Cost of replacing struts on a 99 camry - and is it doable on our own?

Question

My girlfriend is having a heck of a vexing time with navigating her options for getting the rear struts on her 99 camry replaced.

One major chain auto repair store quoted $580-$600 for the job. Another chain (attached to a larger chain department store, ahem) quoted her $455. Another, local, putatively trustworthy shop looked at it and at first thought it was only the bolt that needed replacing, which was a relief for her at the time -- she paid about $100 and drove off the same day, only to find that the symptoms came back. Returned to the local shop and they found, indeed, that the rear struts needed replacing - which raises the secondary question of whether they should take some responsibility for not having properly diagnosed the problem in the first place, or at least credit her some portion of the $100 she already paid. The local guys are also quoting her about $600.

I'm specifically wondering if these amounts sound reasonable (about $455 to $600); if anyone has ideas on how to get a better price on the job; and whether with a standard set of tools (the kind that a very casual handyman would have) and whatever else could be rented or borrowed, we could do this ourselves and for cheaper.

Thanks in advance for any advice you might have.

Answer 1

The tools to do it yourself can all be rented. The job can be difficult and even hazardous depending on the route you take to do it. You can do full strut/spring changes by buying the "quick change" strut assemblies. Or, you can disassemble the strut assembly to only replace the bad parts (commonly the strut and the bearing/top plates). That requires more time, tools, and involves compressing a spring (which is dangerous, do something wrong in the process and you can launch a spring into a body part and cause severe injury/death. Also consider how rusty the car is/is not and how accessible the top bolts and swaybar (if there is one) endlinks are. Toyotas usually are OK, but some other makes (like GM) have small bolts that you can expect to snap off if they're rusted.

Answer 2

Just did the front struts on wife's '95 Camry (V-6). Bought the quick-strut combo (Springs, struts, mounting plates, bushings, etc., no spring-compressing required) for $80 ea. on ebay. After you get the wheel off there's two bolts at the bottom (22 mm), and three nuts on top (easy to see with the hood up), and a bolt for the brake line. Piece of cake. 20 minute job. One of the easiest things you can do. You may need an extra pair of hands to put a nut on at the top of the shock tower when reinstalling your replacement strut(s).

Answer 3

tl;dr: If you haven't done this sort of work before, I would NOT recommend that you try this on your own.

I'm specifically wondering if these amounts sound reasonable (about $455 to $600); if anyone has ideas on how to get a better price on the job; and whether with a standard set of tools (the kind that a very casual handyman would have) and whatever else could be rented or borrowed, we could do this ourselves and for cheaper.

I did a quick search and it appears that your strut replacement would be very similar to the two replacements I did on our Subarus at home. Here's a very rough estimate of how I would expect the parts to break down:

1. Struts (rears only): about $180 to $200.
2. Tops and bumpstops: between $0 and $100 (if you bought an all-in-one strut, you don't need these).
3. Spring compressor: about $20 (which you either don't need for an all-in-one strut or you will literally die without if you didn't).
4. Jack, jack stands or ramps, sockets and drivers, power tools, etc. Basically everything listed in Car enthusiast beginner tool kit. This could be anywhere from $0 (if you already have everything) to $infinity (I haven't stopped spending money on tools).

Having done these jobs fairly recently, I am able to say without fear of contradiction that doing this job in your own garage is a serious commitment of time, sweat, grime, skin and some blood.

So, looking over your estimates, none of them are super crazy in terms of parts vs. labor costs.

I did our cars because (a) I'm a control freak about this sort of thing and (b) I am a crazy person.

If both of these do not apply in your situation, I recommend that you select a shop that you can trust and pay them to take care of it.

Answer 4

it-yourselfers,

if you are going to do the struts yourself, save yourself time and aggravation by buying the struts with the spring already installed. It might cost more but it will be offset with the trouble and the safety issue. The tools required will be hand tools, the only problems are the large through- bolts that hold the strut to the knuckle are tight so you might have to use a big breaker bar and if that is still not enough, a cheater pipe on the end of it for more leverage. The other problem will be the stabilizer link nut. You can hold the center with an allen wrench and turn the nut off with the wrench but that didn't work too well for me. The whole nut and shaft will turn so you might have to do as I had to which is get a small pair of vice grips to hold the shaft while you back the nut off. Soak all the fasteners with some PB Blaster penetrating oil It is great stuff. Also it helps to have an assistant start the nuts at the top while you hold the strut up with the studs through the holes. Good luck and I hope this helps.