- cheap FCS Auto shocks from RockAuto for a 2007 Toyota Highlander
- New front FCS struts installed but clunking noise continues, I will update tomorrow. 2003 camry
- Why Not to Buy a Cheap Quick Strut Assembly for Your Car
- Top 5 Best Quick Struts Review in 2022
- Best Struts for The Money – Top Picks
- FCS Service Advisor Focus Video – What Bad Shock do to Good Brakes!
- DONT BUY CHEAP PARTS FOR YOUR CAR!
cheap FCS Auto shocks from RockAuto for a 2007 Toyota Highlander
2007 highlander,front wheel drive its a hybrid,changing the shocks theyre shot,169 000 miles,see its bouncing at least three times,after you rock it this is going to be a,comparison,about these cheap shocks off rock auto,fcs auto strut,assembly the whole thing its going to,be,more of an observation video,comparing the oem shocks,current ride suspension height,is uh thirty and seven eighths,yeah thirty and seven eighths,bring the oem shocks to the fcs,thats cs auto,shocks right there,fully assembled i mean you know spring,strut,assembly 75,each made in china,lets get the old ones off,so im not really going to show you how,to disassemble this but,theres plenty of videos out there so on,the 07 highlander front wheel drive,you got the two bolts here uh,22 millimeter i believe lets see,oh i dont know where i put this outfit,yeah 22 millimeter i believe,brake line 12 looks like a 12.,you got a clip right here for the break,that just pops off looks like it just,pops off,yeah it does make sure you lubricate,start lubricating if you know youre,going to do it start lubricating two,weeks in advance a month in advance,youre going to have to dis connect your,stabilizer bar,not the bottom just the top okay,so two big bolts here,line stabilizer bar thats it for the,bottom up top,under the hood three bolts okay,so anyways,you know this ones shot 169,000 miles not much rust looks pretty,good i mean it looks pretty clean,looks pretty clean im in minnesota,this cars only been in minnesota for,five years though so,anyways lets get to it okay so weve,got,the old one out ready to put the new one,in,the new fcs,shock everything looks pretty much the,same,as far as the you know the mounting,points,the brackets,looks very close to the same,this one has a little bit of a different,shape on the new one,you can see this ones more square this,ones a little bit bigger,the thickness of the metal you know,without measuring it feels the same,i noticed the bottom,of the fcs has a dimple right there,with the hole,the oem shock does not these holes are,the same,that ones the same size the one in the,bottom of the fcs,shocks this the holes are smaller what,that means who knows,these two holes are the same you got a,notch there,same same looking this way,you can see the springs on the oem,shocks are much taller,much wider i dont know if thats,because theyre wore out,but this one is about an inch taller,thats why its,sitting much higher,what that means i dont know of course,it comes with new bolts,the boot tucks up underneath this lip,just like the oem one,the mounting plate,looks the same all that says do not,remove this nut because its under,extreme pressure,so what can you tell by looking at it,not much,lets weigh this thing,the oem shock weighs 24 pounds 3 ounces,no i dont you know it was leaking fluid,so i dont know how much of a difference,that makes i wouldnt think very much a,couple ounces at the most,the fcs shock comes in at 23,pounds 2 ounces,so what does that tell us,tells me that they may be used cheaper,metal,you know not as heavy gauge steel,who knows the finish looks good,everything looks good i mean,everythings finished theres no,sharp edges it looks very smooth,i noticed that the oem shock has this,rubber sleeve over the spring right here,i dont know,why to protect it from something,it goes around and stops right,there,the new shock does not,this is definitely toyota thats all it,says doesnt say any,other brand name,so these are the mounting nuts for the,top,under the hood look at the difference in,the oem,right there,and the one that came with the fcs,needless to say i will be using,the old nuts okay so there it is,installed everything lined up really,good,the uh the bolts,no problem lining up with the holes,the clip right there for the brake line,holes were in the proper spot lined up,with no problem the stabilizer bar,the hole lined up,once bowl went through the hole no,problem,all the holes up top are okay dont try,reusing the stabilizer bar just,buy a new one theyre 14 each,and a heck of a time try to save that,its not worth it,and everything lined up up top,so its not a question of fitment,if these things will fit,its how long will they last,okay so there you go two shocks replaced,took about three hours never done it,before,i could do it probably not i didnt know,what im doing about half that time,pretty easy get the proper tools,no bounce thats the way it should be,were at 31,and three quarters,i think thats what it was before was it,not,no it was at 30 and three quarters,double check,yep 31 and three quarters,so the ride height has gone up one inch,it might settle a little bit after,driving it,well see so there you go,two shocks end links,i use delphi,theres the part number assembled,in turkey doesnt necessarily mean,theyre made in turkey,probably made in china theres the fcs,auto part numbers,if youre interested 75 bucks,rock auto these were 14 i think,keep checking back ill do updates,its april now im sure itll be fine,through the,summer uh the true test will be in the,winter,but uh ill post updates thanks a lot
