I had my car in for a tire rotation at the tire place where I bought my tires. They told me I am in need of new struts and qouted me a price of 760 dollars including a alignment. They use Monroe sensa-trac struts. I inturn call my foriegn car place, they tell me that they use KYB struts and they charge 1100 for the service ( they replace boots, mounts, etc...)

I called the HOnda dealer today and talked to a service person and told me that they rarely replace struts in an Accord. I figured they dont change them ot very often cause people take thier car else where. Dealer qouted me 490 for the front and 485 for the read. I did some research and and I found that Accords dont use struts in thier double wishbone configuration.
http://www.vmrintl.com/Usedcars/Car%...rd%2094-97.htm

Instead use shocks. My 96 Accord LX 90K miles, 80% HWY.

Thoughts....?

 

i thought shocks n struts were basically the same thing?

i found some kyb shocks on ebay for 180 shipped...for all four...so it sounds like u mite be gettin ripped...then again...i could be wrong...

 

you're gettin ripped....

and accords use struts allthough they are basically the same thing... they are both just dampers. Buy the struts on ebay, and have a shop do it. Maybe replace springs too...

 

Are they leaking? Does the car bounce allot?

If they aren't typically they don't need to be replaced. I've worked for honda for 10 years and alot of outside shops just replace struts because its what they learned to do from other makes of cars that fail often but hondas usually don't just go bad unless like i said they are leaking or making noise even.

 

No noise or leaking that I can see. Car doesnt bounce a lot. Seems to ride fine. Actually people commnet on how well it rides. It has 90K miles and they have never been replaced.

Does 490 for Front and 480 for rear sound right for a Dealership?

 

Those prices actually sound about right for a dealership... You're still getting ripped off tho. Each factory strut costs about $115 from the dealer and about 1.5 hours labor per corner to install... The actual time is closer to 30-60 minutes per corner...

It doesn't sound like you're the type that would install things like this yourself. If you did the job yourself, you could get KYB GR-2 struts (essentially the same as stock) for about $75 per corner, spend a day to install them, and save yourself $500... The hardest part would be getting the rusted bolts off.

 

Well than to be truely honest with you i would save my money and keep ifor a rainey day. Why touch it if they aren't broken. I bet you could get 200k out of them.

 

Did they happen to tell you why they need to be changed? Rarely do all 4 struts go at once. If they are causing irregular tire wear, or an excessively bouncy ride then I can see them needing to be changed, but otherwise you may be getting jacked.

 

thats gotta be it they cant align your tires right b/c the struts are shot happened to me like a week ago...had to get new everything

 

I had an alignment about 9 months ago at the dealer. So that is fine. I can do the struts myself. Car drives fine. I was just curious and looking for some insite.
Thanks!