life of struts

[96oldsmobubble]

I was having some creaking going on in the back of my 1996 2 door Cutlass Supreme. I did some thread searching and came across the possibility of the trailing arms being the culprit. I ordered the new Dorman "square tube" style trailing arms to install because mine are rather rusty and I noticed how weak the stock style is on these cars. Well, in 2007, I had new struts and mounts installed on all 4 corners on this car, unfortunately Monroe because that is all Farm and Fleet carries. So, I thought I would bring it back in to the installer and have them take a listen. They told me the rear struts are shot! They are still under warranty so they will replace the parts, but not labor and alignment. I asked the tech, doesn't that seem quick for the struts to go out, not even 25,000 miles! He said " well, they aren't made to last forever."

 

While I was under the car, I looked at the struts, the casings are rusting, but not leaking like the originals. WTF? Has anyone else had a similar experience with struts for these cars? Are Monroe products as shoddy as I feared? I have to pay $60 for an alignment and another $100 for labor to install these suckers!

[BXX]

Yes, they are shoddy.. Most are really. Decent struts cost decent money. Cheap ones work, but can fail quickly, and more so if you drive bumpy roads

 

What happens is its not always the seal that blow out and they leak. The internal valving springs get weak and internal seals fail causing no external leakage but it wont dampen anything either.

[96oldsmobubble]

wow! I forgot to mention my lateral leafspring perch is completely gone on the drivers side rear. Looks like I will be replacing those with the white "pucks" i have seen people talking about on here. I wonder if its best for me to replace the trailing arms and spring perches before I take it in for the strut, mounts and alignment, or would they say since I replaced these items, I screwed up the struts. I don't like outsourcing my work to other establishments because you never know what kind of malarchy they will come up with to get out of replacing warranty parts.