This is something that's been steadily gaining ground on my list of pet peeves. Literally every person I've ever seen selling used suspension claims that parts were only installed for a day, and have .00005 miles on them.

Exaggeration aside, I'm at the point where I don't even remotely believe the stated mileage anymore. It's always "less than 1,000 miles" TOPS. Really? You paid at least $500 for struts and springs, spent a weekend dismantling your suspension, installing inserts, installing springs, installing the assemblies, and realignment only to change your mind? Doesn't sit low enough? Doesn't ride well enough? Didn't cost enough? When does compromise and leaving well enough alone come into play? All those questions would be valid if these guys were honest. But they're not, they're flat out lying. They put 60k miles on their struts and now they want to sell them. Unless the parts are 20 years old, it's easy enough to clean everything to look virtually brand new again. Sure maybe one in a handful of people are giving a valid approximation, but since everyone states ultra low miles, I don't believe any of them. Moral of the story is to buy new. You never know what kind of abuse used suspension has taken. At the very least ask why, and see what kind of excuse they come up with.

 

Lying is very powerful, indeed. It gets things done AND sold.

 

There is some parts that I would never buy used. It is hard to verify mileage and condition on some parts.

 

i sold struts that i bought and never installed. they were used...they were not rusted out. whatever the case i was able to sell them but for like 1/3 of their value. i took a loss but it's better than nothing. personally i would never try and sell struts with 60K on them and not tell ppl that there's 60k on them...that's just wrong.

 

Exactly. Mileage is a huge factor when buying used suspension. Nobody is going to buy struts that have 60k miles on them.

 

Agreed, I have considered buying used suspension before, but glad I didn't. On the other hand, there's parts I refuse to buy new because perfectly good replacements can be had at the junkyard on the cheap.

 

I can agree with OP, makes a lot of sense.

When I worked as a car salesman years ago (Baltimore-Berman's Automotive) at a used luxury-car dealership which accepted any credit score...First thing I was told by the manager (his dad owned the place, and the son was the manager living upstairs in the showroom building and was a horrid pill head) is LIE, first rule of car sales is LYING! BTW any of you guys in MD around that area (Reisterstown/Bmore), don't ever go to that dealership, every car on that lot will light up the dash a mile down the road from the dealer. Ironically enough, this dealership also doubles as a towing service so when you buy a car there, you can just call them once it breaks down.

And also, one time my dad made the mistake of letting Merchants/NTB Tire replace the struts on his Camry. Later on when I was helping him work on the car, I found 3 new struts and one old one. It's unbelievable the amount of blatant lying that goes on in the auto industry. And thing is, most people never know because they're not "car guys/gals".

 

I have a set of d2 coilovers i put on last month 1,000 miles tops just removed and going to sell. reason - i live in nyc roads suck out here for coils, going back stock.

Its believable i did everything u said too i did a install and alignment and reinstalled stock and going for another alignment.

 

Likely story.

Jk BTW. But why buy them in the first place knowing how bad the pothole problem is?

 

If it was a sports car that nobody drives but me i could handle it, i loved it. But the family complains about it so it had to go. In the end i could say at least i did it.

 

Ask for a receipt to at least get an idea. Should be easy enough to produce...

That said, a number if years ago I sold a set of D2 coil overs to someone on here. They had a number of miles on them and I had stripped some parts, but at least I had the wherewithal to send them to D2 for rebuilding and new parts before attempting to sell them.

Bottom line if you don't or can't trust the person and they don't produce a receipt then walk away...it isn't wroth it.

 

Agree on all these points. I steer my customers away from used suspensions all the time.

Only exception: If I did the original installation when the parts were new, and I'm now swapping to the next customer. At least I can vouch for the length of time they were installed.

 

It's comes down to who you're buying from. I've bought used suspension twice with no worries and no issues because I knew and trusted those guys.

 

I wouldn't buy most parts used, unless they are rebuildable such as brake calipers, but anything else like suspensions, since they take a lot of abuse and stress.

 

I'd actually say most parts I am perfectly fine buying used from the yard. I've found many nice, newer parts from junkyard cars. I wouldn't install used timing belts, gaskets, seals, or parts that are difficult to replace. And never aftermarket junk. I have a very negative view on aftermarket parts, unless it's a legit upgrade, which is obviously true of suspension.

 

I bought my struts off this guy ^^^ and they were used, he told me they were used and everything I needed to know. I think I bought them in 2011 and they are still fine today. 0 complaints

 

Can you vouch for me?

I cant get rid of the OEM springs from my I30 which you upgraded me to H&Rs and GR2s.

 

OEM springs do not go bad.

Your issue is that they're just not worth anything.