Thanks, I still have your procedure in my maintenance log. It looks like Professor Sir did a great write up about this procedure also. He also used Monroe Quick Struts.I just installed the Monroe's on my daughters '01 Avalon XLS and I'm very happy with the ride quality. I purchased the kit from Rockauto and Monroe was running a $100 cash back rebate last month, so I got the four Quick Stuts for around $340 after the rebate.
Thanks for the info, but I would have to pay somebody to do that. I couldn't do that myself, and I don't have $1400 to spend on this.They are both junk .
They don't last very long .
We don't even recommend them to our customers no more
Get some KYB or Tokico and just get new tops for them
They are both junk .
They don't last very long .
We don't even recommend them to our customers no more
Get some KYB or Tokico and just get new tops for them
I only drive about 10 to 12K miles/year myself. If the quick struts would just last 5 years, I think I would be happy with them I think. I have to work on my car out here in the apartment parking lot, and I'm just not going to try to compress springs without a garage to work in. I know I could replace the quick struts because of so many people saying it isn't that difficult of a job. I just go slow and take my time. I've also thought about replacing the front and rear sway bar rods as well as preventative maintenance.I'm interested to see how much life I get out of them. That being said, my daughter will only put around 10k a year on the car, if that. She'll use it over the summer, drive it 350 miles out to school come fall and then it will sit in a student parking lot for weeks on end.
Before I tossed the old struts, I did removed and keep the OE springs, in the event the Quick Struts don't last....then I'll go with KYB's and the OE springs.
I will say that I'm not a fan of compressing springs. I have a set of professional grade Macpherson strut spring compressors (made by OTC, I believe) that I’ve had for years and I’m always very uncomfortable when it comse to compressing springs. I even run a heavy chain through the spring in the event that one of the spring compressors fails. I also take great care to insure that the spring compressor does not start to walk around the spring when compressing it. There’s a boat load of energy in a compressed spring.
I cringe when I watch some of the videos out on youtube of DIY’ers removing strut springs and front coil springs. The strut springs on the Avalon look like thread compared to the Hotchkis front coil springs on my Camaro, but both will kill you the same way if they were to release due to spring compressor failure.
Easy enuff until you get to the '04 Avalon. No complete assemblies for this year (unless one goes with some no-name brand).There's no sense going with spring compressors (aka death sticks), because the rubber components like the spring seats and mounts should also be replaced if the struts are done for. So IMO the assemblies make the most sense.
Thanks, I plan to order them this weekend. Cost should be around $250 for all 4. Then my mechanic (Toyota tech) will install for $420. So, total cost $670 for all 4 isn't too bad IMHO. So you don't think they ride too stiff as others have said? Did your car need an alignment?I replaced the struts on my 2k Avalon with KYBs and I couldnt be happier. It doesnt have that Buick boat feel to it anymore and still to me at least rides as nice as it ever did.
I wouldnt hesitate to use KYBs at all.
Thanks for the advice Racerex. I guess it's more about a money thing than anything. If I had unlimited funds, I'd replace all the mounts and the spring seats. I may regret it, but I'm going to leave it up to my mechanic to check if anything needs to be replaced. I'll still be limited as to what I can do money wise. My car still hasn't crossed the 100K mileage line yet, but I guess that isn't so important when this car is almost 14 years old. The struts arrived today, so I'll see how it all turns out. My mechanic is the type of guy who doesn't replace anything unless it's necessary at the time. Just got an email from my mechanic. He says to drop it off tomorrow, and he will have it ready by Sunday...So you're not replacing the front and rear upper strut mounts? The fronts are a wear item, as they have a bearing. Per RA, KYB sells the fronts for $54 each and the rubber rears for $43 each. I'm just making the recommendation to replace them......as I've always replaced them when doing struts on other cars.