I was putting air in the tires of my gf's 2000 Corolla and I noticed that her drivers side rear strut was covered in oil. The bellow was also torn and the strut needs to be replaced.
I was planning on doing this myself, but was hoping to get some feedback on which struts to purchase. I was looking on Rockauto and I can get a pair of Leacree struts for about $155 shipped. This wouldn't be much more than just replacing the struts with Monroes but I'd have to buy new Bellows which are like $20 each. Has anyone had experience with this brand or these complete assemblies before. Another one I was looking at is PrimeChoice Strut Tek which is similar pricing between that and Laecree
I guess it boils down to whether I should just buy some Monroes and transfer the springs and mounts and just buy a new bellow for each strut or should I get the complete assemblies from Leacree or Primechoice. If i get the Monroes I'd have to rent a spring compressor, but thats not a big deal.
Another factor in the equation is that she's only planning on keeping the car for another roughly 6 months before selling it.
Another factor in the equation is that she's only planning on keeping the car for another roughly 6 months before selling it.
I'd go with the Prime Choice. I put them on mine and they work great. Also, in case you're not familiar, you need to bleed the rear brakes afterward because Toyota ran the brake lines through the coil mount, not just attached to it, so you have to disconnect the line.
Just checked one of the struts is out of stock on the Prime Choice webpage. Will have to call them to see when they plan on getting more in stock.
I was planning on just cutting the mount to remove the lines as suggested above, but I'm not sure if I should do that when reinstalling the line into the new strut. If I do how should I attach the brake line to the new strut?
It's easy to bleed if you have a helper or if you use a one-man bleeder. Make sure to use a line wrench to disconnect the brake line flare nut. A normal open end wrench will probably round off the nut.
Cut the bracket on the old strut to get it out. Then notch the bracket on the new strut so that the brake line slides in. Then install the brake line clip and you're done.
I just did mine too and it was just to much trouble to cut the bracket. I just undid the brake line and then bled my brakes when done , its easy if your fittings dont have rust . i needed to change my brake fluid any way.
Just checked with PrimeChoiceAuto, the struts are going to be out of stock for another 3-6 weeks.
I may move forward with the LeaCree's from Rockauto. Anybody tried the Leacree's and have any feedback. There isn't much info on them in terms of reviews online. Should I just wait for hte PrimeChoice parts to come in stock?
Those struts are a relative newcomer to the strut manufacturers - it is based in China.
I would highly recommend NOT going with those and spending the couple of bucks more and getting KYB struts. Toyota OEM are rebadged KYB struts - can't go wrong with them. KYB GR-s are considered a good OEM replacement. Tokico HP struts are valved a little more aggressively, great when paired with a mild drop performance spring.
Ended up replacing the struts over the weekend. Not too bad of a job. I ended up purchasing complete strut assemblies from Prime Choice and things went together relatively painlessly. Total job time took me a little under four hours to do everything including clean up.
Ran into one snag, I ended up having to replace the sway bar links as well. The bolts were rusted and the Allen key ended up stripping out when I was trying to disconnect the passenger sway bar link, so I cut it off with an angle grinder.
I disconnected and bled the brakes as well because the car needed it done anyway rather than notching the mount.
The car sits a little higher than it used to in the rear (I guess things were pretty wore out). But the care rides much nicer now than before and the clunking noise is gone.
Nice. I had the same experience: ~2 inch rear height increase with the new springs/struts, and no more clunking with new sway bar links. The Corolla OEM springs seem to get compressed after about 5-8 years.
Rented a spring compressor today to take apart the bad struts. I wanted to get the mounts and the springs off to maybe sell them on ebay. Both struts were bad were bad, rather than just the one that was leaking. When I pushed them in they didn't rebound at all they just stayed stuck in. I imagine the fronts are about the same at this point, but since they aren't leaking I probably won't replace them since she's getting rid of the car soon.
I offered to replace struts on my sisters Acura. She bought Leacree brand from ebay. Noisy right out of the parking lot. The gladly sent her a new pair no charge only she has to pay shipping to return 1st set. I install new set, same problem. Save money and buy name brand 1st time. From what I hear and see, they have no bearing plate, thus chunking/clunking over bumps which will eventually come through the top of the strut tower.
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