New front FCS struts installed but clunking noise continues, I will update tomorrow. 2003 camry
hey guys this is dannys auto repair,today im going to be doing a quick,video on my struts,this is a 2003 camry xle and the reason,why im changing them is because these,struts i bought them not too long ago,and theyre making noise,so,i went to my mechanic just to double,check on everything and they check all,my suspension the bushings,tie rods ball joints and everything is,fine,and he even test drove it and he,confirmed to me that it was the struts,so i ordered another pair,um,the first the first reason i had ordered,these already because i had bought these,for another car i had before and they,worked beautiful,so i dont know if that if that this is,a,you know if its that its a defective,pair or im not sure theyre just you,know,i dont know,but um like i said i bought these before,and i never had a problem with them,for another car i had they worked,beautiful i mean like a brand new car so,i figured i bought you know i buy the,same ones for this car and now theyre,knocking so it could be a defective pair,but um i bought these these are the fcs,right there i got them off rock auto,and um im going to be installing those,because i heard a lot of great stuff,about these uh struts here the fcs ones,and um,another thing i notice about these,trucks here that,they have this these little pads here,you see those little pads right there,uh i never saw those on the other ones,so,maybe you know these are better lets,see,so im gonna install those on now guys,so lets get started i already raised up,the car as you can see,i didnt use my other jack because i,didnt want to carry a lot of stuff,downstairs but,i put a uh jack stand there,and im gonna start loosening everything,up so for this job,youre gonna have to loosen,this nut,theres another one down here theres,two of them one two,take this little clip out of here its,just a clip just clips on there,and um,your link here loosen it from here just,the top,and this uh brake line over here,and then once you do that,the bottom half will be done and then,you got to go up to the top and loosen,three nuts that are up here,im gonna show you real quick,these three nuts one two,and this one never never ever touch this,here just these three,one two three,and thats it,but also,only losing two of these because you,just want this one i mean only take two,nuts out and then this one just loosen,it because you dont want it to fall,down when you loosen down here,so um,lets get started guys let me get the,tools im gonna show you what tools,youre gonna need,[Music],okay hold on guys,[Music],so,so,[Music],is,all right guys,so for the top the top three nuts on top,the size 15.,and for these here i use my impact,wrench with a uh,i believe its 22 here,yeah with a 22 millimeter,socket,so,22 millimeter on these,and then,the link here i believe is uh,15 also let me see,no thats uh 17.,let me get it real quick,okay,yeah this is a 17.,i gotta get a longer one let me see if,this,i got a 17 here but this one is a,its a little short,okay,i got one here guys,let me see this other one here,yeah its just 17.,all right lets get started guys,enough of the yapping,the first thing im gonna do,leave this uh,i forgot my 12 millimeter hold on,okay guys,this um,this screw here is a 12 millimeter,i believe,this one here for the brake line yep 12,millimeter,so,so lets take that out thats that um,brake line,you know what it is guys that um,sometimes,after i do a job,i just um,instead of fixing the tools the way they,go i just throw them in my bag and then,im going crazy looking for the size,and i got a bad habit of doing that and,i gotta stop doing that,so you take this out of here just like,that,then,sorry if i go,a lot instead of my throat is dry,i got a bad habit of doing that,okay so i loosen that,see if i can loosen this up,let me loosen this um,this end link here,see if you guys can see that,there thats the link,also guys when you after you finish this,job youre gonna have to get a wheel,alignment,because once i loosen this here these,two bolts,the alignment goes away,so you definitely got to get wheel,alignment always remember that,so now,um,im gonna uh,loosen these the big ones,so you get your 22 millimeter,so i loosened those already,so now,im gonna loosen the ones in the top now,thank god the weathers not too cold,here today in new york,okay hold on guys,all right guys so,let me um,im gonna show you guys now,im gonna loosen the top part,so this is it right here guys,sorry i moved the camera guys instead,im doing this with one hand,okay guys,so im gonna finish loosening those,and um,ill drop this truck ill drop this,truck down ill show