Need advice buying the right struts

[guitar548]

I just took my car to get aligned and the mechanic said I need new inner and outer tid rods plus new struts. He quoted me 600 dollars to replace the struts with labor.

I don't want to spend that type of money. I went on ebay to see how much struts cost and I found these for 80 dollars.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT

Will these struts work? I don't care about comfort just that they last a long time.

Or I could go with these which are 15 dollars more

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/93-02...item336318f3d5

Thanks for your help!

[Billiam]

You should try these folks. They will bundle all 4 together and sometimes have free shipping.

BTW, I've used Monroe-Sensatracks on several vehicles and really like the ride quailty. They have 2 zones...a comfort zone in the first bit of travel and a stiffer zone as the struts compresses for better handling.

Click ---> http://www.shockwarehouse.com/index.cfm

[Kyle Hamelin]

The part you can't get ride of is the fact that it takes a long time for struts to be replaced. Just for labour will be around 250+$

[guitar548]

Are you saying not to buy cheap struts because of the cost of labor?

[Kyle Hamelin]

No not at all. I was just pointing out the labor price that they will charge you. 600 for the job to me including parts and labor is amazing. It cost me 900 to do my struts.

As for the price on struts, if you want to keep the car for a longer time I would go with good quality struts. The suspension on your car is the second most important part of your car to me at least. Engine obviously first.

[WyRolla]

You can buy the rear quickstruts yourself for around $180 - 210 ea side, so the shop is charging you roughly $200 labor.

Two ways to do it:
1. Buy the Quickstruts and save a bunch on labor, quickstruts are the complete assembly including spring, bearing plate, etc. and is much faster and simpler to install.
2. Buy just the strut, and have to remove the spring, bushings, etc. from the old assembly. Cheaper in parts but lots more labor.

Six hundred including checking the wheel alignment probably isn't too bad. You could buy the struts you linked and do it yourself, there are how-to guides online you can follow. You'll need to rent a spring compressor, but if you buy the struts from a local parts store they'll loan it to you for free.

And if you're very careful to get the new ones on in the same place you might get by without aligning the wheels.

I only know this because I need new rear struts on my 00 Rolla, and I've been doing a lot of research on it. The service manager and lead wrench where I get all my work done have been very helpful, and I'll probably end up buying the cheapest quickstruts I can find on sale and paying them the 200 or so to put them on.

[gold94corolla]

Get all 4 KYB GR2 shocks and Tein S-Tech springs, install yourself.... spending $450 total and having a great ride and sick look!

[militarydave]

yeah i vote for you getting the KYB GR-2's, and renting the spring compressor tool that mostly any auto part store will rent out for free (you leave a deposit but get it back).

you can do this in about 2hr in your driveway or garage. get haynes or chilton, or look on these forums on how to replace them.

its not rocket science!

good luck!

[PhatRoyale]

Get KYB-GR2's if you're sticking with stock height.

If you plan on running lowering springs, get Tokico HP struts.

You can find both cheap on ebay.

[gold94corolla]

It is actually very easy to change the suspension. I changed all 4 springs, struts today in 2 hours.

[bail_w]

It is very easy if you have all the necessary tools.