My 2021 Tahoe HC is at 75k miles. It does not have air ride. I figured I would get the shocks replaced given the mileage. To my shock, I was quoted $3,400 for all four wheels. This seems astronomically high to me for a simple shock replacement. Has anyone else had any experience with this they would be willing to share?
Cost to replace shocks/struts
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Trey Hardy
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I’d go with aftermarket replacements that price is ridiculous for that kind of money you could run a king or fox coil over setup shoot you could probably run a kind shock setup for around 2000-2500$ and have the best of the best this is why I don’t go to dealerships…
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Go to GMPartsDirect.com, enter your VIN, go to the suspension section, and look for your shocks, based upon your RPO codes. You should find what you are looking for at a cost that is significantly cheaper than the local dealer.
Also, if you do any wrenching, this is a job that you can perform mostly by yourself. Lots of YouTube videos that you can view for the step-by-step replacement process.
If your truck has front struts, then I recommend that you remove the entire existing strut assemblies, take them and the new front shocks to a local auto repair shop, and have them dissemble the strut assemblies using their heavy duty spring compressor, and give you back the strut assemblies with the new shocks in it.
Also, if you do any wrenching, this is a job that you can perform mostly by yourself. Lots of YouTube videos that you can view for the step-by-step replacement process.
If your truck has front struts, then I recommend that you remove the entire existing strut assemblies, take them and the new front shocks to a local auto repair shop, and have them dissemble the strut assemblies using their heavy duty spring compressor, and give you back the strut assemblies with the new shocks in it.
I appreciate the responses. The shop dropped the cost to $2900 total, which is based on $900 in parts for the front, $950 in parts in the back, and 6 hours labor. That still seems to be about 3x what I would expect to pay. I'm going to get another quote and will update the thread.
While I appreciate your forward thinking on maintenance, is there anything other than miles that is encouraging the replacement? Oil leakage, stiff ride, etc? If not, I'd probably just run them longer if it were me.
It seems like the OEM stuff is the best, and will last well over 100k if they aren't leaking or locked up. Depends on the wheel and tire size combo too from my experience.
What do the 2021 and newer trucks use in the rear with IRS?. Maybe that has something to do with the cost. But, to your main point, it does seem ridiculous for 4 pieces of metal that weigh 100 lbs.......
It seems like the OEM stuff is the best, and will last well over 100k if they aren't leaking or locked up. Depends on the wheel and tire size combo too from my experience.
What do the 2021 and newer trucks use in the rear with IRS?. Maybe that has something to do with the cost. But, to your main point, it does seem ridiculous for 4 pieces of metal that weigh 100 lbs.......
I can feel a little bit of the suspension loosening up, but miles is the main reason. I also had tires wear out on a 2003 tahoe with around 130k miles because the shocks wore out and the tires wore unevenly. To your point, if I can't find a more reasonable price, I will probably run what I have for a while longer before pulling the trigger.
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This is the most expensive front strut shock for your truck on GMPartsDirect.com.
(Replaces 84741580) W (S)Absorber
85619254
Strut, Left
Code-6wl,7wl,6wm,7wm. 2wd, with air spring. To vin 6pr177525. Escalade. Tahoe. 4wd, with air spring. Suburban. With front & rear air susp. Yukon. 4wd, without adaptive ride control, without zr2, code: 6wl, 7wl.
MSRP
$250.87
ADD TO CART
The rest of the strut parts to complete the entire strut assembly (if you wanted to replace everything) will cost another ~$50.00.
As you can see, this price is WAY cheaper than the $450.00 ($900.00 / 2) you have been quoted for front strut parts.
Good information. I went to a second shop (Tire Kingdom / Mavis) for a quote today. They said they were having computer issues and would call me back with a quote, but no return call yet. I'm also going to check with a suspension shop I have used in the past. They mainly work on doing major lifts to trucks but I found they had (at the time) the best price out there for stock suspension work too.
Rick10Tahoe
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I suspect most go way longer that 75k miles. I have 166k on my 2010 Tahoe and the rear air shocks are likely bad but I rarely notice any issues. You should wait years longer.
gyukon1978
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DIY $1,200 and a days work. Easy..
Smokin Denali
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Had both front shocks on a 2015 Yukon Denali done. It had the adaptive MagneticRide Contril . Standard on Denali . Dealer billed $1900 to my extended Warranty! Had 80k and evevy toothpick on roads felt like a crater! Make sure u have correct item!
I have air ride on mine. I replaced the rears myself in about 2 hours. The cost per air ride shock was $130 each at Carparts.com....no affiliation. I have not tackled the front struts because it is a good bit harder to do.
The GM shocks and struts are rarely the best. You can have good Bilsteins for less than $800 delivered and do the replacement yourself. If not most decent shops shouldn't charge too much to replace them.
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Tahoe fun 1
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You can also look at Rock Auto. com. I buy from them and save even more that the GM Parts Direct. And the parts are genuine GM AC DELCO parts!! Just wanted to throw that out there. And as for the ease of changing shocks on the older 2003 versus the 2021, Its two different suspension systems with that magnetic ride thing. I have a 2005 Z71 4x4 Tahoe that I absolutely love. I had Rancho's on it before the level lift kit. Now I have Bilstein's. I prefer the ride of the Rancho's. It was firmer and responded better to bumps and corners. The Bilstein's are like kinda firm marshmallows.
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Tahoe14
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If you use Rockauto they have an additional 5% off code. Every little bit helps.
You have magneride shocks. They cost more and there are no aftermarket. They probably are worn out at 75k miles. If you don't install magneride you will need a way to trick the computer that they are still intalled, but those are available.
Finally got another quote. Tire Kingdom said they were going to provide a quote but couldn't figure out how to do so. I went to another independent shop and was quoted $2,700. Everyone is telling me the OEM stocks and struts for magneride is expensive and there is not a good quality after market option yet.
slupie
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There has not been good aftermarket option for the Magride shocks since 2015 for the GM truck platform and probably earlier for the Corvette. So the only decent option id the ACDelco's from RockAuto ~$400 each plus labor.
I ended up having them installed last week. $2,815 for all 4 shocks/struts. Ride is definitely improved and the truck is sitting higher now - replacements were OEM so I guess the old ones were wore out and causing the truck to sit a little low.
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