Les Schwab vs 4 Wheel Parts - Parts + Install

Hey all,

Bought a 17' TRD OR Super White two weeks ago. Found this forum, holy sh*t what a wealth of knowledge and depletion of wallet thickness to come! Moved to the Tacoma from a Tundra - the 3rd gen looks and off road capabilities sold me (came from 2WD Tundra)

Countless threads on leveling - I've decided on Bilstein adj 5100's up front @ 0.65 setting to eliminate rake. I've already put BFG KO2's (265/75/16) on the stock wheels/suspension. This truck is more than capable to me and my occasional snow driving and forest road camping trips is all it will see, so I don't need to do anything crazy.


Moral of the story: I've gotten quotes for the adjustable 5100's up front, install and alignment for about $450 from BOTH Les Schwab and 4 Wheel Parts (Oregon resident) - and my question is, who do you guys trust more? Any bad experiences with either in the Portland area or elsewhere? Like to shop at businesses that treat their customers right, thanks!

 

Great to hear. Was surprised the pricing was the same at both outfits, because people have told me to expect to pay more @ LS.

Know of the best one around the Portland metro area? I'm willing to drive a bit to support good shops. I can eat popcorn and browse TW for 3 hours while they perform the work.

 

My brother took his 06 tacoma to LS to have a broken knuckle replaced since the dealer was booked for 2 weeks. 3 months later the wheel bearing went out. Truck was towed to local dealership and they discovered LS installed the seal on the wrong side of the bearing. LS was good about paying for the repair work at the dealer though.

 

I’ve had good luck with the Les Schwab on 99W across from King City.

 

I'm a former WA/OR resident and Les Schwab is hands down the best in the area.

 

I lived in East Vancouver and usually took mine to the one off 192nd. Never had an issue. I blew a tire out on the 205 bridge once and had a good experience at the Sandy Blvd and 122nd location in Portland near the airport.

 

I had one bad experience with an online order from 4WD / 4 Wheel Parts. I ordered some leaf spring perches at $35 and requested USPS ONLY. Shipping to Canada gets ugly with some companies as they inflict their own brokerage charges. They shipped them and then upgraded my order to free UPS which was the promotion at the time. UPS charges a flat brokerage of $35 which just doubled the cost of parts.

End result was after complaining that I specifically requested USPS because I knew UPS would do this they said sorry not our fault. No matter what I said they wouldn’t help. Since I had them sent to work I had UPS give me the company rate which brought the brokerage to under $4. Now I don’t fault 4 wheel parts for upgrading my shipping. What I can fault them for is how they dealt with the result. How you deal with problems is how I define if a company is good or bad to deal with. I have not placed another order with them or used their forum since (over a decade).