Gabriel Rear Strut Mounts Quality?

[pmesfun]

I was planning on lowering my avalon with the vogtland kit, but my rear struts are completely blown now and I'm getting tired of the terrible handling quality. So, I decided I am going to just get a pair of KYB-GR2 rear struts from ebay. The fronts were replaced with GR2s in the summer of 2009, but the asian import shop said the rears were fine. I didn't know much about cars then. My dad is paying for everything so I decided not to lower the car or anything. Will be replacing them in Auto Tech class.

Anyways, the struts I'm getting from ebay, the coil insulators from the local Toyota dealer, but I don't know about the rear strut mounts. I found MOOG for $69.79 each at RockAuto, OEM for about $85 each. Gabriel is $45.99 each at Autozone. I did a search but only found information regarding Gabriel Struts not the mounts. They seem OEM quality level with the shocks we replaced on my friend's Ranger. What is the case with the strut mounts?

Thanks.

[JohnGD]

Gabriel may make some OEM parts for domestic auto makers. I read once that they designed a suspension system for a Korean vehicle. But they may be reboxing these Japanese car mounts. Autozone's Gabriel mounts do carry lifetime warranty so that's a plus. I think Moog is the only other lifetime product but where do you claim warranty? Monroe is 90 days and KYB 1 year (normal wear/tear only).

Autozone's no nonsense return is great. If you go there buy one at a time and receive 1 point toward your award card (every 5 points you get $20 to spend in store).

What mounts are you using in the front?

[pmesfun]

Originally Posted by JohnGD

Gabriel may make some OEM parts for domestic auto makers. I read once that they designed a suspension system for a Korean vehicle. But they may be reboxing these Japanese car mounts. Autozone's Gabriel mounts do carry lifetime warranty so that's a plus. I think Moog is the only other lifetime product but where do you claim warranty? Monroe is 90 days and KYB 1 year (normal wear/tear only).

Autozone's no nonsense return is great. If you go there buy one at a time and receive 1 point toward your award card (every 5 points you get $20 to spend in store).

What mounts are you using in the front?

They put in KYB Mounts. Front end makes clunking noises, this could be the culprit, but that's another problem.
I've been doing some searching on Gabriel and found good and bad reviews. Lifetime warranty...that's great, haha. I'll get my teacher's opinion also. but he tends to have a retarded off-topic explanation for everything, very annoying.

I'll stop by Autozone tomorrow, and check if they have them in stock just in-case they need to be ordered.

[JohnGD]

If the shop put in KYB front mounts then consider getting the same KYB rear mounts from rockauto.

[pmesfun]

Thanks JohnGD.

I found a pair of Rear KYB-GR2 struts for $130 shipped, and KYB rear strut mounts for $30 each.

Anything else I should be checking or replaced while the rear area is exposed?

[fenixus]

I heard very poor opinions on KYB mounts actually. not sure how legit they were, perhaps problem was mixing KYB mounts with other brands of struts, dunno.

KYB should be about same ride quality as OEM? since you've got KYB struts on its way from ebay, just get the matching KYB mounts for them.

Advance Auto Parts carries KYB products if you need them locally. don't forget you can order online with all discounts coupons ($20 off $50 code is EM2 expires 03/14/11 ) and select Local Pickup (you have to Add to Cart from local store stock, not online webstore).
I know it may sounds complicated, but when seeing a product details page, don't click Add to Cart below, just enter your Zip code and click GO for local availability and Add to Cart from results (it allows adding to cart only when in stock).
then you pickup within 1 hour from online order.

do it in 2 separate orders to get $20 off two times easy money in your pocket, total no more than $80 for both mounts with local pickup.

[fenixus]

I see you've got it covered

check the rear sway bar bushings. mine are busted. I got Moog bushings from Advance Auto while buying paint repair stuff with a coupon code and local pickup haven't had a chance to replace them yet though (weather, sunset and timing is a problem).

[peshwa]

pmesfun
Our cars dont have any rubber parts inside rear strut mounts (or even fronts for 95,96 model year). Dont waste any money apart from re-greasing those mounts. I speak from experience of wasting 100 dollars changing my front strut mounts. They were absolutely fine and I didnt find any rubber parts that would degrade. I put new strut mounts "just in case".
Spend that amount to buy rubber boots/bellows for all the struts that you are doing. That will prolong your strut life.
To regrease my mounts I used walmart EP lithium grease. No grinding or clunking till now. Occasionally I do hear a thump from front passenger side but I attribute that to my first timer skills than to KYB's quality. I went with KYB strut mounts for fronts. I did not change my rears. Just re-greased them. No sounds whatsoever till now
I may disassemble the problem strut mount later to take care of the clunking.

