I got my new General Grabber AT2's installed on my 2011 today and they are slightly taller than the stockers (original is 275/60/18, these are 275/70/18). I dropped by the dealership and they said it would take 4-5 hours and $120. that seems excessive on both ends and I drove off. I am going to talk with my salesperson on monday, but what is a fair price to have this done? I was thinking $40-50, but $120 was

 

That's about right. That's probably what an hour and a half labor is and that's what any IDS related job starts at. My dealers labor rate is $106 it is $159 for an hour and a half. Speed isn't the only good reason to have your PCM reprogrammed though, the PCM uses that information to make other calculations as well. As for it taking 4-5 hours that depends on how busy the shop is and how many IDS's they have. It should only take an hour, but if they have jobs booked ahead of yours you've gotta wait. Just drop it off in the morning and pick it up at night on a saturday or something.

 

My dealer sucks and they only charged me for a half hour of service. It was just plugging in and reprograming. I think that anything over $50 is too much. The 4-5 hours might be because they are busy and don't expect you to wait. I put the exact same tires and size on that you did. I came off 17s

 

Dealer's can charge what they want to do what they want because you don't have the $10k scan tool we have. If they charged you a half hour that's good, I know we would charge an hour at the very least. The only other way to do it is to buy a tuner at $300 or so. $120 is better than $300. Or just use your gps so you know your speed and you'll be fine. That's what I'd do if I were you.

 

Is that scan tool called a star tester or something like that? The tester I remember was in a black case and it was a hand held scanner.

 

The star tester is from about 1995. We use the IDS now it does everything and then some. It's basically software on a laptop and a usb module called a VCM. I'm sorry reprogramming tire size is so expensive, and that keys cost $150 dollars, but PCMs are so complex now that it is what it is. That's why trucks have twice the power and twice the gas mileage as 20 years ago. I'm not sure if the high dollar Snap-On scan tool can adjust tire size or not but they're still like 8 grand so I'm sure a regular garage that has one would charge you $100 to do it too.

 

Thanks for the info it appears that you will need a computer engineering degree these days just to operate the testing equipment. LOL

 

The more you know the much more you can do. This is why I stress that for some problems like engine codes and stuff you should go to the dealer. We may have higher labor rates but we can get a engine light diagnosed twice as fast as someone who doesn't have the scan tool and access to factory information we have. If they're cheaper but take 2 more hours you still end up paying more.

edit: Plus I went to school for two years straight with countless hours of taking tests online and studying and hands on training and $10,000 in order to become a senior master. Which is the quick way of doing it, guys who don't go to ASSET can take up to 10 years to finish all the classes they need. We are heavily trained specifically on Fords so when you take your garage to someone who does a little of everything you get someone who only knows a little about anything. That's why we cost more.

 

Buy th SCT SF3 #3015 you can al kind of things including tire size take a look at the link below $299.00 on E-Bay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT This one has ended but he will have more up in a day or so.

 

I kinda agree on buying the tuner and just do it yourself. What happens if u decide to go back to stock tire size. Then u have to pay the dealer that much more again. And the comment about we can charge what we want cause we bought the tool. While that is true, but don't u think it should be a reasonable amount to the customer?