Cost of Shock Replacment?

i literrally have nightmares about the day my "european tuned" touring suspension goes out and i may have to settle for base suspension parts

call up the dealer anonymously and ask them to estimate the cost of a touring prius!

 

If your rear shock is leaking, I would just replace both rear shocks and not the front struts (assuming the front struts are fine). This will bring this cost down considerably as shocks are much much cheaper than struts.

 

even if it passes the jounce test? i remember trying to look for the sway bar in the beam axle but its tastefully hidden from what i remember, im going to have to look carefully next time.

when i jounce it there's no noise or flex, silent, even going over bumps... ONLY when i'm turning (doesn't matter left or right) and there's an elevation change is when i'll hear the creak and the flex (which sounds like plastic trying i do not know).

edit: so when i go to my toyota guy tommorow, do i tell him i just need two new front struts? no rubber pieces of such to replace as well (like top rubber bushing?)

 

sounds like your front strut could be seized if it won't bounce... stand on the door sill up front and bounce your weight up and down, see if the car bounces that way. if you're getting the front struts replaced, throw in the strut mounts. there are silencer rings that you probably want to replace too. don't bother with springs, reuse the old ones.

there are no rear swaybar bushings to speak of. there are control arm bushings that you can check, but are unlikely to be torn.

DH saw one interesting case with a creaking/popping noise occurring in turns where it turned out not to be the suspension- he chased suspension noise for a while on that one. it was the battery case in back, it had been removed for some service, dropped along the way, put back on a little crooked. every time the body flexed in a turn, it made a creak. he straightened it out, noise disappeared.

 

"every time the body flexed in a turn"

Eeewww. Guess we should be thinking about those body stiffening plates.

 

lol- good point DAS!

 

no it jounces, i tested it your way with my foot on the driver side door and put my 130 lbs onto it. Same with the right side, jounces down up down stop. Maybe on the left side it jounces one extra up before it stops but maybe my mind is playing tricks on me because i know there's a leak. If I never saw the leak I wouldn't have noticed the jounce difference in the first place!

lol damn the strut mounts are like 100+ bucks (almost as expensive as the shocks which were 125 a pop with my discount since i godda buy two!, then two more strut mounts damn that's just luxury I can't afford.) I was thinking about the upper and lower rings but I asked a tech today and he said its not necessary if I"m not having any noise problems. I asked if the oil shocks would contaminate any of the parts and he said no its ok to reuse them. Hm the only thing you can't reuse is the nut that holds the strut mount together according to Toyota (do i have to buy that too?)

your right i checked mine for play and shined the bright light at the rubber pieces many times, never found anything. On a hoist to speak of as well, no leaky rear dampeners thank god!

you know every since my instructor's friend took my car for a demonstration and messed it up badly (when he didn't know that the HV battery service plug was a two way latch) that sound was there. Its been more apparent ever since, but it was there before that incident (only when i back up my previous driveway that forced me to reverse uphill with a left turn and right when I make that turn is when i hear the creeek but couldn't determine if it was front or rear, definitively rear for sure).

Going to check the HV battery removal instructions and see if I can see the battery cover piece your talking about. Thanks for the tip!

edit: on another note since i car wash every toyota that comes in service, I've driven many of the new priuses even with touring suspension. I must say the suspension jounce and feel is so much smoother and more refineed than mine! Could it be the 50 psi tires that masks the comfort cushy ride that majority owners are used to with psi on the side door? Or hopefully when I upgrade my shocks the new car feel ride will be restored?

 

Hi Phil,

How many miles on your odometer? The upper strut mounts are quite robust in construction and I do not think it is necessary to replace them unless you hear noise.

Regarding the rubber boots: if they are in good condition, then peace. However it is quite possible that at minimum the end of the coil spring will have made a hole in the rubber where the coil spring end squeezes against the strut mount. Hence I would be inclined to replace the rubber boots.

A new top nut should be provided with the new strut.

