Gabriel Struts??

[Jonnyferrari]

So I decided that I want to go ahead and replace my two front struts while I'm at it..Autozone has a deal here: Buy 1 Strut, get the 2nd for 1/2 the price. Along with this, I get a free $20 amazon gift card. So thats 2 struts for $71.50 after the MIR and giftcard, not including tax. My question is, has anyone tried gabriels before? I was hoping that they would be OEM or better. If that doesn't work I'll go with kyb or monroe, but this is a great price. Just wanted to see if anyone has a car with them and can say how different it feels, and if these are just crap. I assume they can'e be too bad as they are the "ultra
and priced the same as monroe.

[Jonnyferrari]

No reply...no surprise. I bought the two struts, we will see when they come. Supposed to be around Monroe sensa quality, but this is half the price after the rebate and gift card. Now I need to buy the strut bearing (plate or mount?) and noise should be gone +a new ride feel. Hopefully.

[beensmoked]

I got KYB's.. Put it this way. You will not notice a difference between the different struts. KYB/Monroes/Gabriels/Machperson. The only difference you'll notice is going from an old strut to a new strut.

The struts on this car is ridiilously easy!. The rears can be done in 30 minutes on both sides plus the time to compress the springs and swap out. Just make sure you buy new stabilzer links for the fronts. And when doing the struts make sure you remove both stabiler links on both sides before attemping to remove each strut.

[beensmoked]

I got all 4 KYBS for 200 with free shipping. There is a thread on here about them.. They're probably a little more now but it was a good deal at the time

[Jonnyferrari]

Got my struts, they look good. Doing both fronts and both front strut bearing plates. at 94k I am hoping my mounts will last another 100,000 and I have read that the sway bar links may need replacing by now?? I will have them look at the whole front end but hoping I can wait it out for another 50k+ on other suspension parts. Now my rear camber is way off, typical of this car and not just due to dying lower control arm bushings. I would appreciate people telling me how much or how they adjusted the rear suspension with shims and how much it cost? If I can do it for under $300 parts and labor+the alignment maybe I will do it this week while I get my front struts done. Thanks, I just put on 80k really nice tires that I don't want to shred through.

[Jonnyferrari]

Got my new struts on, no more strut bearing noise, YAY! Still have a little loose feeling in steering, I think it is from the tierods, but that can wait! Suspension is actually feeling much smoother, larger difference than expected. Now, my mechanic bought my strut bearings at $55 each and installed everything for $205 total, a decent price. BUT, he DID not put the old bump stops on!!! Unless my new strut bearings included ones, I have none! I specifically asked to have everything transferred over that I didn't purchase. If someone could help me clarify if bump stops are needed, or if they are usually included with strut bearings, I would appreciate it. They sound important to me, they are the backup to a HUGE bump before your car bottoms out.

[mudawg]

Originally Posted by Jonnyferrari

Got my new struts on, no more strut bearing noise, YAY! Still have a little loose feeling in steering, I think it is from the tierods, but that can wait! Suspension is actually feeling much smoother, larger difference than expected. Now, my mechanic bought my strut bearings at $55 each and installed everything for $205 total, a decent price. BUT, he DID not put the old bump stops on!!! Unless my new strut bearings included ones, I have none! I specifically asked to have everything transferred over that I didn't purchase. If someone could help me clarify if bump stops are needed, or if they are usually included with strut bearings, I would appreciate it. They sound important to me, they are the backup to a HUGE bump before your car bottoms out.

you should be able to feel them from the outside of the bellow, might be able to push the bellow up to see them as well... I accidently put one of mine in upside down and it rattled on unstable ground so I had to pull it off and on again

[KLS1P]

The bump stops come with the bearing kits. You probably cant see them because they may have been pushed up to the top inside the bearing housing.

[Jonnyferrari]

I don't think so, it wasn't labled on the box of the new bearing kits, or shown in the picture. When I called and asked they said "you don't need them because your car would be totaled if it hit a bump that hard anyway..." PS, the same bearing on the same side went out today. Go figure...They are replacing it no charge. Strange.

[KLS1P]

What bearing kit are you using? Every bearing kit I have seen, KYB, Monroe, ACdelco, Raybestos, etc, include the bumb stop. Usually new struts don't come with them, but they should be in the mount / bearing kit. Believe me they are needed and as long as they are still soft can be used again. Your mechanic is wrong that they are not needed, they help protect the strut and bearing from damage when you hit the huge pothole.

