Strut replacement. Shop wants 500 bucks, I think I can do it for a lot less. Easy procedure?
by 
tbenson
ANSWERS: 7
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A spring compressor tool costs 300 bucks alone. unless you have one you are going to have to pay the bucks. mine cost 600
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You could get one for a little less than $300 like the OTC 6494. There are also cheapie spring compressors but I wouldn't recommend them although I have used those in the past. The danger of serious injury is high if it fails. I'm a non-professional shadetree mechanic but a few years ago I bought a Branick 7200 for around $600 (there's a newer model now). It's full on professional shop tool and much more than most would want to buy but I'm more serious about it than most.
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Difficult procedure. I helped a friend put some on my old car. You have to compress the springs to get them in. He made his own spring compressor, but you have to have some talent to make your own tools. By the way, make sure you don't replace just one. It will effect the way your car handles to have a new one on one side and an old, worn one on the other.
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It's easy enough although you will need to bring it in for an alignment afterward. One caveat..... The spring could kill you if you don't know what you're doing.
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i replacedd struts in a ford fiesta years back. found it fairly easy. parts stores loan spring compressor. be very careful with compressed springs they have a lot of energy in them. support wheel hub (easy to damage brake hoses if you don't). special mounting bolts were supposed to make alighnment right. they didn't. get funny looks when you take it in for alignment afterwards because it is so far out
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what kind vehicle do you have?, did I miss that somewhere? I think if you have the tools you could do it otherwise you have no choice but to take it back to the shop.
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Depends on the vehicle, but generally not. You *will* need a spring compressor (you may be able to rent one), and you *will* need to take the car in for an alignment afterwards. Doing the struts on the rear end of a FWD car isn't terrible, but if you have to do the front end, the steering gear is a little tricky to work around, and if you are dealing with half-shafts (the rear of a RWD or AWD car) then it's worse. As for the front end of a FWD car.... only if you are a masochist. I had all four done on my Subaru (actually, removing the busted air suspension and replacing them with conventional struts) and it took the garage almost a full day. That is with a full shop and all the tools/equipment. Fortunately they were using used parts so the total cost was only $600 and change; using new parts would've brought the total bill closer to $1200.
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