 

you can always reuse parts. if you can DIY on the labor, then replacing strut mounts now isn't too big of a deal. the reason DH always does strut mounts with new struts is because they do make noise with age and wear. he's *very* sensitive to suspension noise after all the years of undercar work, and he can't stand it. if you DIY, you're not going to be paying labor for someone else to do all the removal and reinstall twice, it'll just be a pain in your nice person. (for us, that's not worth it with his back trouble. for you things are different.) for someone who pays labor rate, it's much cheaper in the long run to just pay for r&r once and suck up the extra cost of the mounts at the time of the strut replacement.

i bet the shocks will help since wear on those is gradual. upgrading to new will help. but the 50psi is going to give you a pretty harsh ride itself.

 

hey yo you two are the best when it comes the answers

patrick i'm sitting at 192,150 km right now, since I know my former boss well (person whom i bought the car from) I wouldn't be surprised if these were the mounts that were with the salvage car or grabbed from another salvage car lol but damn i'm so broke i can't afford the extra 2 bills for the stop strut mounts otherwise i would have..... however i went through this same bump i always go through with all the cars i wash and today my prius almost felt like that new prius i drove HMMM really this stuff is getting to my head lol.

this is going to be ALL DIY baby, gone are the days I'm paying for a tech, no more... but i agree galaxee on the logic your providing, since the part is out might as well do it all at once instead of paying more to do the same thing later. But since I"m DIY i could use the extra practice if my struts somehow got noisy in the future, but boy DH having an ear and feel like that must take years to develop that kind of skill!

i'm doing it on Saturday, i got a couple of pro techs that are staying late so I can ask for their help if I mess up or something. Lol i really hope the spring compressor doesn't own me (MST720 MAC TOOLS spring compressor), I only used it once in school with a partner and a tech even says, "That does not count as using it."

I"ve done prius suspension work before (replaced a strut that was from another prius for former boss) and some crossmember work so its not a whole new area for me. Just the spring compressor, godda get over the fear!!!!!

Then up next dealing with the TSB with squeaky brakes, i just noticed it now but can't determine if its the rear or the front... although didn't used to be there till i got greedy for coasting ability and adjusted my rear drums so they don't drag. The star adjuster was just a notch out before it dragged so I'm sure somehow the self adjuster did something and now there's always a SQUEAK when i release the brake. The TSB did mention however something about replacing the actuator (2000 bucks!!!!) or just bleed the brakes (yay get hands on experience with the streamtech tool!! HM is this a two person job? One tech mentioned it takes 45-60 min depending on how pro you are.)

lol its awesome to work at a dealership oh plus godda install the 12 volt optima battery upgrade (bought the kit from elearnaid), EV MODE light switch, fix my CANVIEW... oh boy the work that comes with a salvage prius!! But good experience nevertheless.

Oh and that squeak with the battery cover!

 

Hi Phil,

Don't worry about compressing the spring, especially since you have professional tools available. I used a Sears Craftsman spring compressor (which cost $55) and it worked just fine.
Craftsman Strut Spring Compressor Tool with Built-In Safety Pins - Model 90500 at Sears.com

Note the locking pins that prevent the compressor from flying off the coil spring and bonking into you or the car...

The Prius spring is fairly soft, hence easy to compress. Good luck with your project.

 

hey, if you're cool doing it again if the mounts start making noise, then save the money. your excitement to learn all this stuff really makes me smile- reminds me of when DH was just starting out. he was so excited too.

DH's first intended specialty was undercar. he got a ton of experience in all different kinds of cars' suspensions when he worked in a chain shop. it was only when he got to the dealership that he discovered the electronics coolness of the hybrids and got really into electrical/electronic diagnosis.

i'm sure his interests and expertise would have made the rounds as his career progressed, but his interest in electronics is getting him into something else instead. so in the end it all comes full circle speaking of which, have you looked into your shop's benefits for disability yet?

 

lol i forgot about the disability issue X_X i will definately check that out

man the techs had to go home early so i couldn't do much except wash off the old oil leak on the shock with brake kleen lol. hopefully this saturday i can get my hands on some real tech experience, however, for now im going to take it easy on the bumps and double check for new signs of oil leakage.

i will reply by next saturday for my results! until then i got a new problem lol which i made a new thread about
http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-technical-discussion/19643-remote-door-lock-not-working.html

LOL wow this forum rocks when finding quick answers!!!


edit: installed the new shocks! took 3 hours for me (pays 1.5 hrs) but for first time, lol not too shabby! ride feels awesome!