I was told today that I need not only new struts, but the shock tower mounts because one of my bearings is bad (the noise is what caused me to have it checked out). The mechanic quoted the parts price for the mounts alone at over $200-- but I noticed you can buy just the bearings alone for about $20/each.

Is there any reason not to replace just the bearings? I am also going to replace the worn struts, which are 80k.

Also can someone point me to a reputable website with good prices on aftermarket (Tokico?) struts?

 

Depends on how rusty your stuff is. Yes, you could get away with just replacing the bearings. However, the top mounts have some rubber that may be compressed and/or worn down. You may want to replace that.

Custommaxima sells tokicos

 

The strut mounts on my '98 96K SE were just FINE, as were the bearings, but I replaced the bearings anyway when I installed new struts & springs. The strut mount is nothing but a heafty piece of metal with an equally hefty rubber "bushing". I can see how it might get brittle or compressed over time, but mine looked essentially brand new. The mounts (no-name) are $30 each at Auto Zone. I paid $35 each for Nissan OE bearings from the local Nissan dealer. As you noted, after-market bearings are less.

Techically speaking they are strut bearings.

Replacing them is kind of a pain in the butt since you need a spring compressor, but you can "borrow" one of these from Auto Zone or O'Reilly, and the work isn't rocket science. OTOH, a shop would make quick work of it since they have a special tool for compressing the springs, so it's a classic time/money trade-off.