I had to go out to my Mom’s place to fix Glenn’s 1998 Chevy Malibu. It broke a coil spring in the front right in the yard after all the windy roads to get to…
1998 Chevy Malibu Quick Strut Replacement (07/11/11)
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Did u have to get the front end aligned after the install?
Oh yeah Bobs my Dad not my Uncle!
Same part # at Rockauto is $112.79. I see you got them at a Toyota dealership? Monroe are also sold at Advance and Autozone, much cheaper than the stealership. Rock Auto most likely the cheapest $ even after shipping, there is always 5% promo numbers on the net.
get em online 4 52 bucks u got ur ass ripped..monroes 4 89bucks off brand 52bucks lol
I have the exact same car down to the color and everything. My coil snapped the exact same way and destroyed my tire. You’ve inspired me to order the parts and do it myself, thank you.
is it just as easy to change the back struts? I know you have to go through the trunk and peel back the carpet.
Sorry but the price was high, should have checked ebay, $77.02 new and free shipping made by leacree, and another $82.54 each free shipping made by Monroe.
Doing mine this weekend… Thanks for the Video!!!
Awesome video ! Thanks for sharing !
Thanks dude. Never realized how easy struts are.
go to rockauto there way cheaper
the strut has the shock built into it… unless you’re talking about the rear maybe, or another vehicle? but basically, it -SHOULD- be similar for removing shocks… just depends on what it is…
is it a similar procedure if your replacing the shocks?
havent heard any complaints 🙂
Stuts still feel good?
I am sure it was just a design flaw that got over looked. Should be a recall in my opinion..
yea, i could see that… its not like you have to change your struts every 40,000km haha! NORMALLY the shock wears out before the coil spring breaks… i think this failure had a LOT to do with the coating they put on the coil spring… it rubbed through in one spot, and then started rusting. the rust kept spreading and getting trapped, until it had compromised the spring enough to break it… kinda scary…
Yeah, not surprised.. Hate to say it but the Malibus and Grand Ams etc, were bad for them. And sometimes it is not a lack of maintenance, it is stuff happening suddenly. Thanks for the reply eh!
oh wow haha, when i did the struts for my step dad, he noticed right away… the driver’s side of the car fell like 2″ haha, and he couldnt turn right corners without the tire rubbing the inner fender… he limped it home, and i fixed it where he parked it haha
Honestly I am the first one to complain about people not maintaning their vehicles. Trust me on that, I complain all of the time. But I honestly didn’t know they were bad at all. They felt fine and everything, but the car had memory steer, and when I turned the wheel over I would sometimes hear a pop. Thought it was a tie rod or something, so I waited for my next oil change to come up.. Boy was I wrong..
haha, why would you drive on them for that long?
You think that is pretty bad..? LOL You should have seen the front struts of my Malibu, one of the coils was in three pieces.. It was ready to unwind itself and go PING and make a real mess lol.
cool! thank you for your kind words! im very glad that this video helped you! that is exactly why i made it! you saved yourself a TON of money by doing it yourself, rather than having a shop do it. i try to make as many how-to videos as i can to help people out. i have never taken anything of mine to a shop. i never had the money to… i always had beater cars, and had to learn to fix them myself.
let me know how it went 🙂
I’m a girl who thinks she can do the job after watching you… Very clear and informative instructions. Love the tip about the open hand technique. You Rock Thanks.
wow man. i have a 2002 malibu and i can get those exact same struts for 135$ each at napa. i looked up that part number because thats what i got for my car few days ago
I have a 2000 Malibu & it looks exactly the same. I’m guessing the bottom bolts are also 21mm. Great vid thx!
just make sure they arent gunna back off. if you’re really concerned, get some red loctite and put a couple drops on the threads. but then have fun getting the nuts off next time haha 😛
So put some super really strong muscle into the bottom two?and then doulble and triple check the tightness. ?
for the bottom ones, get em as tight as you can. for the top 3 nuts, you should definitely not reef on em… i wish i could even hazard a guess as to what you should do the tops to…
Alright.so just go with the old tighten untill i “grunt”? And im using socket and ratchet method.
Thanks for your help.
i dont know the specific torque #’s, but you want the bottom 2 pretty tight. like, when i tightened them, i used my foot haha! they are tight! the top 3, make em tight too. you dont want to overtighten them and break the studs, so i’d say go snug, then another turn.
a good indication of how tight you want to make it, is how much effort did it take you to get the nut off? unless its rusted, this is a good way to tell, generally, how much to tighten it back up
hope this helps…
What should i torque the bottom two bolts at? And what should i torque the 3 top bolts at?? Pleass respond asap im putting my struts on tomorrow, front abd rear.
Thanks!
i bought these from Lordco. its a autoparts chain in bc, canada. i get wicked deals through them, but i got better deals out in alberta 🙂
cheers!
Where did you buy these from?
I could get involved with fixing computers for a job, but I’d end up killing myself, they’re such a pain to fix, but the good thing is you would never run out of work!
haha yea, my brother played halflife for a while. he plays other games now. hes a HD mechanic, and he’s also awesome at computers haha. im not so good at computers anymore, but i still know some tricks haha
Well honestly I’d rather be working with vehicles than video games. Except Halo. And Half Life. haha
🙂 haha. ive spent a lot of money there though, so thats the only downfall 😛 i dont even want to know how much ive spent there over the past 6 years…