I got a quote of about $300 to get my shocks and struts installed. Is that about right? I would do it myself but the lack of tools and space is having me pay for the services of a shop. How much did you pay?

Thanks.

If you want to save money, buy tools and just do it in a parking lot...it took me probably hour and a half the first time i did it, and now i can swap the whole car in a little over 30 minutes probably.

Any tools you would need for the job are gonna cost less than $300, and you could use them again on something else you might need to do....and you dont even need that many things to swap shocks/struts.

I just got a quote last week for $295 labor only. It doesn't require a lot of specialized tools and you can do it yourself if you are reasonably mechanically inclined. I did it yesterday and it wasn't bad at all.

As far as the claim of 30 min to 1.5 hours to get it done, that's not even close to reasonable. Not even with air tools and a lift. I'd alot most of a day if you've never done it before but if you're good and have no problems it will probably take closer to 3 to 6 hours. If you are able, do it yourself. You'll be glad you saved the cash and you'll have a sense of accomplishment by working on your own ride.

That's the thing I've never done any thing this big of a job on my own before. I've done a brake job here and there but nothing this big. Given the tools needed I could rent from Autozone. I guess I'm a little skeptical about my mechanics skills. Then again if I can save about a hundreds of dollars I guess it's worth it. Hmm... I'll have to give it a good thought or find me a friend that know much more about installing shocks and struts. I know it'll probably take me good 6 hrs to do this job at least.

If you can change brakes you can do this. I did it and I am certainly no mechanic. It was really not at all as difficult as I had imagined. Like I said, it took me about 4 to 5 hours al together, maybe less. I started on Saturday and then finished on Sunday. Just pay attention to detail, follow instructions in the writeups, and be sure you have everything you will need for the job present and handy before you start (unlike me). Then you can spend the $300 on beer and hookers.

OMG Do the job yourself. Save the money from the labour and purchase a decent set of tools.

What tools did you guys need that are uncommon? Or what tools did you use in general? I'd like to know what I need to pick up if I want to do this. I'd like to save the install $ and feel the pride that I did it myself.

if you are going to rent from autozone ask them. someone there should know what you'll need

You're absolutely right. I just called a ex mechanic friend of mine and he'll be able to do it for FREE. Beers and hookers here I come. Hot diggity.Thanks guys.

Im not going to rent it. I'll probably buy the tools I need so I can hold on to them.

ratchet
12,14,17,19 mm sockets
17,19 mm wrenches
breaker bar
torque wrench (you can rent it; worth the $20-$30 investment to buy a good one)
hammer or rubber mallet
small flat screwdriver
jack, jack stands, wheel chocks, tire tools
safety glasses
coil spring compressor (you can rent it too; I didn't buy it because I'll probably never need it again)
WD-40 or PB Blaster

That's all I can think of that I needed as far as tools.

Are these writeups on the site here? I can't search yet (not enough posts I think) I will be doing my struts on the near future and would like some hints and tips

Donate $20 and search to your heart's content or do the poor man's search. The time, heartache, and money you'll save on labor is priceless.

Yes they are here on the site. I have a '96 so the ones for my ride are in 4th Gen. forum. There is also a good writeup on the strut/spring install on vqpower.com

Ok so the tools arnt I problem. I have everything but the compressor and a good torque wrench. I wanted to buy a wrench anyway so thats cool. I guess I'll be able to do the work myself but what else did you need to buy with the new setup?

I paid $360 for all new shocks and struts. After that I wish I just did it myself but since I lacked all the parts and never even changed my oil I just paid the money. I still have to learn how to change my oil.

changing oil is ridiculously easy. Just grab the manual or the writeup from the stickies and do it. But installing suspension is much different and def worries me haha.

hookers...nuff said

Just my 2 cents...
If you want to go really low budget, I got a spring compressor for $7 at Harbor Freight. Maybe it's just me, but I personally think the torque wrench is only critical for your lug nuts (because you can warp your rotors). Just pay attention to about how much force it takes to take each nut off and apply the same force when reinstalling. You COULD do all 4 corners with the scissor jack in your trunk. I also found that the spring compressor was not really necessary to remove the rear springs (they only had about 50-100 lbs of preload) - DON'T DO THE FRONTS WITHOUT THE COMPRESSOR. I was able to install all 4 of my Eibachs without the compressor. You WILL need a breaker bar to get the nuts off the strut to knuckle bolts in the front, possibly even if you have an impact wrench. It took me and a friend of mine 3.5 hours to do all 4 corners including clean up, which is probably slow since we weren't in a hurry and hadn't done it before.

