Well... I'm sitting at the Ford shop having my front struts replaced. As I'm sitting here, reflecting on the experience, thought I could shed some light on why I'm here and why I opted to have someone else replace the struts on my 2009 Taurus (same as Ford 500, Mercury Montego and Mercury Sable according to the parts breakdown).
I recently purchased my 3rd Taurus, I had a 1997 and 2002 and just bought my 2009 (120K miles). Almost immediately, I noticed *clunking* noises at slow speeds on the new whip. I suspected front struts right away, and I had a friend rock the car side to side and inspected the struts while it was rocking and I could see the spring going *tung tung* like it wasn't seated properly, I could also see a tear in the boot. Bottomline, struts looked broke.
Having done struts in both of my other cars (got them both past 250K woop! ) I opted to do my own on the new 2009 Taurus. I discovered very quickly, quick struts were not available, you have to buy the pieces, and then build them. In fact, I couldn't ANY aftermarket struts, springs or mounts. (You win this time Ford ).
Struts = $160 X 2
Mounts = $50 X 2
Springs = $60 X 2
After getting all the parts, I put my car up on jack stands. Wheels off, strut mounts off, and I'm sliding the strut down on the carrier and it stops. The axle is hitting the a-arm and I don't have enough clearance, so I pull the axel bolt to get more play, and it doesn't help at all.
Quick call to Ford, and the carrier has to come completely off. I asked if "special tools" were involved and the answer - Yes (but they did mention you may be able to get the tool at an Autozone or Napa).
Screw it. I brought it in (and this is the first time I have ever had any of my Taurus' at a Ford Dealer). Labor Cost with Alignment - $520 bucks.
Why exactly?
It was a bigger job than I thought ($520 bucks? I did my struts on my old cars in about 2 hours - it HAS to be big job). Bottomline, I didn't want to take the carrier off (then I'd need an alignment), didn't want to rent a bunch of tools, and I realized that even if I did get the hub off, I had a very hard time believing I could compress the spring enough to get them on the struts. The springs are MASSIVE. I've only seen springs like that on big trucks. I'm also aware that some springs need a wall mount compressor to do it.
Hopefully this helps someone, I wasn't able to find anywhere online where people had done them themselves, so I thought I'd share.
**But I have to ask, has anyone done struts on 2009 Taurus themselves?**
I recently purchased my 3rd Taurus, I had a 1997 and 2002 and just bought my 2009 (120K miles). Almost immediately, I noticed *clunking* noises at slow speeds on the new whip. I suspected front struts right away, and I had a friend rock the car side to side and inspected the struts while it was rocking and I could see the spring going *tung tung* like it wasn't seated properly, I could also see a tear in the boot. Bottomline, struts looked broke.
Having done struts in both of my other cars (got them both past 250K woop! ) I opted to do my own on the new 2009 Taurus. I discovered very quickly, quick struts were not available, you have to buy the pieces, and then build them. In fact, I couldn't ANY aftermarket struts, springs or mounts. (You win this time Ford ).
Struts = $160 X 2
Mounts = $50 X 2
Springs = $60 X 2
After getting all the parts, I put my car up on jack stands. Wheels off, strut mounts off, and I'm sliding the strut down on the carrier and it stops. The axle is hitting the a-arm and I don't have enough clearance, so I pull the axel bolt to get more play, and it doesn't help at all.
Quick call to Ford, and the carrier has to come completely off. I asked if "special tools" were involved and the answer - Yes (but they did mention you may be able to get the tool at an Autozone or Napa).
Screw it. I brought it in (and this is the first time I have ever had any of my Taurus' at a Ford Dealer). Labor Cost with Alignment - $520 bucks.
Why exactly?
It was a bigger job than I thought ($520 bucks? I did my struts on my old cars in about 2 hours - it HAS to be big job). Bottomline, I didn't want to take the carrier off (then I'd need an alignment), didn't want to rent a bunch of tools, and I realized that even if I did get the hub off, I had a very hard time believing I could compress the spring enough to get them on the struts. The springs are MASSIVE. I've only seen springs like that on big trucks. I'm also aware that some springs need a wall mount compressor to do it.
Hopefully this helps someone, I wasn't able to find anywhere online where people had done them themselves, so I thought I'd share.
**But I have to ask, has anyone done struts on 2009 Taurus themselves?**