[KLS1P]

Also, you can tell when a front strut bearing is bad by looking at the strut tower from the engine side. If the large 3 5/8" washer rides above the surface of the tower, not touching it, the bearing has crushed.

[Jonnyferrari]

Well he replaced the bearing for free, it was broken. I have this:

https://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/C...+50071+2071012

On both sides. While I see the bump stop in the picture, I did not see it in the box, on the picture on the box, or in the strut bearing housing, new or old. I would feel it if it's there, and my mechanic said my car would be totaled if I hit a bump that big, but I still don't buy it. Oh well, now it's time to fix the rear alignment, and I need help with that. I want a shop to do it, but to do it right. I need people who have had this fixed on their L-series to let me know how it was done, and a ballpark figure of what was paid. Most shops around here are 90-100 per hour.

[Jonnyferrari]

Soo third times a charm? With ANOTHER strut bearing going out, the second new one, in 2 weeks, on the same side, I figure it is either A.Being installed incorrectly, or B.Not the right part. Maybe something else is causing it, but this isn't normal and I am sick of dumping money into this thing. Sigh. I just want it running perfectly before I head off to college.

[Jonnyferrari]

Well, here I am again. During my last week here at school, my parents call me up telling me that the passenger side is making a lot of noise when stopping and on bumps...they had their mechanic look at it and he believes it is a strut mount...My question is: is the strut MOUNT the SAME thing as the strut mount BEARING PLATE on this car? I had both bearings, struts, and coil springs replaced last summer by my mechanic, and he had to change the driver-side plate 4 TIMES before he realized my coil was broken, and 'cocking' the plate as I turned...I really want this figured out. If it is separate from the mounts and the mount is the issue, I'll have to replace it. Otherwise, I want my mechanic that did all the work to fix the bearing plate as he must be doing something wrong...

This is the bearing plate that was replaced on both sides with my struts, and coils.

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/Ca...915_0275739150

Thanks!

[Jonnyferrari]

I decided to purchase 2 new sway bar end links, and will install them next weekend when I go home. If this does not resolve the clunking, I will return to the mechanic who fit my strut bearing plates (which I assume is also the mounts, though I received no help as usual) and see if he can work on it one more time, as it must have been something he installed incorrectly. Or something, because this is bizarre! I need the car for work next monday when I return home, so this needs to be a quick weekend fix!

[dmueller6]

Time to find a new mechanic, If it took him 4 times to find a broken coil spring. If they are in 2 pieces instead of one that should be a clue. Maybe a bad mount once in awhile but four in a row, I would say poor installation.
Just my 2 cents.

[Jonnyferrari]

The broken coil spring section was very small, and the piece was missing, so you couldn't really tell. It would slip out of the 'lip' that holds it in place on the strut, and turn in a way that 'cocked' the strut mount plate bearing thing. But I may agree, I just would like to see if he'll fix it for free again; I am probably the poorest person you know (with an l-series at least).

[Jonnyferrari]

The NAPA mounts turned out to be monroe, and have manufacturing defects. I had them replaced with kyb, and no more noise. Only time will tell, but this should be the solution..

[pierrot]

Originally Posted by Jonnyferrari

The NAPA mounts turned out to be monroe, and have manufacturing defects. I had them replaced with kyb, and no more noise. Only time will tell, but this should be the solution..

I think you will be satisfied with the KYB mounts. I saw and handled them as well as the OE mounts and they appeared to be manufactured in the same way. When replacing the last pair of defective MONROE mounts, for personal reasons I rejected KYB and favored the OE style since I knew of it's original service life and the retail price of the OE was lower than KYB. However, I do believe that you're in good shape in using the KYB pair.

If you've had to shell out any additional money for this service, and you still have access to a defective pair of mounts, you may be able to recover your costs from the manufacturer. They will want to examine the defective product at the factory so the bad mounts have to directed there for return. I did this directly with MONROE and was able to get them to pay for the installation of the OE mounts, parts and labor, They refused, however, to reimburse the sales tax.

[Jonnyferrari]

Well I would love to get my $300 back, but I told my mechanic to return the old mounts for a refund to save me money on replacing them again...Didn't work out in my favor I guess. I think the KYBs are better quality, they are the most quiet pair yet.