[pmesfun]

Originally Posted by fenixus

I heard very poor opinions on KYB mounts actually. not sure how legit they were, perhaps problem was mixing KYB mounts with other brands of struts, dunno.

KYB should be about same ride quality as OEM? since you've got KYB struts on its way from ebay, just get the matching KYB mounts for them.

Advance Auto Parts carries KYB products if you need them locally. don't forget you can order online with all discounts coupons ($20 off $50 code is EM2 ) and select Local Pickup (you have to Add to Cart from local store stock, not online webstore).
I know it may sounds compliacted, but when seeing a product details page, don't click Add to Cart below, just enter your Zip code and click GO for local availability and Add to Cart from results (it allows adding to cart only when in stock).
then you pickup within 1 hour from online order.

do it in 2 separate orders to get $20 off two times easy money in your pocket, total no more than $80 for both mounts with local pickup.

It sucks that I can't tell whether the current kyb front mounts make noise, because of all the front end clunking.
It also sucks that there aren't any Advance Auto Parts stores in North Texas, lol.
I haven't bought anything yet, just weighing my options before I get anything.
The seller has 1 more mount left, so I sent him a message if he has anymore and if they come in the original boxes.

Originally Posted by fenixus

check the rear sway bar bushings. mine are busted. I got Moog bushings from Advance Auto while buying paint repair stuff with a coupon code and local pickup

I replaced them about 6 months ago with ES bushings the seems to holding up pretty well, along with the front ones. Only thing I can think of is the trailing arms and rear control arms rubber. Need to check the condition of those.

Originally Posted by peshwa

pmesfun
Our cars dont have any rubber parts inside rear strut mounts (or even fronts for 95,96 model year). Dont waste any money apart from re-greasing those mounts. I speak from experience of wasting 100 dollars changing my front strut mounts. They were absolutely fine and I didnt find any rubber parts that would degrade. I put new strut mounts "just in case".
Spend that amount to buy rubber boots/bellows for all the struts that you are doing. That will prolong your strut life.
To regrease my mounts I used walmart EP lithium grease. No grinding or clunking till now. Occasionally I do hear a thump from front passenger side but I attribute that to my first timer skills than to KYB's quality. I went with KYB strut mounts for fronts. I did not change my rears. Just re-greased them. No sounds whatsoever till now
I may disassemble the problem strut mount later to take care of the clunking.

Well my mounts are completely destroyed, along with the struts. They make hissing crunching noises on teh slightness hump or dip in the road. What made it worse is when I had multiple people in teh back and more weight in the trunk. The car was literally a inch off the ground so I know they are damaged.

[bdy0003]

I see you only have 132K on the car AND you want to lower them. Get Tokicos cause of the lifetime warranty and I hear they do better when lowered. Consider KYB GR-2s if you want to save money and want a firmer ride (than stock).

As for mounts, if they are in bad shape, replace them. I reused mine, didn't have a problem. Even for the fronts, I chose KYB struts but decided to reuse my mounts. The only thing with the front mounts is that we have bearings in the mounts because a part of the mount has to stay stationary, while the other has to turn with the wheels. Maybe you hear crunching whenever you turn the wheel? So I re-greased the bearings. According to some people on this thread and from my own observations, KYB mounts are crap.

Get Tokico front struts when the KYBs need replacing.

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by pmesfun

It sucks that I can't tell whether the current kyb front mounts make noise, because of all the front end clunking.
It also sucks that there aren't any Advance Auto Parts stores in North Texas, lol.
I haven't bought anything yet, just weighing my options before I get anything.
The seller has 1 more mount left, so I sent him a message if he has anymore and if they come in the original boxes.

I replaced them about 6 months ago with ES bushings the seems to holding up pretty well, along with the front ones. Only thing I can think of is the trailing arms and rear control arms rubber. Need to check the condition of those.

