01 intrepid struts

01 Chrysler Intrepid ES 74,000 km

Both front struts are leaking and need to be replaced (according to my
extended Warranty appointed shop, and the struts by the way are
conveniently not covered under my warrany). I will be having a second
shop, which I trust, look at the car on friday. In the meantime I'm
wondering what the expected life of the struts are on these cars (ie.
2nd gen LH series).

I've been quoted nearly $1400 canadian for munroe struts, mounts and a
left inner tie rod with 4.5hrs labour @80/hour and an alignment. I will
be calling some other shops for quotes as well.

Any info would be appreciated

Matt T wrote:
> 01 Chrysler Intrepid ES 74,000 km
>
> Both front struts are leaking and need to be replaced (according to my
> extended Warranty appointed shop, and the struts by the way are
> conveniently not covered under my warrany). I will be having a second
> shop, which I trust, look at the car on friday. In the meantime I'm
> wondering what the expected life of the struts are on these cars (ie.
> 2nd gen LH series).
>
> I've been quoted nearly $1400 canadian for munroe struts, mounts and a
> left inner tie rod with 4.5hrs labour @80/hour and an alignment. I will
> be calling some other shops for quotes as well.
>
> Any info would be appreciated

I just had my '99 Concorde's original front struts replaced at just over
130k miles, though people on the Intrepid and 300m forums claim that
they generally need replacing long before that. You sure yours are
really leaking at that mileage? (or is someone scamming you?)

You might look at the KYB brand - Model GR-2 (happens to be the only
model KYB makes that will fit the LH cars), but people are happy with
it. Comments on the forums are that people like them better than the
Monroes, and the good news is that they actually cost less (something
like $67 ea. for the KYB's vs. $85 for the Monroes if you shop around).

Suggestion: See if a shop will let you buy the parts and have them
install them. I didn't do that and got raped on the parts cost - the
shop charged me full list price for the struts: $150 ea. vs. $67 ea.
(all prices I'm quoting are $US) that I could have bought them for (and
similar gouging on the strut mounts/bearings). The only downside on
that is that with the shop supplying the parts, they would take care of
any warranty issues if there are problems. I figure saving $300 on the
strut mounts and struts would have been worth the risk of a warranty issue.

On the left inner tie rod: That's a little strange. On these cars, you
would normally change both inner tie rod *bushings* for what one whole
inner tie rod cost. You gain nothing by replacing the inner tie rod
other than a new bearing - that's the only part that wears there. Get
both bushings replaced - they *do* go bad, and they come as a set -
about $20.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
adddress with the letter 'x')

Bill Putney wrote:

> ...You gain nothing by replacing the inner tie rod
> other than a new bearing - that's the only part that wears there...

Meant to say "...other than a new bushing..." there.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
adddress with the letter 'x')

I just had the front struts on my 99 300M replaced under the CHyrsler
maximum car extended service plan. If you have that plan they are covered
with a $50 deductible. Made a tremendous improvement in ride and probably
makes the warranty a bargain right there for that issue alone.


"Matt T" > wrote in message
news
> 01 Chrysler Intrepid ES 74,000 km
>
> Both front struts are leaking and need to be replaced (according to my
> extended Warranty appointed shop, and the struts by the way are
> conveniently not covered under my warrany). I will be having a second
> shop, which I trust, look at the car on friday. In the meantime I'm
> wondering what the expected life of the struts are on these cars (ie. 2nd
> gen LH series).
>
> I've been quoted nearly $1400 canadian for munroe struts, mounts and a
> left inner tie rod with 4.5hrs labour @80/hour and an alignment. I will
> be calling some other shops for quotes as well.
>
> Any info would be appreciated

But if the shop and the customer mutually agree that any warranty issues
will not be the shop's problem, then what's the beef. Or is this a
situation where some stupid law precludes a shop not warrantying the job
even if mutually agreed to?

Speaking from a dealers stand point here. We offer 12 months or 12k miles
on parts and labor, most parts bought thru another parts store do not
honor that kind of warranty and they sure dont pay the labor to reinstall
it if it does fail.
And once again when the liars, I mean lawyers get into it.....you loose
even if you win.
I have had to install non Chrysler Parts before and the only gaurantee I
give is that is wont fall off.

damnnickname wrote:
> But if the shop and the customer mutually agree that any warranty issues
> will not be the shop's problem, then what's the beef. Or is this a
> situation where some stupid law precludes a shop not warrantying the job
> even if mutually agreed to?
>
> Speaking from a dealers stand point here. We offer 12 months or 12k miles
> on parts and labor, most parts bought thru another parts store do not
> honor that kind of warranty and they sure dont pay the labor to reinstall
> it if it does fail.
> And once again when the liars, I mean lawyers get into it.....you loose
> even if you win.
> I have had to install non Chrysler Parts before and the only gaurantee I
> give is that is wont fall off.