Or better yet, save your money instead of "buying" a hooker and invest in something that will last...longer...like a donation to maxima.org!

You must not be very mechanically inclined. I've been installing suspension setups for the Maxima community for a few years now. Takes me no more then 1 hour to completely change struts, springs and mounts on a 4th or 5th gen Maxima. My record is 47 minutes.

Only 3 nuts up top and 2 bolts on the lower strut flange gets the fronts out. The rear is 2 nuts up top and 1 bolt on the bottom. A wall mounted spring compressor takes struts apart in less then 1 minute. Only one nut holds the front assembly together. The rears don't even need to be compressed, the springs are not under much preload and again only 1 nut holds them together.

Doesn't get much easier then that.....
My fee is $180 cash.

It would be nice to have you do the suspension if I got it njmaxseltd. I would def. pay you the 180. Problem is I have no clue when I'll get new stuff and if it would be worth it to travel up to you.

Again....what else do I need to buy with struts and springs for the upgrade? I'm trying to make lists of eveything needed now so I'll know later on.

Actually, I am pretty mechanically inclined but your speedy times aren't really typical or what he can expect to happen as a first timer. He has 0 experience with the parts or procedures. No wall mounted spring comperssor, have to do it the hard way. No air tools, no lift. A floor jack and jack stands. I agree that the actual procedure is easy if you know what you're doing. Having completed it once and gotten it right, I can see that it will go much quicker in the future if I ever have to do it again. But for me and my regular hand tools, nowhere near 47 minutes. Maybe in 2 to 2.5 hours at best.

As far as parts, you should have:
struts
springs
boots (I bought KYB ones but would probably buy the OEM ones next time)
front strut mounts
and various other parts depending on what needs to be replaced. Check this link for photos and Nissan Part #s: http://staff.jccc.net/dlee/maxima/suspension/
You won't need all of those parts most likely. Probably the orange seals/spacers will need replacing and the lower rubber seats just above them on the list. They will keep your install from maiking noise. I also used helix cut electric wrap available at Radio Shack for $3.49 to wrap the upper and lower couple of coils on each spring to make sure that I didnt get coil noise. Illuminas come with the rear hardware so don't buy it separately. Again, if you search the 4th Gen forum for "Illumina" or "suspension" you will find detailed writeups and lots of other good information. Hope this helps.

Thanks White Shadow. That does help. It's the little stuff that Im not sure about. I dont want to buy my setup and be missing needed seals or screws and such. Since it doesnt come with the springs Im just not sure what to buy. I cant search yet so that sucks a$$ but I'll try to donate soon.

I can get the boots and the strut mounts from autozone or such correct? Recomend oem? Any pics for the wire? jsut trying to figure out the point of it? Thanks for all the help!

:edit: great link by the way thanks! Whats the most important things to replace?

nothing.
i did it by myself

use oem mounts just replace the bearing with oem ones unless the mounts a damaged...

also it takes more than 1 hour.. it took me couple of hours for swapping shocks between my 2 cars.... so claim of 30 mins is pretty radical...

I got my front boots/bump stops from Pep Boys (get the stock replacements for a '95 Mustang). The rears I had to go with KYB boots because no one seemed to have the '95 Miata boots/bumps (I even went to a Mazda dealer). My upper mounts were fine (I just did my swap last weekend), so I would assume your uppers would be fine also. Those red gasket things that are between the uppers and the body will probably need to be replaced (mine were questionable). Honestly if you're not sure about the spring compressing thing, take your strut assembly to a auto parts store that has a machine shop and have them pull off your front upper mounts. The rears you can take off without a spring compressor. You shouldn't need to replace anything else like screws or bolts. Just reuse everything that is still in tact. You'll be fine.

BTW - for those of you who have done this before, were your stock rear boots really jacked up? Mine had shreds of the old dust boot shoved up inside the bump stop. It looked like a black weed was growing out of my bump stops!

What bearings?

I see you are in Bloomfield, CT. Come down to my house and I will do it for $100...

I paid 300$ for complete tear down and rebuild of front & rear suspention and 4 wheel alignment.

It took shop about 4 hrs to do the whole thing. If you don't have tools & someone to help out let mechanic deal with it,

I got quoted 270$ to replace all four shocks... 10$ discount from 70$ per wheel... He said "beacuse we have to compress the spring." I took it to another shop where they installed it for 80$ all fours. BS huh?

I paid $125 to have my struts and springs installed at a local suspension shop.