My car only has 40k on it and I'm told today I have a blown front right strut. Estimated cost to fix 600 dollars. What the heck causes this? I know I have aftermarket wheels on the car but that shouldn't blow struts should it?

 

just buy one on gmpartsdirect.com for less then 150$ and install yourself...its a breeze

 

i have both left and right FE1 struts with springs only 30k miles

 

get konis!!!

 

PM Tom from crate engine depot on here. he may be able to sell them cheaper to you less than 150. his user name is crateenginedepot. i got a rear shock and front axel seal for $85. i once got a radiator for 200 which the dealer sells for 300+. if he can he'll hook you up.

 

How often do you have to replace struts.. At 80,000 will i need new ones again. thats what i'm confused about

 

shouldn't. hit anything hard? potholes? animals? anything of the sort? are struts under warranty?

 

Nah i don't recall hitting anything where I would notice.. I put aftermarket wheels on the car that's about it. I have some extended warranty so I'm going to take it into the dealership after I put my stock wheels back on cause they may give me ****.

 

I would slap the guy if i got quoted 600 for ONE strut.


it takes a skilled mechanic less than an hour to do that job.

 

He said you'd have to replace both front struts. You do it in pairs. He also included labor and an alignment in that price as well. It seems pricey to me.

 

actually. that sounds about right for 2 struts, labor and 80$ alignment.

maybe a tad steep.


I would do it myself.

 

it would take a flat rate tech 15 minutes to do the strut and 15 minutes for the Toe-n-Go...lol

GMpartsdirect.com FTMFW!

 

not true. remember the tech has to take his springs off his current struts and transfer them over.

 

i agree with originaladrian (great song btw) and when replacing front struts you should replace both as mentioned above. might as well just make the jump to konis if you gots the $$.

 

Someone else on this site actually listens to good indie?


im shocked lol

 

$$$ LOL yea don't have it. I"m going to go with what chevy puts on my car. If those blow and i'm outa warranty then hell yea i'm not putting that same old shi* back on there.. I don't think any stock part is good

 

Why replace them in twos? That doesnt seem right, also since you arent changing your ride height and arent messing with the toe adjustment anyways you dont need an allignment.

 

doesn't matter. that takes 5 minutes. 8-15 seconds to remove wheel, remove strut in 1 minute...i'm serious its an easy job.

 

ok .. I just took a pic of my strut.. does she look blown? Time for a replacement?

 

replace them with KYB GR2's. There OEM replacements. Rumor Ive heard is its best to replace in pairs.

 

Why on earth would you want to replace just one when the other has (gasp) the same mileage as the one that failed??
Ride and handling will both suffer with one side being tighter / stiffer than the other.
Only time I would make an exception is if the part being replaced was new and broke due to accidental causes (smacked a curb / big ass pot hole / other car).

You took part of the suspension off and put a different part back on.....why would you not do an alignment? Sounds cheaper than noticing your front tires are worn out 500 miles later.....but I'm not paying for your tires so whatever.

Heard some good things on the KYB's, have used their stuff before (on other cars) and been quite happy with them.

 

You arent changing any aspect of the tire wearing aspects unless it was already off camber/out of toe/bad caster/bad steering inclination angle/ect. I did my allignment before and after replacing my stock struts with stock struts back when I was at stock height and nothing changed. 15k miles later when I had to realign it for my lowering springs there was no abnormal tire wear. My suspension instructor also said you have no need for an allignment if you are already in spec and arent changing the dimentions(ride height, toe, camber, caster, ect.).

 

If you can 100% money back if not satisfied for any reason guarantee me that the new part is EXACTLY the same as the old, then you don't need to align.
You can't make that guarantee with mass produced parts, so you should get the alignment checked. 95 times out of a 100 you will be close enough but I would rather be sure.

 

Mass produced parts, especially from a mechanical assembly line are more exact than hand made structures.

 

So I took my car into the dealership BOTH front struts were blown and leaking fluid!! 800 dollars to get it fixed luckily warranty covered it. I still don't know how both front struts got blown beats the hell outa me. Dealerships are SOOO ******* EXPENSIVE !!