What color are OE Gen4 rear struts?

[slavie]

What color/brand/model are original, factory installed rear struts on gen4 TMMK made Camry's?

Last weekend, I replaced the rear struts on my 99 4-banger Camry with some KYB Excel-G struts. Mileage at the time was at 101,200mi. (Excel-G are manufactured in USA, black in color. Equivalent to silver japan-made GR-2, or so I think)

For some reason my car had silver KYB GR-2 rear struts on, which said "replacement struts" on them. As far as I was aware, the original struts weren't supposed to say all that on them. So that made me wonder whether the car's already had it's struts replaced in the past.

Thanks!

[JohnGD]

I would think black is the color, with Toyota printed/stamped on the tubing. So yours should be replacement struts. Even KYB is going black. It's less visible anyway for the typical driver.

[93cr250]

factory is black

[fenixus]

+2

factory OEM struts and most aftermarket OE replacements are black on those cars.

[slavie]

Thanks everyone.

This puts another piece of evidence to the theory that my car had it's miles rolled back... Otherwise why would it already have had it's struts replaced by the time I bought it at 60k?

Either way, can anyone suggest a good way to judge how many miles the car has really done? My curiosity is starting to get to me.

[fenixus]

very simple if your state calls for annual or bi-annual inspections (safety and/or smog), they note down the mileage too. go to www.carfax.com or www.autocheck.com and buy a full VIN checkup.

but try this free link first from Toyota dealer, it will show all maintenance or service records from any dealer in USA with dates and mileage:
http://www.toyota.com/owners

also in my area (NJ, not far from Lincoln Tunnel to NYC) struts do not last long. I replaced OEM struts on wife's car at merely 35k-40k miles or so? all miles were driven mostly in NJ and also on some interstate highways down to North Carolina (prev owner was traveling there a few times a year as he said).

on the other hand I have another Toyota from Florida which still had original front struts at 122k miles when I bought it over there ... had to replace them soon after coming to NJ though , they got bouncy (were all fine back in FL yet) to the point I was almost having sort of sea/road sickness when going at speed limits on bumpy highways around my town

[touringcamry]

Doesn't those cars have digital meters? I did not think it was possible to roll it back even if they tried to roll it back Ferris Bueller style.

[fenixus]

electronic odometers CAN be rolled back just like immobilizer chips on ECU system board reprogrammed/erased

Originally Posted by touringcamry

Doesn't those cars have digital meters? I did not think it was possible to roll it back even if they tried to roll it back Ferris Bueller style.

[slavie]

Sorry, requesting carfax checks is against TN forum rule #17:

17. No threads requesting Carfax, Autocheck, or other car history reporting services, nor any solicitation of those services either.

Complete rules here.

BMR

Originally Posted by fenixus

very simple if your state calls for annual or bi-annual inspections (safety and/or smog), they note down the mileage too. go to www.carfax.com or www.autocheck.com and buy a full VIN checkup.

but try this free link first from Toyota dealer, it will show all maintenance or service records from any dealer in USA with dates and mileage:
http://www.toyota.com/owners

I did check the Toyota one (I registered there) - no records whatsoever.
We bought the car from our neighbor I've know for a while, who says he bought it at around 35k miles from some online auction...
He would've told me had he replaced the struts.

But yeah, I agree with you on struts not lasting at all. I had my front struts replaced at ~80k. While they're still working fine, they do seem softish compared with the rear ones I just replaced.