you guys in a,minute,so,all right guys so like that,you take,the these two off and then you leave,this one loose,like that,so when you loosen it down here you,finish taking out those bolts it dont,it doesnt drop all the way down,finish taking this out,okay,there we go,i forgot one step i gotta lift up the,other side so i can take this uh,this um,link out let me lift up the other side,guys because thats under pressure,thats why it doesnt come up,so,all right,so i jacked up the other side,[Music],now the link comes out,just like that guys you see came out,so now,this truck is ready to come out,i always try to hold this because you,dont want that uh,this axle shaft to come out of the,transmission so just always try to hold,this in with your knee or something,or put a bungee cord there,so i finished taking that out of there,all right let me get my other strap,so,always compare your struts guys make,sure everything matches up,and everything lines up just like you,see here,its the same,its the same,this one,this one,everything looks the same guys,all right so lets continue lets put,this bad boy on,[Music],so just put it loose guys you dont want,to tighten anything yet,put it loose for now,until you can uh,align everything up,once you line everything up,you can start,putting both,okay,[Music],okay guys so thats on,as you can see,those are the boats right there so now i,got to put that link on there,and then,tighten those,but im going to tighten the top ones,when i lower the car,let me uh,lower the other side,or lift it up,so i can grab that link,[Music],okay,[Music],[Music],hold on guys,okay,let me get a ball real quick,im gonna pry this up a little bit,let me pry it down that up,pry it downwards so you can get the link,right there,so now,ill put the little nut back here,uh,so,so im gonna tighten that um,that link real quick guys,[Music],you guys always remember use a jack,stand when youre doing work like this,because,you dont want this car to fall on your,foot,always use jack stands and a good jack,this jack the jack that i got is pretty,good so,because i have a heavy duty jack,upstairs,but i use this small one with a jack,stand always,i never use the jack with a jack without,a jack stand,let me put this jacket real quick like,where it was,i dont want to leave only the jack,stand here,for extra safety you know,all right,so now,i take the link so im gonna tighten,these now,so now you put this little clip,right back here where it was,there,and you connect your uh,your brake line that was here,and then,you connect this one,your 12 millimeter bolt,that goes here for the brake lines,also guys i i uh,i did a quick video earlier on my drone,a new drone that i got,i did like a quick video just to see and,test it out and,get used to the controls and and,everything so im gonna open im gonna,upload that one later,when i get home when i finish this here,so you guys can check it out,it was it was very windy today so i,couldnt really fly too much because,i noticed when i went up a little high,with the drone,you know its like it drifted away from,me so i was like oh wow,i didnt want to go too crazy with it,the drone is good to fly when its not,windy outside,because if its windy itll itll start,going sideways and itll start taking it,somewhere,okay,the brake line is done,so now,this um,link is done,lets see what else uh,okay so now i gotta do
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Why Not to Buy a Cheap Quick Strut Assembly for Your Car
Rev up your engines, today in an attempt to save you money and,still have quality parts at the same time, Im going to talk about quick struts on your,car, now when your car rides poorly and your struts,are worn out, a lot of guys are scared of changing them,out because theyre worried theyre going to be injured compressing the spring,,taking it apart and putting it together, so many people think about buying these quick,struts that come with all the pieces you need, instead of just buying the shock absorbing,part like this, and taking the old one apart and reusing the,spring, and reusing the strut mount and all the other pieces over,,now changing out the strut assembly by using a quick strut is a lot easier,,all you have to do is take off a few bolts here,,the brake line, and then these two giant bolts top and bottom,,and then you go to the top back inside the car,,and you just remove 1,2,3 bolts and the whole assembly then just slides out,,and you slide the new one in, so its an easy job,,and you dont have to deal with these dangerous springs when their compressed, like this illustrates,,and if you make a mistake taking these apart, these springs can be dangerous,,dont try this at home but watch what can happen,,now there is one big problem with these quick struts,,how do you know if your getting good ones, now Ive been a mechanic for 50 years and,people are always asking me, Scotty how do you know youre getting a good part or not,,well its called experience, Ive seen companies come, Ive seen them go,,Ive seen good companies go bad, Ive seen good companies stay the same,,Ive seen new companies that were good, Ive seen new