Well my mounts are completely destroyed, along with the struts. They make hissing crunching noises on teh slightness hump or dip in the road. What made it worse is when I had multiple people in teh back and more weight in the trunk. The car was literally a inch off the ground so I know they are damaged.

ouch, that sucks, no Advance Auto nearby ... it's a nice store and I like very much their advanced way of shopping it beats Autozone price wise easily

I wanted ES bushings, but didn't like the idea of online order and had serious trouble finding the ones that fit my sway bars (rear 16mm and front 17mm), then I read about fitment problems of bare ES bushings into stock brackets and somehow I wasn't able to find the ES bushings with brackets available anywhere (both front and rear from same store), so i gave up and went with MOOG.

what were the part numbers for those ES bushings?

heh, if things go terribly wrong and struts & mounts get blown too soon, you can always get cheap Monroe Quick Strut from rockauto.com at like $150 each (includes 5% discount and shipping) for the whole assembly (SensaTrac strut, mount, spring and insulators).

I will be getting them after weekend for fronts. wondering how long they last around here LOL

[pmesfun]

Originally Posted by bdy0003

I see you only have 132K on the car AND you want to lower them. Get Tokicos cause of the lifetime warranty and I hear they do better when lowered. Consider KYB GR-2s if you want to save money and want a firmer ride (than stock).

As for mounts, if they are in bad shape, replace them. I reused mine, didn't have a problem. Even for the fronts, I chose KYB struts but decided to reuse my mounts. The only thing with the front mounts is that we have bearings in the mounts because a part of the mount has to stay stationary, while the other has to turn with the wheels. Maybe you hear crunching whenever you turn the wheel? So I re-greased the bearings. According to some people on this thread and from my own observations, KYB mounts are crap.

Get Tokico front struts when the KYBs need replacing.

I'm pretty sure the rear mounts are trashed, just deciding which ones to get. The KYB-GR2s in the front seem firm, hard to tell with the rear end so sloppy.

The crunching I hear is when going over holes in the road and bumpy road surfaces. Front end seems very loose. My plan of action is once I replace the rear struts and mounts, is to get new lower control arms bushings, if noise is still there, double check sway bar links and tie rod moment for play, and spray lithium grease in the front strut mounts. There was a recall for the tie rods creating noise(avalon) a while back. Need to check everything.
So if KYB is crap, have those in the front right now. Gabriel seems decent, MOOG has an good rep. for quality, then there's OEM. Need to do more research.

[HotrodLSV8]

The strut mount is a couple of steel plates with a rubber isolator bushing in between. There's really nothing to go bad. The front strut mounts have a bearing that allows the strut assembly to turn, that bearing can wear out and make some clunking and grinding sounds when turning or going over bumps. But the rears don't have that. Unless the rubber has dry rotted and turned to powder and is falling out the stock mounts are fine, and are better quality than any after market replacement. Don't waste your money, just re-use the stock mounts.

[JohnGD]

You already got the new lower spring seats (circular rubber pad). One other thing is the condition of the rear springs. Check the rust on them. There is a strut bumper but you can usually reuse it without problem.

Torque the nuts down using a torque wrench. Like those Harbor Freight ones.

Originally Posted by pmesfun

Thanks JohnGD.

I found a pair of Rear KYB-GR2 struts for $130 shipped, and KYB rear strut mounts for $30 each.

Anything else I should be checking or replaced while the rear area is exposed?

[pmesfun]

Originally Posted by fenixus

ouch, that sucks, no Advance Auto nearby ... it's a nice store and I like very much their advanced way of shopping it beats Autozone price wise easily

I wanted ES bushings, but didn't like the idea of online order and had serious trouble finding the ones that fit my sway bars (rear 16mm and front 17mm), then I read about fitment problems of bare ES bushings into stock brackets and somehow I wasn't able to find the ES bushings with brackets available anywhere (both front and rear from same store), so i gave up and went with MOOG.

what were the part numbers for those ES bushings?

heh, if things go terribly wrong and struts & mounts get blown too soon, you can always get cheap Monroe Quick Strut from rockauto.com at like $150 each (includes 5% discount and shipping) for the whole assembly (SensaTrac strut, mount, spring and insulators).

I will be getting them after weekend for fronts. wondering how long they last around here LOL

I remember there was one in Dallas, maybe the store finder isn't working.
The struts have been like this for a while so I'm sure a week or two will be fine.
I used a vernier caliper to measure the diameter so it was accurate. The fronts were 18mm and the rears was 16mm, got them both in red. The front came with new bracket and washers so I used them. Rears fit fine also.

Front:http://www.energysuspensionparts.com...2E5122%5FFront
Rear:http://www.energysuspensionparts.com...?prod=8%2E5120