Blown strut dilemma.

[suaveflooder]

Originally Posted by Wonderbar

Toyota reps read the forums too... Stuff like this is why factory will not replace stuff for people with legit claims...

I'm sure they have better things to do than worry about whether springs have been swapped out or not, especially when they offer a lowering spring themselves for the car. It's all a money game. They can overcharge for the same springs, with a different logo on them, and on top of that, charge you twice the labor that a normal shop would because they are dealership.

Also, a shock/strut should not fail at 1000 miles, even lowered. As far as him possibly spinning the strut while he installed it (I know it will be brought up), the service techs use a freakin' impact to install the new shock (ask me how I know).

Lastly, people swapping their springs back on is not going to stop them from replacing parts that have failed for others. They would quickly be out of business if this was the case because there are plenty of companies that are willing to just replace the part (and do), with very few questions asked. Go figure, Toyota happens to be one of these companies.

I would hardly be encouraging him to do this if he had a year on lowering springs and 30k miles. He's got under 5000 and eiback pro's, which is a VERY mild drop. I personally have money already set aside for when mine blow.

[f0rge]

Originally Posted by Bailey239

No I used hand tools and passthrough sockets. That why I don't know why they're blown. I don't know what this sound would be if it's not blown struts.

Can you describe the noise?

Are the strut top mounts fully tightened? You have to tighten that nut till it's tight, a lot of people (myself included) didn't tighten it all the way and got some really strange noises. This is a common mistake.

You could also be getting noises if you didn't fully tighten the swaybar endlinks.

I made both these mistakes on the rear at separate times, the top mounts make this weird metal on metal clacking sound almost constantly when the car was in motion and the endlink made more of pop sound at random times.

If your struts were blown they'd be visibly leaking oil, I'm betting the fix is a lot simpler than that. Check everything and re-tighten again just to be sure before you dish out hundreds of dollars.

[gvan1998]

Originally Posted by Bailey239

So my front struts got blown out while doing a spring swap. I was going to buy a set of konis to replace all of them but I can't dish out all that money right now, would I be better off sticking with my blown front struts for a few more weeks or buying a front set of konis and keeping the back struts stock for a few weeks until I can buy the rest of the set? Not too knowledgable about suspension so I was hoping someone here would be able to give me some insight.

Your avatar is very offensive to some people. Google Japan rising sun, it equals to nazi's symbol.

[gvan1998]

Originally Posted by suaveflooder

I'm sure they have better things to do than worry about whether springs have been swapped out or not, especially when they offer a lowering spring themselves for the car. It's all a money game. They can overcharge for the same springs, with a different logo on them, and on top of that, charge you twice the labor that a normal shop would because they are dealership.

Also, a shock/strut should not fail at 1000 miles, even lowered. As far as him possibly spinning the strut while he installed it (I know it will be brought up), the service techs use a freakin' impact to install the new shock (ask me how I know).

Lastly, people swapping their springs back on is not going to stop them from replacing parts that have failed for others. They would quickly be out of business if this was the case because there are plenty of companies that are willing to just replace the part (and do), with very few questions asked. Go figure, Toyota happens to be one of these companies.

I would hardly be encouraging him to do this if he had a year on lowering springs and 30k miles. He's got under 5000 and eiback pro's, which is a VERY mild drop. I personally have money already set aside for when mine blow.

What your asking OP to do is FRAUD.

[suaveflooder]

Originally Posted by gvan1998

What your asking OP to do is FRAUD.

lol, okay

[boredom.is.me]

Originally Posted by gvan1998

What your asking OP to do is FRAUD.

So if I ask you to jump off of a building, will you do it? It's his choice.

[suaveflooder]

Originally Posted by boredom.is.me

So if I ask you to jump off of a building, will you do it? It's his choice.

Gonna add to this as well. He sounds like he is going to go with Koni's anyway, so it'll make @gvan1998 feel better. Also, there are some dealerships who are pretty cool with mods, and like I mentioned before, there is no reason that the strut should have blown right away, especially on a strut with so few miles and with such a mild drop. If he goes and presents his case, he might just get lucky, but he would need to do it BEFORE he puts a lot of miles on it.

I'm hoping for something not being tight. It would make everyone happy.

[Bailey239]

Well I figured it out, thanks for the suggestions guys, it was the swaybar end link bolt, someone that was helping me didn't tighten it down very well and it got really loose. I fixed it and i'm really happy I didn't have to replace the struts so soon.