Rep Power: 0

My car has 222500 miles original motor and trans. I'm going on an 500 mile trip to the Bay Area from LA. And this is what my
Mechanic quoted me. I will be doing the brakes myself.

 
Rep Power: 244

That looks high to me. A lot of that is easy DIY stuff. Get another quote. Area plays a part in price also.

 
Rep Power: 119

Quick glance and you could buy all those pieces from Rockauto for 1/3 of that price.

In LA area, might be able to find a mobile mechanic that can work on a Honda with their eyes closed.

My guess, motivated, and minimal rust, I could do all that work in 2-3 hours but inevitably a bolt/nut will snap and then delays..

 
Rep Power: 210

you could do front and rear shocks and control arms in 2-3 hours?

 
Rep Power: 119

To be clear, yes.

There is no “pretense” of keeping the alignment, it wasn’t quoted in the first estimate and not in my time table either.

How long do you think it takes to drop a front side suspension?
Remove tire
Remove brake piston and unbolt line from strut, possible ABS wire as well
Remove axle nut
Remove outer tie rod connection.
Unbolt sway bar
Remove two control arm bolts
Remove top strut nuts.
Pop axle loose and pull whole assembly off in one piece.

How long do you think that takes, or more importantly, do you really think that would take more than 10 minutes to pull apart if the bolts are not rusted to ash?

 
Rep Power: 210

a lot longer then 2-3 hours on a 15 year old vehicle, which is probably why the estimate is a bit high,

mechanics know they are likely to run into issues with older vehicles that will cost them extra time