Corolla 2000 shock absorbers

[stogguul]

Hi,
Recently finding my car bounces around a lot more. I sometimes scrape the bottom of my car when I go over medium sized speed bumps.
My mechanic tells me I have to change my shock absorbers. Price approx. $1000 for all 4 shocks (labor + taxes in).
Am I being quoted too much? Are there cheaper alternatives?

Thanks.

Also another quick question: What's the difference between shock absorbers and struts? Same?

[DragonZealot]

Hi,
Recently finding my car bounces around a lot more. I sometimes scrape the bottom of my car when I go over medium sized speed bumps.
My mechanic tells me I have to change my shock absorbers. Price approx. $1000 for all 4 shocks (labor + taxes in).
Am I being quoted too much? Are there cheaper alternatives?

Thanks.

Also another quick question: What's the difference between shock absorbers and struts? Same?

Shocks are easier to replace because you don't have to touch the springs. Struts have springs mounted on it. So to replace a strut you have to take the struts/spring assembly, remove the spring and install it to the new strut, then put the assembly back in.

$1K for all corners may not be too much overpriced depending on the quality of the struts. You may be able to get lower. However you should make sure the struts are bad before you replace them.

2000 seems too new a car for replacing struts, what is the mileage.

Just call around. For a fair comparision make sure the quotes separate the parts and labour and ask what struts they are going to use.

[drewl]

Thanks for the reply.

Mileage is around 72K. I bought it used about 4 years ago. Everything else is okay with the car.

So does that mean I have an option whether to install Struts or Shocks? Or is it car model dependent? I mean if my car now has Shocks (I don't know) I can either intall Struts or Shocks when I want to replace them?

[DragonZealot]

Thanks for the reply.

Mileage is around 72K. I bought it used about 4 years ago. Everything else is okay with the car.

So does that mean I have an option whether to install Struts or Shocks? Or is it car model dependent? I mean if my car now has Shocks (I don't know) I can either intall Struts or Shocks when I want to replace them?

Why would you thank me? I though stogguul is supposed to thank me?

72K is kind of low to replace the struts. Get another mechanic to inspect them to make sure they are really bad. Normally it is just a visual inspection for oil leak and press the car at 4 corners to see how it bounce. They should not charge you.

If is designed with struts you replace them with struts you can not replace them with shocks. Most newer compacts are now struts on all 4 corners.

[drewl]

Hehe. I should have made a comment regarding this during the reply but I forgot.
I started the post using my brother's username. I was on his PC last night and then continued the thread at work using my username.

I called Canadian Tire and they quoted me two types of struts.
One for about 178 + tax each and another for 115 each + tax... and confirmed that I need struts and not shock absorbers.

Does anyone know any other places I can try that are good on price?

Thanks.