I feel every bump in 99 with 142,000 miles, so I was thinking about having some new struts installed. I also get a creaking noise when going over bumps. I had the car checked for this, but the mechanic did not hear it. However, I am in the car for hours at a time. It does not make the noise all the time.
The one mechanic that I talked with told me that I would probably also need new strut plates. Is it common to replace the strut plates with the struts?
The mechanic that does most of my work has me pick up the parts. So, what parts would I need for this job? I also had a Toyota mechanic look at it, and he told me that the struts should last forever. However, the ride is really rough. I feel every bump.
Creaking noise could be from a number of sources, from worn struts, to worn bushings, to worn suspension components. Being intermittent makes it that much harder to diagnose. I'd suggest that the mechanic lubricate the bushing on the front sway bar, and double check the endlinks for excessive play to see if that was the source of the noise.
Strut plates only need to be replaced if the bearing at the top is showing excessive wear. At this mileage and age of the car, needing new strut plates is not out of the question. Unfortunately, you'll have to remove the strut mount/plate to determine if it is excessively worn out or not. In any case, to keep mechanics honest, ask for the old strut plates back.
As for the struts lasting forever, impossible - unless that mechanic's definitely of "forever" is lasting as long the old benchmark - 100K miles. Will they last a long time, sure. Toyota suspensions are setup on the softer side, compared to other manufacturers. If you get 100K miles out of a set, you are doing pretty well. I've seen 8th generation Corolla struts last as little as 30K miles, and as long as 250K miles. Even under the best conditions, around the 100K mile mark, the damping ability of the struts will be noticeably weakened, will deteriorate over time until you are essentially running on the springs (will make for a very rough ride). Springs, on the other hand, I can see them lasting as long as you own the car. But springs will eventually weaken over time - mostly shows up as reduced ride height.
Minimum that you will need to get:
- all four struts (sold individually per corner, so make sure you get the correct ones)
- strut bellows and bumpstops (most struts sold without the bellows and bumpstops, most bellows come with the bumpstops)
Recommend staying with well known brands that work well with this car. Assuming you have the original springs, in that case - KYB replacement struts are highly recommended. The original Toyota struts were KYB struts. KYB GR-2 struts are considered a upgraded strut for this car - slightly firmer damping, but still retain the softer ride in most situations. Tokico strus are also well received, though they tend to work better if you have a performance spring installed, given their firmer damping.
Other likely parts that you might need to get, given the age of the car/mileage (refer to your mechanic first):
- try to get any other work done at the same time to save on some labor. A good mechanic will take a peek at the brakes aways, since the wheels are off.
- sway bar endlinks (original ones might be badly corroded and/or worn)
- sway bar bushings (replace existing ones if they are damaged/worn)
- upper strut mounts (plates) for front and rear struts
- eccentric bolts and shims (if you need to adjust camber for any reason - for alignment purposes)
- brake fluid (rear hard brake lines are attached to a bracket on the strut, will have to disconnect the lines to remove them from the strut - good idea to have the brake lines flushed out while you have the wheels off)
Thanks for the response.
How much should this cost assuming most mechanics in my city charge $80+ per hours.
I am getting a few estimates today.
Depends on what exactly will be replaced, extent of the replacements, etc. You can guesstimate the labor going on book time - some shops follow this, some charge actual rates. Depending on who is doing the work (master tech, other tech).
Book time, if I remember correctly is around 1.5 hours per axle - so you are looking at about hours of labor + shop fees. Be a minimum of $240 in labor, assume the guy goes on book time. I've seen labor as high as $600-$800 for all four struts (couple years ago at a local dealership, I provide parts - straight labor charge + shop fees, labor quoted at $105/hr).
I got an estimate today for $835.
This seems high to me.
This one shop I used to visit pegged the book time at 45 min per strut, which matches what fishexpo said.
The mechanic that I talked with today told me that it would take him 4 hours to replace the front struts. ($90 X 4=$320)
^^^ That is pretty reasonable, assuming the mechanic has experience working with Toyota's.
I recently changed my struts and I went for the quick struts by Monroe. These are premade struts and the installation is easy. I paid around $90/side.
The reason I did this was because for less than $1000 I was able to put all new parts in. They were charging me $1000 for new struts where the new strut parts were only ~$200 and rest was labor. With the quickstruts I paid the same money but paid more for parts (~600) than for labor (~300). I would rather spend money on part than on labor. I did not want a situation where I put in new struts and then something goes wrong in the spring or the bellow needs to be changed. Simple and effective. And I also got them to change my sway bar links while the struts were being done. Easier/cheaper to change the part than waiting for something to go wrong and paying the labor again.
Hope this helps.
I feel every bump in 99 with 142,000 miles, so I was thinking about having some new struts installed. I also get a creaking noise when going over bumps. I had the car checked for this, but the mechanic did not hear it. However, I am in the car for hours at a time. It does not make the noise all the time.
The one mechanic that I talked with told me that I would probably also need new strut plates. Is it common to replace the strut plates with the struts?
The mechanic that does most of my work has me pick up the parts. So, what parts would I need for this job? I also had a Toyota mechanic look at it, and he told me that the struts should last forever. However, the ride is really rough. I feel every bump.
That is a good idea, but I have had bad luck with Monroe products. I had 4 Monroe Quick Struts installed on my last Corolla, and they only lasted a year or 2. Monroe covered the struts, but not the labor. The first one went bad in about 1 year.
