Need Suspension Advice

Hi all. New to the forum. I've got a 97 SC300 5 speed w/81k miles on it. I've had it since new and have babied it. Great car, and have held off replacing it with the new one because I like the manual trannie.

I am getting close (or past) needing new shocks, etc., and nearly had a heart attack at the price the dealer quoted. Anyone have any experience with alternatives to the dealer route and what kind of costs I can expect? Is it more complicated for this car than for the "average" car? The standard time and labor component per shock seems really high to me based on the quote.

Thanks for your advice.

i dont have one personally but my mate says that they are quite complicated to work on. it took him ages to get his stereo put in and apparently it takes ages to get the front bumper off. so maybe they just take ages to do stuff to but shop around and ask.

Found a reputable shop that will install KYB's (the only stock replacements I could find) and charge me actual labor instead of the book rate. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks for taking the time.