But you do offer that as an option - that's all I'm talking about.

I agree about the lawyer thing. If anything comes to a warranty or
legal situation, in most cases, I cut my losses and take care of
whatever problems myself (I'm talking about as a DIY'er or "consumer").
For the little pitiful healing that any warranty adjustment might
give, I'll take my chances and save several hundred bucks on the job (as
the customer) by bringing my own parts if that is an option vs. paying
$200% parts markups on top of the labor/OH charges for negligible
benefit to me.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
adddress with the letter 'x')

Bill Putney wrote:
> Matt T wrote:
> > 01 Chrysler Intrepid ES 74,000 km
> >
> > Both front struts are leaking and need to be replaced (according to
my
> > extended Warranty appointed shop, and the struts by the way are
> > conveniently not covered under my warrany). I will be having a
second
> > shop, which I trust, look at the car on friday. In the meantime
I'm
> > wondering what the expected life of the struts are on these cars
(ie.
> > 2nd gen LH series).
> >
> > I've been quoted nearly $1400 canadian for munroe struts, mounts
and a
> > left inner tie rod with 4.5hrs labour @80/hour and an alignment. I
will
> > be calling some other shops for quotes as well.
> >
> > Any info would be appreciated
>
> I just had my '99 Concorde's original front struts replaced at just
over
> 130k miles, though people on the Intrepid and 300m forums claim that
> they generally need replacing long before that. You sure yours are
> really leaking at that mileage? (or is someone scamming you?)
>
> You might look at the KYB brand - Model GR-2 (happens to be the only
> model KYB makes that will fit the LH cars), but people are happy with

> it. Comments on the forums are that people like them better than the

> Monroes, and the good news is that they actually cost less (something

> like $67 ea. for the KYB's vs. $85 for the Monroes if you shop
around).

I don't know if this applies to all applications or not, but the
previous owner of my 944 installed new KYBs on the rear a few months
before I bought the car from him. A few months *after* I bought the
car, I got a really scary rattling/clanking noise from the rear, and I
didn't have time to look at it myself. I dropped the car off at a
Porsche specialty shop and the owner called me up after getting the car
on the lift and basically tore me a new one for using KYBs until I
apologetically explained that they were on the car when I bought it. A
pair of Bilsteins later the noise was gone never to recur.

Maybe their shocks are better for domestic applications, who knows...

nate

N8N wrote:
> Bill Putney wrote:
>
>>Matt T wrote:
>>
>>>01 Chrysler Intrepid ES 74,000 km
>>>
>>>Both front struts are leaking and need to be replaced (according to
>
> my
>
>>>extended Warranty appointed shop, and the struts by the way are
>>>conveniently not covered under my warrany). I will be having a
>
> second
>
>>>shop, which I trust, look at the car on friday. In the meantime
>
> I'm
>
>>>wondering what the expected life of the struts are on these cars
>
> (ie.
>
>>>2nd gen LH series).
>>>
>>>I've been quoted nearly $1400 canadian for munroe struts, mounts
>
> and a
>
>>>left inner tie rod with 4.5hrs labour @80/hour and an alignment. I
>
> will
>
>>>be calling some other shops for quotes as well.
>>>
>>>Any info would be appreciated
>>
>>I just had my '99 Concorde's original front struts replaced at just
>
> over
>
>>130k miles, though people on the Intrepid and 300m forums claim that
>>they generally need replacing long before that. You sure yours are
>>really leaking at that mileage? (or is someone scamming you?)
>>
>>You might look at the KYB brand - Model GR-2 (happens to be the only
>>model KYB makes that will fit the LH cars), but people are happy with
>
>
>>it. Comments on the forums are that people like them better than the
>
>
>>Monroes, and the good news is that they actually cost less (something
>
>
>>like $67 ea. for the KYB's vs. $85 for the Monroes if you shop
>
> around).
>
> I don't know if this applies to all applications or not, but the
> previous owner of my 944 installed new KYBs on the rear a few months
> before I bought the car from him. A few months *after* I bought the
> car, I got a really scary rattling/clanking noise from the rear, and I
> didn't have time to look at it myself. I dropped the car off at a
> Porsche specialty shop and the owner called me up after getting the car
> on the lift and basically tore me a new one for using KYBs until I
> apologetically explained that they were on the car when I bought it. A
> pair of Bilsteins later the noise was gone never to recur.
>
> Maybe their shocks are better for domestic applications, who knows...

Maybe. In either case, whichever brand one goes with, a lot of money
can be saved (with the giving up of a questionable benefit of
"warranty") by supplying your own parts (a lot more than the difference
between the two commodity brands).

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
adddress with the letter 'x')