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4 New Struts + Labor = $1,600?


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Hello everyone – I’m new to this message board and this is my first post. :D

I have a 1992 Lexus ES300 that only has 55,000 miles; however, it spent most of its life just sitting in the Florida heat, and as a result – all four struts dried out and are now toast.

A service center here in Northern Virginia gave me an estimate of $1,600. :o My understanding is that changing out the struts is very labor intensive - to include having to remove the rear seat to get at the rear struts.

I got estimates from Meinike, Midas, etc. and they were able to come in a little bit lower at roughly $1,200. Unfortunately, I don’t have the facilities or the experience to do the work myself.

Does anyone know have any suggestions to do any better than $1,200, or is that about as good as it gets?

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Ouch... :chairshot:

Get yourself your own struts from somewhere else.. Tokico, KYB...etc. Then try and take it to another lower profile shop, that does quality work. Usually you can ask around with people in your community. I had mine changed and it was done in about 2 hours or so... Cheap labor cuz I knew them. :lol:

Anyway, that's some LOW mileage for a 92, congrats on the purchase!

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Is it oem struts or aftermarket?

that make all the difference in the price.

To get tot the rear struts you only need to remove the rear seats which is very easy less than 3 minutes and 2 bolts.

2-3 hours max to chaneg all 4 on a hoist with air tools.

New struts about 400 and springs 400 max

$80 shop rate for labour X2 160-200 = 1000 maximum

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i've done 3 shock & spring change in my life so far.

they are easy. last one i did was on my brother's maxima. took me 1 hour and 15 minutes to do all 4 with air tools.

es300 rear seat is a breeze to take out. makes job easier if you remove the wooden panel in the back also, but that requires taking out rear side panels that's held by bunch of plastic clips.

eibach springs $200 + tokiko HP $220 =$420. the street labor price for all 4 around atl is about $120 .

your total is $560.

but you will have to spend more money on strut mount and dust boots. they are quite expensive on some cars, i don't know how much they cost on our es300

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Anyway, that's some LOW mileage for a 92, congrats on the purchase!

I actually didn’t purchase the car - my grandmother turned 90 last year bless her, but alas could not drive anymore, so she gave me her 1992 ES300! Needless to say I felt very fortunate since my wife and I have been making do with one car for 3 years now. This is truly a one owner “granny owned” car. You guys have heard the story before – she did the routine trips to Church, the grocery store, etc., and rolled up only 55K miles in 12 years. :D

[Thank you to everyone for your input regarding the struts. I decided yesterday for expediency sake to go with a local shop to do the work. I didn’t want to ride around on four blown struts for too long and risk doing any further damage to the suspension.]

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Wow, a granny owned car is the best... that 92 will last for a very long time to come.  B)

Good luck on the strut change.

Yeah...I feel very fortunate to have it. My folks have a Camry of the same vintage and it's just breaking in at 125K miles. I used to bug my Grandma to borrow the ES300 when I was in High School...12 years later the car is mine - funny how things like that work out.

Anyways, I just picked up the car last night...I had a local mechanic perform the strut work. I got a block a away and went over a bump and I still heard a sound coming from the rear like when someone bounces on a bed. The ride is much improved, but I'm still getting a springy sounding noice from the rear. :unsure:

Could this be a bad bushing, sway bar, or what?

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I get that same spongy sound like a bed spring creaking from the rear wheels when I go over speed bumps. Especially apparent when the outdoor temp is below 40-50 F. Does that mean I need new shocks/sruts? Rides fine otherwise except for heavy leaning on turns.

Camry shocks the exact same ride as ES?

1993 ES with 100K.

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I get that same spongy sound like a bed spring creaking from the rear wheels when I go over speed bumps.  Especially apparent when the outdoor temp is below 40-50 F.  Does that mean I need new shocks/sruts?  Rides fine otherwise except for heavy leaning on turns.

Camry shocks the exact same ride as ES?

1993 ES with 100K.

I'm heading out of town this weekend - but I'm bringing the car back to the shop next week, so I'll let you know what the prognosis is.

My guess is that a Camry of the same year has the same strut set-up. I’ll bet they both [ES300/Camry] changed over to a different set-up at some point, but I don’t know when.

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It's the same as Camry, and definitely change the rubber mounts while at it! They cost around $70 a piece- they will make noise after a while. I just did my front struts with KYB $78ea. and $90 for installation, alignment was $50. After taxes, it was just under $350 for the front. So far the Toyota dealer is much better to work with in my experience.

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