OEM is a great idea, either the strut or strut assembly. OEM is never a bad idea (mostly). It is especially true in your case as you want to get it on your travel. The full assembly is the way to go and be done with it.

Some alternatives, which is what many of us follow because its cost effective. We use OEM strut mounts, bearings, boots and then get the KYB Excel-G struts. Many also get the Monroe quick struts. While that is good, I use only KYB on all my vehicles personally. The oem struts I took out before were KYB too. One good thing about the assembly is that you get all new parts but aftermarket assembly is never as good as oem, thus the suggest mix of oem parts with aftermarket absorbers.

If you get the shock absorbers alone, then that also means you have to compress and take out the old to install new. I am assuming you are taking it to a mechanic or you know how to diy. You did not mention that along with mileage etc. If you live in extreme climates (snow, ice, salt etc) then new mounts is a must, if not reuse current ones. OEM boots are different design than aftermarket.

You can also go to rockauto.com and look at the available brands and options just for your research knowledge in case you choose aftermarket.

 

OEM is a great idea, either the strut or strut assembly. OEM is never a bad idea (mostly). It is especially true in your case as you want to get it on your travel. The full assembly is the way to go and be done with it.

Some alternatives, which is what many of us follow because its cost effective. We use OEM strut mounts, bearings, boots and then get the KYB Excel-G struts. .

Thanks for your reply. my mileage is only about 45K, and yes, the work will be done by the Toyota dealership.

Just to clarify with OEM, I should buy the shock absorbers, and bearings (for front suspension support).

On the Toyota front suspension (struts) parts list, I don't see "strut mounts" or "boots", possibly because they are called something else in the catalog. What I do see ( http://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/Page...2815&Filter=()&SubCategoryUrl=front-spring-shock-absorber&Diagram=&PartNumbers=)
are:

Bumper (front spring)

Bush, Front Stabilizer Bar

Insulator, Front Coil Spring (upper)

Insulator, Front Coil Spring (lower)

Bracket, Front Stabilizer

Thanks again for your help.

 

I don't know if your car has it. But my mothers 98 Camry they cut the dog bones that go from the strut to the stabilizer.

 

Buy anything but Monroe quick struts, they are a piece of junk. I so sorry that I bought monroes as they clunk and the top nuts seem to losen. You'll probably need new sway bar links too, they are bolted to the strut, I had to cut mine off with a cutoff wheel.

OEMs are a sure thing but expensive, I think KYBs are supposed to be good too. Also notice that left and right are two different part numbers.

 

Good to know.

 

Toyota says that a small about of leakage is normal on these cars. at 45k, I would question that they actually need replacement. I would base it more on ride and a simple rebound test to see if the strut acts poorly. My statement that leakage is normal comes straight from customer relations.

 

The car rides perfectly, best as I can tell (and BTW, the Netherlands probably the best surfaced roads in Western Europe). Guess I should do the bounce test.

 

actually, i have monroe's on my 94 and they're fine. i did torque the center bolts to 55ft/lbs versus the spec of 35 the book calls for as this was an update from monroe due to center bolt clunking. they've been around for a century so they must be doing something right ;-)

tony

 

Yeah, the oem mounts are called Support Sub-Assy, Front Suspension, LH and RH

Full pic http://parts.toyotaofcoolsprings.co...amry/le-trim/3-5l-v6-gas-engine/front-suspension-cat/suspension-components-scat

The Monroe quick struts are hit or miss. Some have great luck and others not. It is similar to sensen, cheap but some had for over 3 years fine. This is a touchy topic and long discussion.

 

Specific parts and part numbers are below:

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...11/686945-official-5th-6th-gen-maintenance-thread-all-you-ever-wanted-know.html

We have a site vendor, Roman at Toyota of Cool Springs, who provides amazing prices on OEM parts. I've had lots of dealings with Roman and all have been positive.

As for parts, depending on age, condition, and availability, you could replace just the struts or struts and additional parts.

Since availability is severely limited, I would replace the struts, strut mounts, front bearings, and front bellows (rear bellow is part of strut mount).

If you have time, you can order the struts themselves from somewhere like Rockauto to save money. The other parts I would only use OEM. If you are more limited on funds, consider the Quick Struts as an option.

 

+1 on hardtopte, except to add that even though the quick struts are a better value than buying separate parts as many do, it's also a.) easier to replace as a unit and b.) safer, cause you don't have to rent/buy a spring compressor or pay someone to compress them for you. if you go this route and decide to compress them yourself, please read and heed all instructions and even some videos on the subject cause a spring that can hold up a car is a pretty tough spring, as you can imagine.
tony

 

We installed the quick struts on my moms car years ago. When we rocked the car it made a clicking sound. We found it to be one of the struts at the strut bearing was moving. It was the strut that was from a box that looked like it had been opened before. We took it back without a problem. I'm wondering if the parts store returned the strut or just taped it up again and sold it. I wonder if that could be part of the problem with quick struts. A guy takes it home uses the parts he has to and then returns it saying it didn't fit. Last time the coil spring in the rear spring had broken. So I was able to find a guy that used some manufacturers complete struts for what it would cost me to just about buy them. I did take out the back seat for him. He didn't seem to happy about that.

 

probably that center bolt was not torqued to 55ft/lbs. i hear about that happening alot. that's why i always tell ppl to torque it before installing it. the book sez 35 or something really low but that will leave a click/cluck over bumps.
tony

 

It just looked bad. It also didn't hurt that my nephew worked at the parts store.

 

I tried a set of Monroes and one of the top mounting studs stripped out on assembly. I took them back and went OEM. I ended up buying everything to make two complete strut assemblies so I could build them in advance to do a quick swap with minimum downtime, but it wasn't cheap. As others have noted, getting the swaybar end links off is a crapshoot, so plan to have to cut them off and replace them. I went with Moog parts there so they could be greased.

OP, will there be any issues with getting American parts past Netherlands Customs?