Parts for strut replacement, 1988 Chevrolet Nova / Toyota Corolla

PaddyOFurniture
Sat, 19 Apr 2025 18:27:34 +0000
Maintenance/Repairs

I am planning a batch of repair and maintenance for a 1988 Chevrolet Nova (comparable to a Toyota Corolla) with 277000 miles on it. Since both of the first two items should be followed by alignment, I am preparing to do these with minimal driving in between.

Replace all struts

Replace all tires

Alignment (front and rear)

Two years ago, a known-good mechanic gave me this quote for the replacement of the struts:

parts: $530
labor: front 3.6 h + rear 2.9 h = 6.5 h @ $140/h = $910

total: $1440

They said that I might be able to find parts that are less expensive and bring them in for installation. While I am familiar in general with shopping for car parts, this seems like a fairly complicated batch of parts to try to gather for someone else to install. I am aware of some possible parts aside from the struts themselves: spring bushings, upper mounts, bumper stops, and assorted other rubber parts. I have read here about quick struts, but have not found them for this car model. Also I do not know what other parts would additionally be needed.

The main question is whether I should forget about trying to gather the right parts and instead assume that the mechanic needs to sort that out and I will pay whatever the resulting price is for parts.

That particular shop has had a change of ownership, so I will be checking around with them and others to have the work done.

44 posts - 15 participants