I was told that I need to replace my struts (Tokico Illumina) and strut mounts, which I had installed three years ago. Is this normal? (My Maxima has a mild drop.)

Any recommendations as to what I should replace them with?

Now that I'm older and have other cars, I'm more interested in a smooth ride than performance.

Thanks guys.

 

You can't say that you need to replace the struts because they are 3 years old. It is all based on how many times the strut has been compressed. So you cannot even say that you should replace them every x number of miles.

Stock struts in a stock suspension may last up to 100K miles if the car is driven in an area where the roads are fairly smooth. If you are the average driver of 12 to 15K miles a year, 3 years seams a bit premature to me. But I don't know if having a dropped suspension makes a difference.

Try contacting Tokico and see what they say for life of the strut and maybe how you can test it.

Since I haven't dealt with dropped suspension, I don't know if you can use a stock type strut such as Monroe in your car.

 

Who told you this and what was their reasoning behind that advice?

 

I took it in because the car makes grinding and groaning noise from the front driver's side. The mechanic said that the strut mount was broken and I should replace the front struts.

 

Maybe only the strut mount needs to be replaced?

 

To replace a strut mount, you have to take the strut out. So let's sell the guy some new struts and make some extra money.

 

Turning up the music 'til you can't hear the creaking anymore costs $0. It's worked for me for years. Seriously, though, my mechanic said if I could stand the noise, it wasn't worth the cost to replace them. Mine went out maybe 4 years ago.

 

How did the strut mount break? I've seen some mounts break in half, and that needed to be replaced. But if all its doing is making noise when you turn, to me its not really broke, just wore out. I don't really see a danger in leaving it for a while. Plus if you have camber bolts, you might have to get an alignment afterword.