Struts, Mounts And Coil Springs

[CanadaCraig]

Hi Guys!! :)

I hope you're having a great day.

I'm seriously [once again] thinking of replacing the original struts, strut mounts and coil springs on my 1993 LS400. Even with the new tires it's still hitting every little bump in the road far too hard for my liking. And it sits lower on the driver's side. [The reason I would like new coil springs] So I emailed three Lexus dealers. Two in Vancouver and the one I bought my car from in Victoria. [both Canadian cities in the beautiful province of British Columbia - home of the 2010 Winter Olympics!! lol]

You tell me - are the following prices HIGH or is that what these parts cost? And based on the info I got from just one of the Vancouver dealers - is the labour high?! [And I mean 'silly high'?]

At one Lexus dealer in Vancouver

front struts - $196 each

front mounts - $188 each

front coil springs - $167 each

At the other Lexus dealer in Vancouver

front struts - $222.00 each

front strut 'mounts' - $198.00 each

front coil springs - $167 each.

rears struts - $240 each

rear mounts - $189 each

rear coil springs - $146 each

And at MY Lexus dealer in Victoria

front struts - $221.70 each

front mounts - $197.50 each

front coil springs - $166.70 each

Only one of the dealers [The second one listed from Vancovuer] gave me the prices for the rear struts, mounts and coil spring - PLUS what it would cost to install all three of those parts - both front and rear.

Labour to install all three items on both sides

Front - $395

rear - $510

And if I do replace all three parts - both front and rear - is their anything ELSE I should keep in mind? Are there bushings that should be replaced - while everything is apart? Will I need to get an alignment? [And so on]

Thank you,

Craig!! :)

[CanadaCraig]

PS

Are the original struts that came from the factory [And that are still on my car] KYB GR-2's? Or something else?!

I'm confused.

[SKperformance]

Check carson for prices shipped to a UPS store in WA and pick it up , might be much less.

Also the exchange rate might help you a bit.

Have you asked you local dealer for a discount ?

Lots of OEM toyota struts are KYB's , remember Toyota is a part assembler and designer , all the parts are built by other companies so they can assemble and sell.

[curiousB]

Hi Craig,

I lived in Vancouver 8 years many moons ago. Beautiful place.

You can try www.parts.com to get a benchmark price for these items. Its a beautiful site that sells Lexus OEM parts (in fact many OEMs). Good online catalog and diagrams when you might not have part name exactly as Lexus calls it.

From there you can either order parts and deal with the complexities of importing to Canada (maybe its easier than when I lived there) or use this to negotiate some discount from your dealer. I doubt you'll get dealer to match price but maybe you can get some type of price concession. Other option is get a quote from a Seattle dealer and drive down to US and spend a weekend at Carillon Point while your car gets fixed....

[lenore]

Partsgeek.com has all of the parts except the springs for $591. Then get the springs elsewhere....

http://www.partsgeek.com/cart/

[curiousB]

p.s. I have read a few posts suggesting that bushings wearing out in the suspection can create a hard ride. You might want to check those posts out before you spend a lot of $$$. Those parts are inexpensive but the labor would be fairly steep. You might want to do bushings with you stut/spring job since you're already doing a major repair to do springs and struts. Maybe just add bushings to the list.