Rear struts bad already 67,000 km

[bluejay]

Took car into dealership for endlinks to be replaced ,front end make a popping and creaking noise . Dealership tells that they can’t recreate the noise and everything looks tight in the front end . They say my rear struts are going bad and making a popping noise and can replace them but I’d have to wait for parts from us and it’s going to cost 350 plus labour plus another work day lost . I dropped the car off first thing this morning and they have had the car for 6 hrs and all they have done was an inspection. Car still isn’t ready , unfortunately it looks like I’ll be doing all the repairs going forward. This sucks . I never have anything in my hatch I’m almost always the only person in the car so it’s surprising that the rear struts are bad already. Has anyone else had suspension components go this quick ?

 

[mja]

30,000 miles is pretty soon for a shock to go out, but account for the age of the vehicle and how it's driven.

The rears are springs and shocks, no struts back there. It's even more interesting that a rear shock or shock mount went bad that soon. Anything's possible.

I had tie rods and sway bar end links go out before 50k miles.

 

[bluejay]

Sorry I meant to say shock absorbers . Yea I thought that was soon as well . When I hear the creaking and popping noises I’m positive it’s from the front of the car thinking it’s endlinks or tie rods but what do I know I just drive the car everyday. The tech at the dealer says he is positive it’s coming from the rear. So they had the car for a full day ,did no work/repairs and I paid $350 to have the car sit at the dealership and I lost a day of work so I’m super impressed with my local Chevy dealer right now. They also told me if I wanted to fix the popping noise I had to replace the rear absorbers $350 +labour. And they wanted to sell me endlinks for $100 . Those prices they gave me pissed me off cause oem endlinks are $13 each and the rear shocks were $48 each . So now I will be replacing endlinks and rear shock absorbers myself . And the next time u are going to buy a new car Don’t Buy Extended Warranty it’s a waste of time and money.

 

[mja]

That's a rough deal, good news is these parts are cheap. OEM end links will work, but ZZP offers upgraded ones at 20$/piece that won't crap out after 50k miles. RacerXfab has adjustable end links if you have other suspension plans.

 

[bluejay]

Thanks for the info . Do you know how to get to the top nut on the rear shocks ? Do I just unbolt the shock mount from the top of the wheel well or do I have to get at it from the inside of the hatch? ( I agree parts are cheep just not from the dealer )

 

[mja]

...Ya take the whole shock/shock mount off 1st.

I held the bottom of the shock still with my boot (could clamp in a bench vice), crescent/open end wrench on the square stud and lefty-loosey the nut with a box wrench. It takes some force to break it loose at first.