I'm planning on getting a set of Baja springs for my car. My question is should I replace the struts also, they do not seem to have anything wrong with them and they are not leaking, but the car has about 97,000 miles on it. I looked at some other posts about strut life and they are all over the place. The problem is that I only have enough cash to get the springs right now and is it even worth doing if I'm going to have to replace the struts soon anyway. Should I wait until I can get enough money to do the struts and the springs at the same time? Just looking for some advice.
Strut life question
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lift the boots and feel for oil on top of the cylinders.
My wife's car had a bad rear shock at about 64K miles. (though, her car probably has less than 5% of those miles on the highway - it lives a hard life of stop&go on secondary roads)
When I changed them, the other 3 were noticeably weak compared to the new ones.
My wife's car had a bad rear shock at about 64K miles. (though, her car probably has less than 5% of those miles on the highway - it lives a hard life of stop&go on secondary roads)
When I changed them, the other 3 were noticeably weak compared to the new ones.
I replaced the shocks and struts on my 08 OBXT at about 75,000 miles. The new rear shocks are much firmer than the originals; the new fronts are very little different. If I'd known, I'd not have bothered with the fronts. BTW, the rears are coilovers, not struts, so easier to change, and no re-alignment needed. The fronts are true struts, so realignment is a necessity.
Before struts, most cars had shocks. I always found that the OEM shocks only lasted about 20K - 30K miles. Once I would change them, there was always a remarkable improvement in the way the vehicle drove and handled.
I know that the KYB Excel-G new struts I put on all four sides of our '05 OB are much different than the original struts, even when the car was new. The factory struts had a "baby-carriage" feeling to it, not tight and not good on bumps and washboards around turns. These new struts are like driving a totally different car, that is how much difference they made. I tried the "bounce-test" on the front and rear with the old struts before I removed them. Jumping as hard as I could to get the car bouncing, I did all I could to even move the car, let alone get a full bounce out of it. So, the OEM struts were still good, just not nearly as good as the new struts!
If you are changing the springs, I would wait until you can do the struts all at once.
I would say, at the mileage you have, you WILL notice a big difference!
If the old ones are not leaking, you may find someone willing to buy them if they damaged their struts in some way and just want a replacement, or if they are installing Konis and need just the old shells to insert the new Konis into!
I know that the KYB Excel-G new struts I put on all four sides of our '05 OB are much different than the original struts, even when the car was new. The factory struts had a "baby-carriage" feeling to it, not tight and not good on bumps and washboards around turns. These new struts are like driving a totally different car, that is how much difference they made. I tried the "bounce-test" on the front and rear with the old struts before I removed them. Jumping as hard as I could to get the car bouncing, I did all I could to even move the car, let alone get a full bounce out of it. So, the OEM struts were still good, just not nearly as good as the new struts!
If you are changing the springs, I would wait until you can do the struts all at once.
I would say, at the mileage you have, you WILL notice a big difference!
If the old ones are not leaking, you may find someone willing to buy them if they damaged their struts in some way and just want a replacement, or if they are installing Konis and need just the old shells to insert the new Konis into!
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