Front strut service life ?
Senior Member
Joined: 01-13-2008
Posts: 4,708
From: Washington State, where it rains
Correct, the valving doesn't wear out....but the oil gets hot and breaks down (fade come to mind?) also seal and whatever particles accumulate and can affect the flow thru the valves..tell a racer his shocks never change and he'll save thousands a year not having to rebuild them................
Senior Member
Joined: 10-21-2008
Posts: 1,831
From: hemet, calif.
struts are an big money maker in the repair industry. if the oil or the gas&oil inside a strut don't leak out the struts don't lose there damping ability. so unless its making noise,rusted out or the valves inside have broken which is very rare it should in no way be unsafe. I have seen lots of struts go for 100,000 mile plus and they are still going strong with no excess tire wear or danger. This is my opinion based on being an auto tech of 18 years. with that said if you have the money to send and you want peice of mine then by all means replace them as often as you like but I beleve that there money will better spent fixing the noise which is probably sway bar links and or bushing as was mentioned by 843de above.
Senior Member
Joined: 12-24-2007
Posts: 2,873
From: Seville. OH
Glad to here it worked out for you. let me know how the greaseable bushing work for you. I have never seen how those work or what they look like.
Senior Member
Joined: 10-21-2008
Posts: 1,831
From: hemet, calif.
bushings
Senior Member
Joined: 01-28-2009
Posts: 154
From: south carolina
Monroe offers a strut that comes with the spring installed, along with the strut install kit that holds the top of the strut to the uni-body. Having the spring installed saves labor and replacing the mounting parts at the top are a really good idea also. I'm at 48K on my 08 2LT and I've got two on order. I replaced the rear shocks this week with Monroes (around $58 ea) And the Sway end links were swaped out for Moog units ($34 ea). The 2 strut kits were $277 and change shipped From Discount auto parts.com. partstrain.com has pretty good deals and good service also. Just my 2 cents.
Last edited by mrarff; Jan 19, 2011 at 07:53 AM. Reason: spelling
Senior Member
Joined: 01-21-2010
Posts: 1,700
From: The Middie OHIO
I just did KYB's up front with the SS springs
Anyone ever see a floating HHR? haha
To the best of my knowledge, the previous owner never did front struts on my HHR...I've put 20k on it (108k now) and just did the struts. They were absolutely smoked! Next to NO pressure on them at all. We turned them upside down and stood them up on the "post" and the weight of the strut itself started to push the post in. To my surprise most, if not all, of the clunks are gone in my car. Shoulda done them with the rear shocks I did this summer, but didn't have the loot. BTW, my struts were NOT leaking, so for what it's worth, the "if they not leaking they not broke" theory isn't correct, at least in my case.
Anyone ever see a floating HHR? haha
To the best of my knowledge, the previous owner never did front struts on my HHR...I've put 20k on it (108k now) and just did the struts. They were absolutely smoked! Next to NO pressure on them at all. We turned them upside down and stood them up on the "post" and the weight of the strut itself started to push the post in. To my surprise most, if not all, of the clunks are gone in my car. Shoulda done them with the rear shocks I did this summer, but didn't have the loot. BTW, my struts were NOT leaking, so for what it's worth, the "if they not leaking they not broke" theory isn't correct, at least in my case.