Replace only what you need to. On the front struts the most common parts to go bad are the boots (also known as upper insulator), lower insulator (bottom of spring sits on this) and the felt dust seal which goes between the bearing and the strut shaft. The mounts may or may not be bad you'll have to inspect when you take the struts apart.

I have not done the rear shocks on a gen7 Celica so I can't comment on what you might need except to say only replace what you need to. The springs you can reuse no need to replace unless they are broken or badly rusted. For the rubber parts check out prices at Toyota they may not cost much more than aftermarket and will most certainly be better.

 

^^^ He's right but I would suggest considering buying mounts as well. The car is 15 years old and has over 200k if the struts are bad then the mounts are probably going and should be changed after all if you complete the job only to have the mounts start making noise 6 months from now then you'll have to pay that much labor again - or do all that work if you're a d.i.y guy.

I had to do all of this recently with my 93 celica which has 198k and I also had to buy the parts as no one makes a quick strut for it anymore. Have you checked rockauto.com? they have more parts than anyone else I have found and the prices are great. They may have the quick struts you need since they do buyout limited run parts and manufacturer closeouts. If they don't they probably will have the best prices on all the parts. I have replaced struts on a paseo, my celica, and a camry as well as a grand am and usually the best prices and hard to find parts are either on rockauto.com or ebay

 

Thanks, guys. She needs to drive it so I figured I'd do the fronts one day and the backs the next. I'd rather spend 15% more to replace cheaper parts that may or may not need it rather than having to pull all apart twice. I told her to budget a good $500 anyway.

So, as it stands I'm going to be buying a good 10 different item numbers

71corolla, what is the distance (DUST...auto correct) seal, does it come in any of the kits, and if not, how do I get them?

And the big question:

Could my springs with 206k actually be REDUCING our ride height?

 

Dust seal. They are often disintegrated so you might not even find it, but important part. Here's what it looks like

Could my springs with 206k actually be REDUCING our ride height?

Maybe, but in my experience Toyota springs don't sag unless you've constantly loaded the trunk down for example over the period of years. You can measure the ride height to know for sure.

 

Okay, here's my order so far. $467 for the Monroes, $10 dust seals from Amazon, and a $53 Visa gift card coming back to me.

The KYBs would be pretty much the same price but with no gift card. Everyone says that KYB's have a stiffer ride so that's why I'm looking at the Monroes.

 

Do the boots you have in your cart look like this?
http://www.amazon.com/Toyota-Front-Shock-Absorber-48157-47010/dp/B00CUE44KG
http://www.amazon.com/Febest-Toyota-Upper-Spring-48257-32080/dp/B00C6MY6F0

 

Well, I just ordered all of the above. I didn't get springs because A ) she doesn't want to spend the money and B) you guys say they don't really go bad or sag anyway. Hope they're good when I get in there! :frown:

71Corolla, I'm not sure what the boots look like. Car isn't with me and I was over there at 11 pm but not in the mood do inspect. I did check ride height though and the front definitely looked like it would clear 5.5". That's a good sign for the springs I'd say!

 

Well, got it all torn apart. And we're without the vehicle because I forgot to order the FRONT UPPER COIL SPRING INSULATOR. I'm gonna try to get it a local store ASAP