Dealer trying to charge an arm and a leg, need help!
07-21-2009, 06:00 PM
#1
Friendly Neighborhood Ogre
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Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: www.gunatics.com
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Car Info: GUNATICS.COM
Dealer trying to charge an arm and a leg, need help!
My brother's STi (05) which has 25k miles has a faulty strut in the rear and is making an awful clunking sound... He took it into the dealer for some basic service and had them check it out, and they confirmed that it was his rear STi strut (one strut) was going out, and after the part and labor, it will cost him $798 to replace ONE strut on the rear of his STi!!! His car is 100% stock and he doesn't drive it all that often, which explains the 25k miles after almost 5 years of ownership.
I know the dealer is just doing it's thing, but damn, he can almost get a full set of coilovers for the price of ONE strut!
Needless to say, that's an option that's not going to fly, so I need your help guys since I know some of you have the answers to my questions.
He's thinking of doing one of two options.
Option #1: Find someone on i-club that upgraded their suspension and has fairly new struts that they could sell him since they can be had for a good price. Does anyone have old struts they could part with? He'll pay you cash for them. He's not in the best financial situation right now, so that would help him out drastically.
Option #2: Buy aftermarket struts for his car. He can get a set of 4 new struts for his car for far less money then the dealer is charging for a single strut (installed). Can anyone suggest a brand of struts that he can get as a stock replacement that doesn't break the bank? He likes the way the stock car feels but wouldn't mind something a tad more aggressive, so he doesn't need anything super high end, just something to replace the stock units. Can someone give me a ballpark figure of how much he'd be paying for all four struts? Remember, he's on a budget and in a bad finacial situation so he needs something affordable. Can anyone help?
The ultimate outcome would be if someone had the stock ones laying around that they could sell him, he only needs one strut, but is willing to buy them all if it's necessary because buying four stock ones would be waaaaaaaaay less expensive then any other option. The newer the better. I hope someone has some that they could part with, and I know a lot of you STi folks have upgraded your stock suspension and could stand to part with them. *crosses fingers*
Thanks for any help you may have to offer!
D-
I know the dealer is just doing it's thing, but damn, he can almost get a full set of coilovers for the price of ONE strut!
Needless to say, that's an option that's not going to fly, so I need your help guys since I know some of you have the answers to my questions.
He's thinking of doing one of two options.
Option #1: Find someone on i-club that upgraded their suspension and has fairly new struts that they could sell him since they can be had for a good price. Does anyone have old struts they could part with? He'll pay you cash for them. He's not in the best financial situation right now, so that would help him out drastically.
Option #2: Buy aftermarket struts for his car. He can get a set of 4 new struts for his car for far less money then the dealer is charging for a single strut (installed). Can anyone suggest a brand of struts that he can get as a stock replacement that doesn't break the bank? He likes the way the stock car feels but wouldn't mind something a tad more aggressive, so he doesn't need anything super high end, just something to replace the stock units. Can someone give me a ballpark figure of how much he'd be paying for all four struts? Remember, he's on a budget and in a bad finacial situation so he needs something affordable. Can anyone help?
The ultimate outcome would be if someone had the stock ones laying around that they could sell him, he only needs one strut, but is willing to buy them all if it's necessary because buying four stock ones would be waaaaaaaaay less expensive then any other option. The newer the better. I hope someone has some that they could part with, and I know a lot of you STi folks have upgraded your stock suspension and could stand to part with them. *crosses fingers*
Thanks for any help you may have to offer!
D-
07-21-2009, 06:30 PM
#6
Friendly Neighborhood Ogre
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Sorry, I'm fairly new to the STi world so I'm not aware of it. Can you explain further? If it's not the strut that's going out, what is it? How can they fix it?
07-21-2009, 06:35 PM
#8
I'm not 100% on the issue, but it's common for the right rear strut to clunk. From what I heard ( from a now-unreliable source ) it's also supposed to be a TSB, but Ryan can clear that up for me. LIC states they can fix it for far less than the dealership. Hit up Noah on AIM. If you dont have his AIM, ill PM it to you
07-21-2009, 06:47 PM
#9
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Car Info: 2004 WRB WRX
It's a lubrication issue until the strut truly dies. lift the dustboot, clean the body, and put some good grease on it.
When we ran the 04 STi takeoffs on Tony's car for a good long while he took apart the rear struts, cleaned out the crap stock grease, and repacked the seals with good stuff. I believe he put something like 20K miles on them. No clunks.
If you grease them, and they are still making noise then they are truly dead.
As for loosening the studs - don't just arbitrarily loosen them. Break them loose with a breaker bar, and then properly torque them to about 72lbs tightening progressively in a star pattern.
When we ran the 04 STi takeoffs on Tony's car for a good long while he took apart the rear struts, cleaned out the crap stock grease, and repacked the seals with good stuff. I believe he put something like 20K miles on them. No clunks.
If you grease them, and they are still making noise then they are truly dead.
As for loosening the studs - don't just arbitrarily loosen them. Break them loose with a breaker bar, and then properly torque them to about 72lbs tightening progressively in a star pattern.
Last edited by tschida; 07-21-2009 at 06:50 PM.
07-21-2009, 07:11 PM
#10
My brother's STi (05) which has 25k miles has a faulty strut in the rear and is making an awful clunking sound... He took it into the dealer for some basic service and had them check it out, and they confirmed that it was his rear STi strut (one strut) was going out, and after the part and labor, it will cost him $798 to replace ONE strut on the rear of his STi!!! His car is 100% stock and he doesn't drive it all that often, which explains the 25k miles after almost 5 years of ownership.
