My 2 front struts are bad, how much does the avg mechanic charge to replace them IF I bring them my own “ready to mount” shock/strut (gabriel readymount shock/strut)?
year,make and model please
Last time I checked, it was $25 to install the old spring on a new strut. Thats not the complete cost to install, just the cost if you bring in your old strut assemblies and new struts and have the springs moved from old to new. That was a while ago (mid 90’s) so no doubt the cost has gone up. That is all you would save.
Since a ready mount strut assembly costs about $75-100 more than a strut alone, buying the ready mount is not the economical choice unless you need new springs too. If you bring in your own struts, there will be a surcharge for that so in the long run, you won’t save any money by bringing in your own parts. The only reason to bring your own parts is if the mechanic cannot buy the type you want.
I have a 2000 Corolla CE, it is making this same exact noise when going over a bump (at 8 sec and again at 22 sec):
The noise is coming from the front drivers side. At first I thought it was the strut (cause when I had my tires balanced, the guy said my struts need to be replaced soon). However, I did the bounce test and it is fine for the front and rear. Also, I can hear the “gas” from the strut when going over a bump so obviously the strut must be working. Now I’m thinking it might be control arm etc.
Is it possible to tell exactly what part needs to be replaced from the noise in the video?
Just watching the front end as you go over the bumps looks like the struts are OK. Control arm bushings don’t go bad in 13 years either, they are good for 20 or more. The sound is inconclusive but it does sound a little like rusted metal against rusted metal so it could be just about anything.
How many miles on this car? Do you do mostly city or highway driving? How is the tire wear? Is the tread wear pretty even across the tread or is the left side, right side inner treads or outside treads wearing more than the others. Is there evidence of cupping in the tread wear? How many miles on the current tires (lots or fairly new) and are you satisfied with how long the tires usually last?
http://www.michelinman.com/tires-101/tire-care/tire-maintenance/how-to-inspect-a-tire.page
btw, that is not my car…but my car makes the same sound as his.
It has 50k miles now (bought it used with 45k miles 4 months ago). The problem was there when I bought it but less noticeable I guess.
The tires were rebalanced/aligned 3 weeks ago. They said the alignment was really off and 2 of the tires were bad (they put those in the rear). Before the alignment, the car was pulling to the drivers side…now it is fixed.
Steering wheel shakes very slightly when going at 50mph…less noticeable at 60mph.
I don’t know how many miles on the tires (when I bought the car, they said it was brand new tires).
Could it be a sway bar? Since going over a bump on the left side only makes that noise and going over a bump on the right side only doesn’t…could it be a sway bar link? Reason I say this is that I tried to do the bounce test to try and reproduce the noise and couldn’t do it.
Here is my strut assembly on the side that makes the noise…does the strut look ok? When I go over bumps just on this side, I can hear the “gas” expanding/contracting which means the strut is working. My guess is that the creaking noise is from the sway bar OR the strut mount? However, if it was the strut mount, turning the wheel should make the sound but it doesn’t in my case.
BTW, I also jacked up the car and tried to move the wheel horizontally and vertically and there was no play. Everything was rock solid. I tried to rotate the wheel and it became locked (then I could here a clunk but I think that is just the wheel lock mechanism).
So best guess is sway bar.
Here is another pic of the upper strut mount.
xaml:
Some Toyota’s of that vintage had problems with the strut mounts. The symptom would be a clunking sound. You can either fix it by making sure to replace the mounts when changing the struts, or simply with a complete quick strut.
I would try this first. Get a can of spray oil such as WD40 and spray around the seats of the spring, top and bottom. PB Blaster or spray Seafoam would also be good choices. Let it sit overnight and then see if the noise goes away.