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New strut - b.o.o.b.

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 7:33 am
by EPfiffner
Decided to open up my closeout deal Sachs struts and check em out. Glad I did, looks like I won't be doing them this weekend.

I ordered a left for an FE7 and a right for a base, thats all they had. From reading here I decided the only difference would be the sway bar bracket, there's no way the aftermarket goes to the trouble of matching the valving.

Anyway, looks like the left side lost it's gas, there was a clip on it to hold it down, but when I took it off it just stayed there.

Back to RA for both of them. They don't have any more of the GTZ one in stock so I'll have to go with another brand.

They have kyb's on closeout, I know the quality isn't there but not much to choose from.

Re: New strut - b.o.o.b.

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 9:30 am
by heavywoody
Did moving the strut shaft have any impact on its rebound?

Re: New strut - b.o.o.b.

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 11:10 am
by EPfiffner
heavywoody wrote:Did moving the strut shaft have any impact on its rebound?
It didn't, I ran it through it's travel a few times and it just kinda stopped about half way.
It also had much less resistance than the one without the FE7 bracket.

That's what I get for cheaping out and not following your lead w/the coilovers!

Re: New strut - b.o.o.b.

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:16 am
by 3X00-Modified
Nah not really, that's what happens when you buy closeout parts... Always a gamble.

Re: New strut - b.o.o.b.

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 1:54 pm
by EPfiffner
3X00-Modified wrote:Nah not really, that's what happens when you buy closeout parts... Always a gamble.
True, and I'm ok with that. Its worrisome how many parts for our cars are on closeout.

RA was great about it, gave me credit for the defective strut without having to return it, so now I have a FE7 strut housing.
Unfortunately I had to pay return shipping for the other strut, but its understandable. I could have complained probably or lied and said it was bad too, but homey don't play dat.

b.o.o.b struts, the ongoing saga

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 8:36 am
by EPfiffner
I'm glad I didn't take up gambling, I'm striking out with the closeouts.
Pay no attention to my way-cool '70's basement floor BTW.

Re: New strut - b.o.o.b.

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 9:05 am
by 3X00-Modified
Time to buy "regular inventory"

Re: New strut - b.o.o.b.

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 9:10 am
by EPfiffner
Yes. Shelf life. I should've known better.

Bailin' on the closeouts

Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2018 11:50 am
by EPfiffner
Received the replacement closeout KYB on Saturday, its bad too. I ordered from "regular inventory" delco professional struts. Man I hope these are good.

I've got a real strut graveyard started!

Re: New strut - b.o.o.b.

Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2018 8:15 pm
by woody90gtz
Wow, that's kinda crazy!

Re: New strut - b.o.o.b.

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 7:51 am
by EPfiffner
woody90gtz wrote:Wow, that's kinda crazy!
Tell me about it, lol

I'm starting to second guess myself: A good strut should extend slowly on it's own due to the gas pressure, correct?

I haven't owned a car with struts since I had my Malachite green Beretta which I sold in 2000.

Re: New strut - b.o.o.b.

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:27 am
by 3X00-Modified
GR-2 struts are Gas charged so yes they should slowly extend to full length.

Re: New strut - b.o.o.b.

Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2018 3:58 am
by Alxsmt
I have bought some konis in the past that didnt extend, but to adjust them you had to compress all the way and turn the shaft. I was fairly worried, but going on 3 or so years with them and zero issues. Different application, but thought id share. Kybs did always seemed to have some good pressure behind them.

Re: New strut - b.o.o.b.

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2018 1:34 pm
by EPfiffner
Interesting. I compressed and extended them several times, but never thought to turn the shaft.

I have 2 KYB's and a sachs in my basement that I deemed as defective, so easy enough to try.

The delco's I received, one of them was bad as well. I'm still waiting on a replacement, supposed to be here tomorrow.

I didn't go out to the garage at all this weekend. This has been going on for over a month...

Re: New strut - b.o.o.b.

Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 1:07 pm
by EPfiffner
I figured I should bring this to a close, hopefully not too soon.
After ordering:
2 Sachs (1 defect)
3 kyb's (2 defects)
3 delcos (2 defects)
3 Monroe's (1 defect)

I have a set of plain ol Monroe's that seem consistent with my highly scientific "see how hard they are to compress and then make sure they extend" test.

I will say that the one delco I had that was good, it had a notably stiffer compression than the other brands. P/N's are 503356 & 503357.

The Sachs, kyb's, Monroe's all feel about the same.

I really wanted the delcos, but I kept getting a mismatched set. I deciphered a date code of '16 on the good one. The 2 bad ones I got were '08 I think and gloss black instead of matte. The top cap where the strut shaft comes out was different too.

So to hell with it and I'm going with the Monroe's I got from amazon. Hopefully I can install them this weekend, I've had the loan a tool spring compressor for a month.