Suspension repair

Struts normally last much more than 50 thousand miles. Have your alignment check and maybe your tires are pressed too high for the road surfaces you drive on. Poor quality tires can also give a poor ride. H

 

I have posted on how to replace the front struts and rear shocks and I agree that at ~100K miles this service is past-due.

An easy test is to look for substantial fluid leakage on the strut/shock body. If you see this, that is evidence the part has failed.

However, the reverse is not true: if you do not see leakage, that is not proof that the part is good.
1) The oil has very thin viscosity and will eventually evaporate in hot weather
2) The part may fail without visible fluid leakage

The only comprehensive test is to remove the part from the car, take off the coil spring, and compare how hard it is to compress the part manually, comparing to a new part. However if you go to all that trouble, you'd might as well replace the part.

You won't save any significant labor time by "having the tires and suspension done at the same time" and it would make more sense to buy tires from a tire discount retailer as prices are likely to be lower.

 

Oh, bollocks.

Here's the old fashioned test:

You and a friend get in the trunk (to test the rears). Jump up and down in sync, get the car bouncin' pretty good. At once, jump onto the ground. The car should stop bouncing right away, as in, complete the current bounce and return to static state.

It's the struts' job to stop the car from bouncing. If the bouncing continues after you've jumped, more than 1/2 a cycle, the struts are bad.

Get on the front bumper / quarter panels and repeat to test the fronts.

Another possibility is that some of your suspension bushings may be damaged, although unlikely. Take a look at where the suspension bits bolt together, there should be something of a rubber donut at each union. If the donut appears to be torn to bits (small hairline cracks are normal) then they need replacing.

 

Struts are toast. I had mine changed under warranty at 30,000 miles and noticed the difference. The suspension on this car is very tight and crappy and its not a soft ride so any absorption loss of the struts and it starts to hit hard.

 

My 2007 has 115k and still rides fine. Struts do wear out, but when you replace them get after market struts, don't pay for Toyota parts for that repair IMO.

SCH-I605 ? 2

 

Could you please explain why you would use aftermarket struts as opposed to OEM?

 

Cost. Imo there is no reason to pay for a Toyota part for this particular repair.

It is an individual decision, but for me there are plenty of quality a/m parts available for certain repairs.

If you have a affinity for all OEM parts, they are great as well.

SCH-I605 ? 2

 

Avi how much do you charge to replace the struts? I replaced them on another car I own a Sebring 2 weeks ago. Damn near killed me. Last time I do that. So physically hard.

The local shop I use now and then wanted $250 each labor only. Thought that was nutty. Found out it was a bargain. Prius are probably not much easier. Maybe a little ...smaller spring? I would imagine $450 labor plus the struts and steering bearing assy, and alignment. Could be $900 maybe all in?