I know the dealer is just doing it's thing, but damn, he can almost get a full set of coilovers for the price of ONE strut!
Needless to say, that's an option that's not going to fly, so I need your help guys since I know some of you have the answers to my questions.
He's thinking of doing one of two options.
Option #1: Find someone on i-club that upgraded their suspension and has fairly new struts that they could sell him since they can be had for a good price. Does anyone have old struts they could part with? He'll pay you cash for them. He's not in the best financial situation right now, so that would help him out drastically.
Option #2: Buy aftermarket struts for his car. He can get a set of 4 new struts for his car for far less money then the dealer is charging for a single strut (installed). Can anyone suggest a brand of struts that he can get as a stock replacement that doesn't break the bank? He likes the way the stock car feels but wouldn't mind something a tad more aggressive, so he doesn't need anything super high end, just something to replace the stock units. Can someone give me a ballpark figure of how much he'd be paying for all four struts? Remember, he's on a budget and in a bad finacial situation so he needs something affordable. Can anyone help?
The ultimate outcome would be if someone had the stock ones laying around that they could sell him, he only needs one strut, but is willing to buy them all if it's necessary because buying four stock ones would be waaaaaaaaay less expensive then any other option. The newer the better. I hope someone has some that they could part with, and I know a lot of you STi folks have upgraded your stock suspension and could stand to part with them. *crosses fingers*
Thanks for any help you may have to offer!
D-
I know the dealer is just doing it's thing, but damn, he can almost get a full set of coilovers for the price of ONE strut!
Needless to say, that's an option that's not going to fly, so I need your help guys since I know some of you have the answers to my questions.
He's thinking of doing one of two options.
Option #1: Find someone on i-club that upgraded their suspension and has fairly new struts that they could sell him since they can be had for a good price. Does anyone have old struts they could part with? He'll pay you cash for them. He's not in the best financial situation right now, so that would help him out drastically.
Option #2: Buy aftermarket struts for his car. He can get a set of 4 new struts for his car for far less money then the dealer is charging for a single strut (installed). Can anyone suggest a brand of struts that he can get as a stock replacement that doesn't break the bank? He likes the way the stock car feels but wouldn't mind something a tad more aggressive, so he doesn't need anything super high end, just something to replace the stock units. Can someone give me a ballpark figure of how much he'd be paying for all four struts? Remember, he's on a budget and in a bad finacial situation so he needs something affordable. Can anyone help?
The ultimate outcome would be if someone had the stock ones laying around that they could sell him, he only needs one strut, but is willing to buy them all if it's necessary because buying four stock ones would be waaaaaaaaay less expensive then any other option. The newer the better. I hope someone has some that they could part with, and I know a lot of you STi folks have upgraded your stock suspension and could stand to part with them. *crosses fingers*
Thanks for any help you may have to offer!
D-
there is only one brand of aftermarket struts available for the 05 sti,and they are ohlins priced around 2300 so no he cannot get aftermarket struts cheap.
at this point there are 4 budget options.
1st,rebuild/regrease the strut LIC does this,and if your handy you can do it yourself the clunking will come back eventually and you'll have to do it again,alot of people just live with this process.
2nd, if the strut is trashed you can find sti take off struts relativly cheap and just replace your clunker.
3rd and best so far the TIC "not bangen rear end" tokico offers thier d-spec strut for the wrx in sets of 4 only, TIC was able to get them to sell rear pairs wich fit the sti and then they add thier adaptors to them.
http://www.turninconcepts.com/produc...oducts_id=1036
number 4: cheap coiloivers if he can deal with the ride,the noise etc then thier you go.
07-21-2009, 07:40 PM
#12
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: San Leandro, CA
Posts: 3,856
Car Info: Forester XTi
Hell I would say swap out ALL the sruts for a good set of KYB GR2 or AXM struts and be done with it. I got my set for under 300 bucks (GR2) and am more than happy with them.
07-21-2009, 08:12 PM
#13
there is only one brand of aftermarket struts available for the 05 sti,and they are ohlins priced around 2300 so no he cannot get aftermarket struts cheap.
at this point there are 4 budget options.
1st,rebuild/regrease the strut LIC does this,and if your handy you can do it yourself the clunking will come back eventually and you'll have to do it again,alot of people just live with this process.
2nd, if the strut is trashed you can find sti take off struts relativly cheap and just replace your clunker.
3rd and best so far the TIC "not bangen rear end" tokico offers thier d-spec strut for the wrx in sets of 4 only, TIC was able to get them to sell rear pairs wich fit the sti and then they add thier adaptors to them.
http://www.turninconcepts.com/produc...oducts_id=1036
number 4: cheap coiloivers if he can deal with the ride,the noise etc then thier you go.
at this point there are 4 budget options.
1st,rebuild/regrease the strut LIC does this,and if your handy you can do it yourself the clunking will come back eventually and you'll have to do it again,alot of people just live with this process.
2nd, if the strut is trashed you can find sti take off struts relativly cheap and just replace your clunker.
3rd and best so far the TIC "not bangen rear end" tokico offers thier d-spec strut for the wrx in sets of 4 only, TIC was able to get them to sell rear pairs wich fit the sti and then they add thier adaptors to them.
http://www.turninconcepts.com/produc...oducts_id=1036
number 4: cheap coiloivers if he can deal with the ride,the noise etc then thier you go.
07-21-2009, 08:25 PM
#15
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Bay Area, CA
Posts: 888
Car Info: Steel Gray 2006 STi MBP 2012 Impreza Sport
its a very common thing, they even have a fat thread on iwsti about it. every time you change your oil grease up the struts with some synthetic grease.