companies that were horrible,,so the only way you can tell is by actual experience with those parts,,so in that case, this Leacree company sent me a pair of struts for my wifes Lexus,,so rather than you taking a chance with these things,,I have in an experiment, so I put two of them on my wifes Lexus,,and you have to realize that even those this Lexus is 17 years old, it still has the original,struts and it still rides perfectly fine, but was doing this as an experiment,,and being a professional mechanic with all my air tools it only took be about 45 minutes,to replace them both then I drove it around, and guess what,,it rode worse than it did with the 17 year old original struts,,and as a double blind of this experiment, I didnt tell me wife what I did to her car,,so she drove it around and a couple of days later she said,,boy my car is really riding poorly whats going on here,,I explained to her I had put these Chinese made aftermarket struts on her car and she,said put the old ones back on it was working fine that way,,so I put the old ones back on, then she was happy because it was riding perfect again,,but being curious of course, Im wondering why do these brand new beautiful looking ones,with all new parts work worse than ones were 17 years old,,well heres what I found, well first I measured the spring diameter,of the quick strut, and that was 14.9 millimeters,,then I measured the spring diameter of the factor struts,,and it was 13.6 millimeters, so the new quick strut assembly had thicker,springs than the factory one, you might think thicker is better,,no its going to make it ride rougher, these guys at Lexus spent a lot of time designing,the correct springs for their cars, they dont want thicker springs,,thats what you got, it rode rougher, I saw it rode rougher, my wife who didnt even know,I changed them said it rode rougher, not a good idea if you want to get a good ride in,a fancy car, and I also noticed the car was sitting higher,,it wasnt sitting the same way it was designed, then I looked at their directions and it says,,oh warning your car might sit higher when you put these on,,well thats crazy theyre obviously not made correctly,,I took the quick strut apart, this is the quick strut mount,,and this is a factory OEM strut mount, when I popped out the bearing of the quick,strut one, it came apart and had these cheesy little,ball bearings inside, but when I took out the factory one the bearing,is a sealed unit, its sold and much better made, its going to last a lot longer and,its going to ride better, plus when I measured the depth where the top,of the strut rod sits on the new unit, that was 14.6 millimeters,,but on the OEM strut mount, it was 21 millimeters, so of course thats going to sit differently,so thats probably why the thing rode higher, I mean the whole thing was just a big mistake,but at least it was one that I made to test out for you and you dont waste your money,doing it yourself, and sure we all want to save money and this,Leacree strut was only $88.29, while the factory Lexus strut is $793.67,,and when it comes to buying these quick struts, hey you got to do some research beforehand,,I found that companies that people have heard of that have a good image,,they had the same kind of reviews, they said these use to be great but the one I had was,a pile of junk it lasted 20,000 miles or it made noise,,research if your thinking about using a quick strut,,now I have seen people use these quick struts in some situations like they got a car and,its completely shot, they hardly ride at all,,the struts are leaking and it bounces like mad,,and at least it rides better, sometimes they do it right before they sell the car or they,say, Im only going to keep it a year, Ill put these cheaper ones on and save money and,Ill just live with whatever they do, but if you want to keep your car a long time,and want to have a good ride, my advice is, get a quality strut cartridge,assembly replacement, use the spring and the suspension bearing on the top over,,I got this high quality bearing assembly at Auto Zone for $63, it was exactly the same,as Lexus OEM, so you dont have to spend $723 for the factory stuff and buy it all,,you can replace the parts with quality parts, just dont expect a quick strut to be a very,good fix if you keep your car for a long time, because a lot of these manufacturers of these,quick struts, theyre sneaky, some of them say, assembled,in USA you know that doesnt mean that much, that only means that it could be very cheap,parts from China that were just finally assembled in the United States,,and it doesnt matter where junk is put together, if its junk its still going to be junk no,matter where you put it together, now if it says made in the USA theres very,strict laws for that kind of stuff, but youll often see many of these things,just say assembled in the USA and that doesnt really mean anything when it comes to quality,,so now you know a bit more about quick struts in your car,,and you can make a wise decision yourself, so if you never want to miss another one of,my new car repair videos, remember to ring that bell!
