I am going to be honest and say that I did not know how this was going to go. Would I get back my Toyota RAV4 riding stiff like a sports car? Would I hear some type of squealing and bumping? According to Scotty Kilmer on Youtube the strut assemblies are "Chinese junk" and a worn out OEM strut/spring is better than these assemblies. Back in 2009 I did use Monroe QuickStruts on a 1999 Toyota Solara with 150,000 miles. The Monroes raised the vehicle 2 inches and it drove like a Honda...a bit stiff. However, the ride was much much better then before.
So it took me some time to get to this point. The Toyota dealership wanted $1400 for the complete job and told me that I would have to "leave it" for a few days. That was too much for a 2015 Toyota RAV4 with 130,000 miles. So I went on RockAuto and bought 2 Gabriel Ultra ReadyMount strut assemblies with springs for $260 total. A local mechanic wanted $240 to change out both and would take just a few hours to do it.
I just got the vehicle back and it literally drives like a Lexus. When my woman bought this car in 2015 the ride wasnt very good, but now it rides better then when we got it from the dealership. Clearly, this exceeded my expectations.
Time will tell if these shocks will last or develop noises like I read in reviews. To be clear nearly all of the reviews on AutoAnything are very positive with a few sour ones. These strut assemblies are 5 star. Probably Mr Kilmer of Youtube...a mechanic I never heard of...simply bought the wrong brand and thus declares all of these strut assemblies as bad. I sure did not appreciate his commentary on parts made in China.
So it took me some time to get to this point. The Toyota dealership wanted $1400 for the complete job and told me that I would have to "leave it" for a few days. That was too much for a 2015 Toyota RAV4 with 130,000 miles. So I went on RockAuto and bought 2 Gabriel Ultra ReadyMount strut assemblies with springs for $260 total. A local mechanic wanted $240 to change out both and would take just a few hours to do it.
I just got the vehicle back and it literally drives like a Lexus. When my woman bought this car in 2015 the ride wasnt very good, but now it rides better then when we got it from the dealership. Clearly, this exceeded my expectations.
Time will tell if these shocks will last or develop noises like I read in reviews. To be clear nearly all of the reviews on AutoAnything are very positive with a few sour ones. These strut assemblies are 5 star. Probably Mr Kilmer of Youtube...a mechanic I never heard of...simply bought the wrong brand and thus declares all of these strut assemblies as bad. I sure did not appreciate his commentary on parts made in China.