jordanius83

iTrader: (1)

the front left strut on my 90 max has gone out or froze up or something.
the quote from a local mechanic was $420 w/alignment for both front struts, apparently using medium grade replacement struts. I could save some $$$ by getting the cheapy struts, but I'm really not sure what's best.

The max has 186k and she's pretty healthy, but $420 is more than i spent to buy her, so i'm wondering if there are any more cost effective ways of replacing the struts. Would junkyard struts even be worth it? Can i do the labor myself?

Dillbag

iTrader: (4)

You plan to keep this car stock? Or mod it later on?

wolfpack_5150

iTrader: (3)

dont do junkyard struts, they may be just as bad or worse. Besides you really dont want to gamble with suspension, it isnt safe for you, your passengers, or the rest of us on the road. Check around for installation writeups, and look at internetautomart for parts. You'll be creating longevity for your tires as well. The only thing you cant do yourself is the alignment, which is needed afterwards.

jordanius83

iTrader: (1)

yeah i really don't intend on letting this go much longer than absolutely needed, and i do not think i feel comfortable replacing these myself.

i do not plan on modding this car at all.

should i just go for the cheapy struts and have the mechanic install?
is that price fair? what price should i expect for the cheapy struts?

Dillbag

iTrader: (4)

did he say the brand? a/c delco, monroe, gabriel, kyb gr2, acme?
oh and how many hours labor did he quote? usually labor is $50-$75/hour. here, we usually get 1.5 hrs. per corner for struts. so 3.0 hrs. for the two fronts. and alignments are in the $45-$65 range. so you do the math on the struts price/quality ratio. Disclaimer: those prices are my experince working at dealerships/shops in N.C.

And remember, any shop of self-employed machanic with his own place, has a higher overhead than you think. so the labor rates will reflect that. Unfortunately, that's the nature of the biz.

Dillbag

iTrader: (4)

It helps to have a spring compressor when installing struts, unless you are doing a Honda.

Dillbag

iTrader: (4)

You don't have that electronic/adjustable/sonar crap suspension do you?

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

http://www.internetautomart.com/maxima/3rdgen/susp.html
sorry it's been a slow month and I'm unemployed at the moment

Mizeree_X

iTrader: (9)

If you are just doing the fronts, buy some KYBs from internetautomart and install them yourself. The fronts are so easy.....3 nuts on the strut tower, 2 bolts near the hub, compress the springs, remove the nut holding the upper mount on and they are off. You can borrow some spring compressors from autozone for free, just have to put a deposit on them. Good luck.

Tarzan

Both front and rear struts are a piece of cace if you rent a spring compressor, that bolts onto the springs. You will need 19, 17, 15 mm wrenches, adjusting wrench and adjusting plyers to remove the gland caps. It takes one full day to do them all. Buy KYB GR2 from internetautomart, like they said, and do it yourself - it's no rocket science.

falseicon

iTrader: (2)

I put in KYB's a month ago and have been more than happy with them. If you decide to dyi here's a few things I wish i knew ahead of time: the oil inside your rear struts is basically motor oil, getting that 'cap' off requires patience and a nice big'ole adjustable or plumbers wrench, with white out or paint (not sharpee), mark the points where the end of the springs line up before you do anything, just makes it easier.

jordanius83

iTrader: (1)

what about alignment afterwards? they are saying it's "required".
i think he said the brand was Monroe. Which ones are the cheapest?

Dillbag

iTrader: (4)

Monroe shocks are a pretty good brand for inexpensive shocks, they have a good name, been around forever, i've never really heard any complaints. good ride quality.

As far as an alignment, it's not REQUIRED, but it's smart. That's their way of highly recommending one. I could do an entire essay about why you should do an alignment after you get the struts in. But i'll try to spare you. First off if you haven't had one in the last 6-12 mos. or 30K miles, or can't remember having one, you need one. You probably already needed one before this strut issue came up. Is the steering wheel not centered when driving straight down the road? Can you go down a straight, flat road, @45+mph, let go of the wheel and the car drifts to one side, or just straight-up changes lanes on you? Yeah, those are the main indications you should have an alignment done. Also, are your tires wearing funny, as in choppy/feathered tread, excessive wear on one section of the tread cross-section, like the edges? That also means you should align it. Of course low tires pressures can also cause edge-wear on the tires. But i'm sure you check your tire pressures every couple weeks, and keep them around at least 34psi. Plus, since you or someone else is going to be taking out a major part of the suspension and putting it back in, I can garauntee that the suspension angles will have shifted. You see, the alignment describes the relationship of all the suspension components to each other and to the wheels, and the angles that those parts create between each other and are represented by. For example CAMBER is the inward or outward lean of the top of the wheels from vertical. Negative camber is when the top of the tire leans inward. (think dookie-slammed honda) Toe is how the tires point forward is i guess the easiest way to say it. Example: / \ <-- top of the page being the front of the car, that is exaggerated positive toe. Imagine you are looking down thru the fenders on the top of the tires, that is what it would look like. \ / <-- that would be exaggerated negative toe.
what you want is both tires to be pointing straight for the most part. (maybe just a tad positive) that would look like this: l l <--pointing straight. You can also tune the alignment for performance to make a car handle better, but it can sacrifice some tire wear. There's probably a thread about all this stuff. Hopefully i'm helpin' you understand here, hope it's not too confusing or long-winded. ok, maybe a little.

