Front & rear struts and shocks replacement

You will need to separately purchase the dust boots.

You might find my posts on this subject to be of interest as they itemize the Toyota part numbers required:
Hints Regarding Replacement of 2G Front Struts | PriusChat
Replaced Rear Shocks | PriusChat

 

The Insulator upper is aka dust boots.

I found at least one incident where the coil spring end wore a hole into the Insulator lower part at a much lower odometer reading than your car has logged.

The strut mounts need to pivot and are subject to wear. Especially since your odometer reading is 205K, for a complete job they should be replaced.

 

Check your cv joints too. If there the originals they are way overdue for a maintenance replacement. If any of the 4 boots are cracked or compromised they will fail rather quickly. Look for grease that's been thrown from a failed/cracked boot onto the chassis around the boot.

I would deal with the cv joints first as you can drive with worn out struts. You can't drive with a failed cv joint not to mention they are really dangerous when about to fail.

Good Luck.

 

I'm attaching two T-SBs, one related to how much oil is abnormal on the struts and another for abnormal noise from the front of car. Also the parts diagrams for PRIUS 2007 Front and Rear Springs & Shock Absorbers. You just need to order the parts that are bad.

 

That service bulletin is very conservative in my opinion regarding when to change the struts/shocks based upon oil seepage. That makes sense from Toyota's view since the service bulletin will be used to determine whether parts need to be replaced under vehicle warranty.

However:

1. If you live in a hot area (like the desert Southwest for example) the oil will evaporate over a period of time, such as a few months. The oil is quite thin in viscosity.
2. Even if you don't see visible seepage it is still quite possible that the suspension part is bad, but the part will need to be removed from the car to determine its condition ("bounce" test is a waste of time) - and by that point you'd might as well replace it.

 

Anyone who's replaced shocks/struts noticed if the car rides higher after replacing? My Gen II seems to be riding lower than others.

 

If confirmed via measurements, that would be a problem with the coil springs starting to sag and is possible once your odometer gets into the six digit range.

 

Ok. Thanks! I'll measure all the neighbor's!

 

Patrick is correct. I replaced my struts and coil springs on my 2005 Prius in one shot last November and noticed a definite improvement in the ride. Car had logged about 160,000 miles when this was done

 

No amount of oil seepage on a strut is acceptable, any visible oil means the o ring seals inside the strut are compromised. And, I would argue that, barring visible physical damage, any oil strut that has not yet leaked is still good regardless of mileage. There is nothing gained from replacing good used Japanese parts with new Chinese ones.

 

I disagree with the first sentence above, as it is quite possible for a strut or shock to be worn without obvious external appearance changes.

Regarding the second sentence, it would be best to replace worn used Japanese parts with new good Japanese parts.

 

I disagree also. I replaced mine at 75k and noticed 100% better ride
And especially replacing the top bearing made the steering feel effortless again. Struts only last about 75000 miles. They are a wear item.
I checked my fronts after they were pulled out and they were shot.

This is a stiff little car. Blows my mind people can ride around at 200k miles on original struts. This car hits bumps like a hammer.