Strut literally broke in half...need fixed fast

**allbaugh_04** · 05-24-2007, 06:36 PM

So I was on my way to my parents house about 100 mile drive and when i was going really slow thru a town. I heard a loud clunk coming from the driver left over every little bump. I get to my parents house and look behind the wheel. Sure enough i could see the spring appeared the bend towards me and i could see what appeared to be the tip of the strut which snapped in half towards the top where its bolted down inside the engine bay. I compared it with the other side and then i noticed it was definitely not right. I would of stopped sooner, but it was dark and i couldn't see anything. The car handled fine too. So i gotta get this fixed ASAP for this weekend and how much is a GOOD strut and labor? How much would it be for two new struts. I wanted to replace em anyways should i do both now? I got the money. Most of all how much am I gonna spend with labor?

**hamburger68** · 05-25-2007, 02:41 PM

first of all, great your ok, this was rather dangerous. could have ripped into the tire and what not...
if you still got stock springs, get bilstein hd shocks, i'm really happy with them.

**allbaugh_04** · 05-25-2007, 04:01 PM

well thx for the advice..but i got in a really tight spot. i went home on leave from the military and being a small town i was very limited and i have to get it fixed before i can drive back. i'm pretty upset about it. I called about 8 shops and only 2 had some struts that were the same as the ones that came from the factory. so i'm going to end up having to pay 540 vs 800 for the everything and that doesn't include the alignment....wow i'm so upset. i gotta fork this much money over and i can't even upgrade my struts.....im pretty down now cuz thats something i was about ready to do too. if i would of gotten around to it sooner this strut never would of broke and i would of gotten some really good struts vs. the factory replacement ones

**allbaugh_04** · 05-25-2007, 04:08 PM

do the bilsteins make a huge difference compared to what came from the factory? looks like i'll be paying the same price as i would for the bilsteins....man im p.o.

**Y2KPewterSS** · 05-25-2007, 05:53 PM

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Honestly don't know if I have ever heard of the strut breaking like that.

Bilsteins will make a very nice difference over the factory DeCarbon shocks.

**Wesman** · 05-25-2007, 06:38 PM

Originally Posted by hamburger68

first of all, great your ok, this was rather dangerous. could have ripped into the tire and what not...
if you still got stock springs, get bilstein hd shocks, i'm really happy with them.

x2

**hamburger68** · 05-26-2007, 07:47 AM

bilsteins make better handling with almost no loss in ride comfort. also, they hold longer and their oil doesn't foam when they get hot (special valving).
i got mine from lmperformance.com for 390 i think, maybe they offer express shipping? call them, they're really nice.

and on the breaking: a friend had his kyb rear struts break on his audi in a curve. happens.

**allbaugh_04** · 05-27-2007, 08:43 AM

Well i got the car back and drove it for a mile or two had to park it cuz i was running late. But the little bit I drove it, it seemed to be real stiff and it rode really good. So that's what i wanted. Ended up paying 185 for two mounts and 200 for two struts, with labor it was 530 and I still need the alignment. I have no idea how much one of those r gonna be. i guess i'm not too p.o. that i couldn't get bilsteins

**greatwhiteZ28** · 05-27-2007, 02:40 PM

its a good thing you bought the pair. when dealing with shoocks its always a good thing to buy both fronts or bothe rears, when and even replacing only one.

**hamburger68** · 05-27-2007, 04:09 PM

most important is that you got them fixed, and any new ones should be an improvement. if the car rides well: mission accomplished!

**allbaugh_04** · 05-28-2007, 12:14 AM

Thx for encouragement guys...hope everyone had a good weekend. Everything happened to turn out ok now that i got my car fixed and i got f'd up 3 nights in a row....that doesn't happen too often. It's 3am and I'll be off to the river in about 8 hrs!