So basicly what this does is make the car drive down the road properly, and prevent accelerated and/or uneven tire wear. Just think of it this way: it's cheap insurance. Say you didn't get an alignment, and a few months or a year from now your tires are all beat-up and worn out (cuz of bad align). How much is even a cheap set of stock tires? (205/65 R15) For probably the price of ONE tire, you can prevent buying a whole set before you need/want to.
Anyway, hope this helps you make a more informed decision. Choose wisely.

jordanius83

iTrader: (1)

you guys kick ***.


this is the most helpful and supportive forum of any kind on the net.
seriously.

(sorry for resurrecting an old thread, just had to add this)

1990MaxOwner

I replaced the front and rear struts with Monroe Sensatracs. These made a world of difference in the ride and the handling performance. They are relatively easy to do yourself if you have the basic tools and the knowledge of mechanics. All the special tool you will need is the spring compressers. You can rent this at the local parts store or just buy one. They go from 20.00 and up. I had to use 2 spring compressors for each side, due to the limited amount of compression they did. In other words they did not compress the spring down far enough to relieve the pressure of the spring to remove the top mounting bolt. Make sure you tighten down each side a little at a time. DO NOT DO ONE SIDE COMPLETELLY AND THEN THE OTHER. I would go ahead and replace the top rubber mounts. They usually dry rot or wear out out. They will also have to special ordered, at around 40.00 aside. MOnroe Sensatrac, also makes these. I would not buy Gabriel shocks, I did not like the way they pushed in the corners, they had a tendacy to push the car, more than I liked. The back shocks and struts are a little harder, the back seat has to come out, the top and bottom. Just take your time and it will all work out. I have two mottos when working on something. 1. Its just nuts and bolts. 2. If its already broken, you cannot brake it again. I hope this helps you out.

Dillbag

iTrader: (4)

everything work out ok 4ya jordan?

dantegl

Performance wise which are better the Koni's or the Kyb's?

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

Koni, because they can be tailored to your car's setup better

jordanius83

iTrader: (1)

didn't get a chance to replace them before the water pump went out, now i have the timing chain problem.

once that is cleared up, i gotta replace the y-pipe and then maybe the struts.

the struts stopped acting funny all the sudden and were fine...

kcidmil

Did you ever find out if you could cut a better deal on the Koni/Eibach setup than Shox.com ?

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

I never did talk to them about it.

kcidmil

Well I have already alloted funds out of this year's Tax Return for a Koni/Eibach setup.

jordanius83

iTrader: (1)

sorry to resurrect this old thread, but

are these acceptable? :

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductD...ype=49&PTSet=A

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

they are your basic cheap 12,000 mile monroes. they're better than blown/worn OE struts. but not a good long term replacement option.

bvtran

iTrader: (3)

Since you're not removing the tie rod for strut replacement, there is no need for an alignment. If your mechanic wants an alignment then look for another mech. $430 is a lot of money, I'd hoping he included new struts for you. The front is very easy, I have done it many times before, the quickest time for me was 30mins per side.

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

I am of the opinion that anytime you unbolt the strut from the knuckle that it should be realigned.
it's cheap to do ($70 around here), and you may have needed it anyways before hand. It can increase tire life and MPG, not to mention handling.

Tquick

My approach to alignments after suspension work is this: If the tires are new, or in really good shape, by all means get an alignment. If the tires are pretty close to the end of their life anyway, then test drive it, slowly at first. If it handles properly, then you can probably get away without aligning it right away. If you've screwed up the alignment enough to make a big difference in tire wear, you should be able to feel it in the steering.

If you are going to work on the suspension, and you aren't getting it aligned right away afterwards, PLEASE double and triple check everything you work on. Make absolutely sure all fasteners are properly tightened, use a torque wrench if it is at all possible, and that you have installed all cotter pins, etc. This kind of work can certainly be done by the DIY'er, but it is important to pay attention to the details, and make absolutely sure it is done right before you take it out on the road and drive it.

One big advantage of having an alignment after you've done suspension work is that a professional mechanic is going to be going over the front end of your car, and if you've done anything wrong (perhaps fasteners aren't tight enough, or forgot a cotter pin, or something else important like that) it's very likely that they will spot it, and fix it while they are in there.

mrkanda

iTrader: (3)

When replacing the struts, how necessary is it to also replace the strut mounts and boots? It seems that with new mounts and boots that doubles the price of the struts. Just mounts and boots comes to easily $200+. With the price of Koni's at ~$575. That puts strut replacement plus alignment at close to $900. And that's if I do the labor myself. Is it worth it? Is there any way to do Konis any cheaper?

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

when you take it apart you'll know for sure.

mrkanda

iTrader: (3)

Yah, but I don't want to have the car sit there for another few days while I am waiting for mounts to arrive. My car is an '89 with about 86k miles. It has the Sonar Suspension, but I am planning to swap to Konis. Do the mounts go out as often as the struts? (i.e. ~60K mi.)

mszilves

I'd go ahead and replace the whole setup. I recently did my entire suspension, and I have a '92 with approx. 140K, and the mounts were definitely in need of replacement: the rubber hardens and cracks over time, and the mounts themselves, especially in the rear, can have rust. And the boots are important to protect the strut piston shaft. It adds a bit to the price, but you might as well spend the little bit extra and do it right all at once and have the peace of mind.

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

almost every 100k, depending on climate

CapedCadaver

iTrader: (8)

take it apart, see if you need the mounts, if you do, put it back together, wait for the mounts, and do it all at the same time...