Hi. I have a 96 GLE with 67k miles, and have developed a mild clunking noise in the right front side. The car also seems to have started to float slightly over wavy pavement on the highway. The local suspension shop says that my right front strut is dead. I'm a little disappointed after only 67k, but the car has basically had hard service in stop and go on bad boston area city roads. I have read the threads on the KYB
AGX's, so they seem to be the best price/value (any other brands to suggest??), but I'm not interested in having a horribly stiffer ride, so can someone advise me if they can be set to not be worse than oem stock ride harshness (remember this is a GLE). CAN anyone point me to a mail/web order source with good prices for them??

I have decided to try to do the job myself with help from the threads and the motorvate pictures. I would be appreciative of anyone that can indicate good threads on the topic, as I have gotten a hit and miss from doing a site search. I'm a little confused on what year dust boots to order as the ones on my car have already disintegrated.

As I am a laid-off engineer at this point, I am trying to conserve $, and as since the suspension shop thought the rear struts are good, I wasn't planning to replace them. However, I wonder if this might be detrimental with a mismatch between the AGX's up front and stock at the rears.


Any input is appreciated.

--Bouncing in Boston

 

if you don't plan on upgrading the springs to aftermarket lowering springs, you're fine with the KYB GR2s. I'd suggest you replace the springs while you're in there (with stock springs). If you plan on upgrading to lowering springs, now is the time to do it while you're in there replacing the shocks (KYB AGX for aftermarket)

 

Phuong,

Thank you for taking the time to reply. My understanding is that the springs will go bad if stretched (unlikely) or compressed (more likely)
past their linear force limit. I take it that you or your customers have had springs frequently go bad as the struts die??

I'll have to check with Garrand's Nissan to see how much a front set of stock GLE springs are.

By the way, my strut boots have disintegrated, and I'm afraid to use the oem replacements as they are (pardon the pun), rice-paper thin.
Does KYB or any other aftermarket supplier make strut boots for the GR2 that are better? From their website, it looks like KYB may package a boot only with their own strut bearing/mount, and all the posts I've seen say that their strut bearing/mount is way to harsh compared to stock.

---Perpetually stuck in Boston Traffic