been stated....the RoWM030 cannot be corner balanced. IMHO, if you pay for more than 8 hours of labor at $100/hr for a grand total of $800 you need to go elsewhere or you getting ripped off. There has to be a good indy in the NOVA area. Post over on the racing/de forum as you will get better responses for setup like this.

I'll try that, thanks.

I forgot their rate, but just to give you an idea a Pcar dealer wanted $350 for an alingment, gtp charged me $100.. they are very reasonable..

Personally I'd let the springs settle a couple of days before alignment. I wouldn't drive it hard or far in the meantime, but normal driving shouldn't be a big deal. PS--I'd love to know how that shop planned on corner balancing your non-adjustable suspension. Sounds like they were trying to take you for a ride.

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I agree. When I asked this very question he got even more testy. I'd like to believe he just isn't too familiar with the 996 or the ROW M030. The friend who recommended him has a 964. I told her to be on her guard in the future. Today I received yet another $1000+ estimate for install plus alignment! This one guessed it would be a 10 hour job (at $90/hr.) He did say that he would charge less if it took less time. His defense was that he'd never done a whole suspension at once and wasn't sure how long the whole job would talk. I realize that smacks of inexperience but he comes highly recommended from local PCA guys and between the three mechanics in the shop they have over 110 years experience on P-cars! Has anyone in this area had this mod done for less than a grand? I'm seriously considering a nice road trip to Maine. It would pay for itself.

Like I said, you need to post this in the Racing/DE forum. Further, do NOT take it to somebody that does not know how to do the install speaking from experience. If they have none in something like this move on no matter how cheap! I didn't see if you said if the Porsche dealer quoted you anything yet (HBL, etc.)???

I paid $750 for installation on my PSS9s. This included 2 alignments because I dropped my ride height twice. My shop is less than one hour north of NYC and it is right across the street from a train station.

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Oops, I posted in Performance Mods. instead of Racing/DE. I just put it in Racing too, thanks. As far as the dealer goes, I just assumed they would be expensive and unreliable. That has been my experience so far. Len Stoler is the closest and I won't go back there after two separate bad experiences. I actually bought the car from HBL but that's about an hour away. I was hoping to use this experience to establish a relationship with a local indy since the CPO expires in Feb. '09. Planning to call gtperformance(also almost an hour away) and Rockville Porsche in the AM, see what they have to say. I appreciate all the input. Who knew mods could be such a PITA!

The reason I ask about the dealer is they "should" quote you the book rate. Just make sure and ask them if they are quoting you what they feel like it should take to do the install or if they are quoting the book rate and ask how many hours. The book rate is expressed in TU's or "Time Units" which is 100 TU's for 1 hour. Maybe check over at Renntech.org as Loren has a great tech site setup and should be able to get that info to you as well.

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If I were you I'd use this experience to establish a relationship with your car and begin doing work yourself. If putting in springs and shocks is this big of a pain in your *** imagine what future work will be like...

I have no clue where Woodstock MD is, but if it's anywhere close to Urbana or frederick county, try Deutsh America @ [phone removed]. GL

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It's basically Ellicott City but I'll check them out. Thanks.

so how much did gtperformance quote for the install?

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You could roll down rt 70 and be there in about 35 minutes....well worth the trip and a nice drive to boot.

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Called them yesterday. Waiting to hear back. In the small world department, Den Bernam's(sp?) (the owner of Deutsch America) wife is in Med. School in Germany and has made tentative plans to do a clerkship of sorts with my anesthesia group next month. Thanks for the tip.

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Sorry it took so long to reply. Been at work most of the last two days. GT sounds like the best so far. Too bad they're on the other side of town. $650 for install and alignment. Another $600 or so for the 60K service. Much more reasonable. Thanks for the recommendation.

That's great to hear!! I am sure you will get a fair price. Perhaps even special attention.

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Already a member! Loren says 5 hours. Thanks for the idea.

Have any of you Marylanders used TPC for maintainance? I am looking for a local shop and was considering them.

I thought I'd update this thread to let you know how things turned out. I used GTPerformance in Edgewood, MD. Gennady Soykher, the owner is a great guy and his prices are more than fair. In the end, he installed the ROW M030 suspension and a set of 7mm and 14mm spacers purchased from Rennlister Botsy67. I also had him do a 60K service while it was there. (I'm at 58,900 miles right now.) Overall I would have to say it's a significant improvement in handling. The car feels tighter and more responsive. Definitely more confidence inspiring at higher speeds. I feel the bumps in the road a little more but it's not at all unpleasant to me. The car looks better too between sitting lower and the spacers filling out the wheel wells. I'll post some pictures this weekend. Total cost was $1070 for the parts from Jeff Clark @ Sunset including shipping plus about $650 for the install including alignment. My total bill from GTP was $1326 which also included the 60K. Really a great deal when you consider the other quotes I've received. Gennady was great. He even threw in a new radio **** as one of mine was coming part. All in all a very positive experience! Tim

$650 for install and alignment is a good price More importantly you worked with somebody you were happy with!

Glad to hear it worked out and you found a decent shop for the install. No doubt you'll love the improved handling with the ROW suspension.

I wish we can create a sticky of recommended Indys for all the members. Obviously sponsors would disagree but sometime we just need to know a few good wrench in our area for quoting on various work with references. When our pcars breakdown, we just can't wait to get it back on the road again...

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Actually, I made a point of listing the quotes and the final cost of this mod as well as my overall experience with the shops so that people would have an easier time in the future with the same or similar projects. Conversely, I didn't publish the name of the shop that I had such a bad experience with because I didn't think it was fair to assign a black mark based upon one isolated incident. Other local people spoke highly of this person but that wasn't the experience for me. If anyone in the northern DC suburbs needs to know the name they can PM me and I'll pass it along.