Hey guys......Just wondering how many of you out there have replaced your own struts. I have 130,000 miles on my 99SE and they need to be done. I will be using the factory springs as I am not interested in a drop. I want close to Factory suspension with maybe a little more stiffness. I just bought a set of Tokico Blues (Off EBay for 290 shipped) But my question is other than tools which I have (spring compressor and Torque wrench jack and jack stands & FSM) what will I need to complete this job (i.e. New strut bearing any seals or spacers, dust boot. Any advice would be helpful.

 

How about this?

 

I put in new boots (recommend to use Nissan boots), and reused everything else. Regrease the strut bearings with Durablend brake grease. The orange spacer from Nissan is too expensive. I used gasket paper and cut them to shape.

 

19mm (nut on camber bolts),17mm (camber bolt heads and strut nuts on front, and mounting bolt on the bottom of rear struts),14mm (strut nuts on rear),12mm (mounting nuts on rear strut towers) sockets. It sounds like you have everything else. If you have air tools it makes everything go a lot quicker.

 

Should I replace all the ruber nuts and seals or just what seems to be worn?

 

Just what's worn. That's usually just the boots.

Dave

 

Any ideas where to get the boots other than the stealership.

 

tirerack.com for the boots, great price and super-fast shipping. I highly suggest replacing the strut bearings, especially with 133K on them.

 

I just did mine today. Was not hard at all. I have 130k on my 96 as well, and I definitely recommend buying the new strut bearings for the top (KYB ones are like $31.00 each) or you'll start getting noises as the bearings bind up. Frankly, I'm surprised you haven't already.

I got my "rebound bumpers" (the rubber boots) from Nissan OEM for $10.69 each from Pinnacle Nissan (nissanparts.org).