Opinions Wanted: "Unity" Front Strut Assembly $75

Brave. Glad you didn't get injured.

Was this the first strut change for this car?

Do report back at some mileage point and let us know a longer term update, say at 15K and 40K mile?

Remember, struts wear out slowly and you probably won't notice the difference unless the tell-tale signs: bottoming out, hop scotch marks on tire, etc.

 

I actually didn't really even have a ride start with, but Sunday morning on my way to work I heard a clank and suddenly every bump I hit made a serious racket. I inspected for loose parts and checked the ball joints and tie rods which looked fine so based where sound coming and process elimination I figured was the strut. I'm guessing the mounting bracket or something cause the ride quality was fine, no bouncing or excess rolling during turning, or excess movement during acceleration or braking.

It was my first strut install on a prius, however I have worked on cars a number of years, this wasn't my first rodeo.

 

Are you still enjoying these Unity struts? My 2007 Prius has 163,000 miles and I think I'm due for some new struts. The front left tire is making a faint thumping noise only on smaller bumps. I have never changed struts before but I think I may go with the Unity because of the simplicity/price and because I may not have the car much longer as I plan to move to CO this summer. Any regrets or suggestions before I pull the trigger?

 

Aside from Unity have you also seen the SenSen struts? Via rockauto, they'd come out to about $141 shipped for all 4 struts/shocks. Just not sure how reliable they are.

 

Did a quick google search and this came up

made me a little hesitant to go with Unity or Sen Sen after reading the comments and watching the video. Love the price though

 

I think I will order kyb or monroe and then take them to pep boys to have my old coils put on. Does anyone know how reliable the old coils are at 165,000 miles? Is that something I should consider replacing as well?

 

Unless you notice that a corner of the car is lower than the others, or believe that the body in general is riding lower than it should, that probably is not necessary.

 

Ok great I will just go with KYB or monroe then and order the parts online and have a shop swap the struts for me then try and put it all back together. Thanks

 

Make sure that the shop you have in mind for the service is willing to use parts that you supply. Don't forget to replace the front strut mounts and the front strut rubber pleated covers.

 

Any advice on KYB vs. Monroe? Which website usually has the cheapest price? I'm looking on amazon and tirerack right now. So I need
1. Struts
2. Strut Mounts
3 Strut Cleated Covers

 

are there no performance shox 4 the prius? offroaded a lot and a set of blown out bilsteins on a vw bug worked way better than stock stuff. same on a toy4x... or a chevy truck. sorry i dont know but limited computer availability.

 

i should have added they were 250t for vw and 500t for toyota...bought in 1977.& 1994 respectivly, parts only .

 

I ended up getting my kyb struts and mounts from shocks.com they were only $220 total. I haven't opened the box yet to see if everything is there but I read a lot of complaints about shocks.com because they don't have a phone number and are hard to get a hold of. Saved me like $40 in comparison to other sites.

 

Could you please tell us how is the unity struts are doing so far and how many miles you put on them becuase I already ordered them and I am kind off worried about the quality since i read some reviews on amazon that they fail after a year. And here in Indiana driving on I65 south from indianapolis to columbus IN is like driving in a parking lot with speed bumps.

 

You chose well.

I've done a fair amount of suspension work on a number of cars. I wouldn't put Monroe shock/struts on my car if they were free and came with a complimentary travel mug. If you get 2 years out of them, you'll have done well. While I have no experience with the two knock off brands mentioned earlier in this thread, I would expect their quality to be even lower than Monroe.

In my opinion, cheap suspension parts are a bad value for a number of reasons:
1) every time you change a suspension part, you need an alignment. That's $80 - $90. So if you have to do it once every couple years, instead of once every 10 years, those alignments are going to eat up your savings. (if you're not getting an alignment after suspension work, your savings will be eaten up by the cost of new tires)
2) My time is valuable. I don't want to be changing crappy Monroe shocks every couple years.
3) Upper strut mount quality: Upper strut mounts have a lot of pressure on them. If they fail, that strut is going right through the hood. Back in my Volvo days, cheap strut mounts from ScanTech had a reputation for doing just that.

When it comes to sourcing quality OEM parts, Toyota's reputation is the best in the automotive business. Admittedly, they charge accordingly.
KYB is an excellent suspension company -- it doesn't surprise me that they are the OEM supplier for Toyota. If you put KYB or Bilstein on your car, they will likely be the last strut you'll ever have to buy for that vehicle.

IMHO: do it right the first time, and be done with it.

 

It is the worst product I've ever purchased online. Yes, the price is too good to be true- the product came defective right out of the box. My mechanics took video of the broken strut and the company still didn't react promptly. Customer service was a complete run-around- emails unanswered for weeks, phone calls not returned, and no one owns the issue instead everyone punts. Don't waste your money! Clearly, I'm not happy and willing to share my experience.

 

Good post G, the kyb's that come on the car I imagine are inferior to the kyb's you buy aftermarket, I'm thinking Toyota buys them by the million and get's a slightly less expensive version...
I know my kyb replacements lasted more than the 40,000 that wore out the originals, and had a superior ride, in handling.