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Top 5 Best Quick Struts Review in 2022
Best Struts for The Money – Top Picks
FCS Service Advisor Focus Video – What Bad Shock do to Good Brakes!
foreign,[Applause],and welcome,did you know that the average age of the,vehicles on the roads today is over 12,years old this is a testament to the,Quality Construction built into cars and,trucks but because they last so long,many of your customers often become,desensitized to components that need to,be replaced shocks and struts are vital,safety components that help keep your,car steady and if the car isnt steady,this can cause a serious issue or,accident that can endanger the driver,their passengers or other people on the,road with them,its important that you probe the,vehicle owner about their vehicles,handling to determine if they have an,awareness that the ride control is not,as it was when it was new,they may not realize that their shocks,and struts need replacing over 50 000,miles the dampening capabilities of a,shock or strut will degrade to the point,where it can impact the ride and,handling but the driver doesnt notice,because it happens gradually over time,generally speaking shocks and struts of,a well-maintained car can last for 10,years but thats for ideal conditions,most experts say that seven to eight,years is the maximum life of most shocks,and struts however if clients are,driving frequently on poor road,conditions they may have to replace,their cars struts and shocks in five,years under normal conditions on a,smooth Road the shocks and struts can,stroke or rebound and compress if you,will an average of,1750 times for every mile travel,this can add up to almost 9 million,Cycles in 50 000 miles yes 9 million,times which has real impact on the,vehicles braking ability,shocks and struts that have lost half of,their effectiveness reduce braking,efficiency and increase the braking,distance,according to research worn shocks can,result in a 15 to 20 percent increase in,Breaking distances ask your client if he,or she has noticed that its taking,longer to come to a stop in the same,conditions at the same speed as before,if so it may not just be a brake pad,issue it could be time to change the,shocks for their safety and the others,on the road,always conduct a thorough inspection,poor inspections are a major cause why,ride control doesnt get sold performing,a visual inspection for any leaks or,broken parts and inspecting the tires,should be top on the list,next its important that you get a feel,for how the vehicle handles so you can,easily identify if they have noticed any,changes in the handling,changes that could indicate a problem,taking a test drive under a wide range,of driving conditions will help you get,a feel for any noises or performance,issues related to the shocks struts and,control arm assemblies,your customer may think shocks and,struts only relate to ride control and,may ask if they can wait to replace,their struts remind them that stopping,distance will be compromised the tires,will wear faster and other suspension,parts will continue to wear out sooner,surveys have shown that 50 of ride,control sales occur on the second visit,this means that a large percentage of,first-time sales pitches for Ride,Control are followed by sorry no thank,you but the customer eventually comes,back with your informed recommendation,you can save them the second trip have,the job done right the first time,for more information please visit,fcsautoparts.com and thank you for being,with us today,foreign
DONT BUY CHEAP PARTS FOR YOUR CAR!