I have noticed latley that my CL seems to be leaning. When I sit in the car I feel like the car is leaning towards the back and to the left (drivers side). When the car is parked in the driveway, which is flat, the car doesn't show any signs of being unlevel. The car is an 03' and has 70,000 miles on it. When I called the dealership to get a quote on replacing the struts the manager was suprised I wanted or even needed to replace them. He told me that they have a warranty of 50,000 miles. Which tells me after 50,000 they start the ware out. I was trying to think about what else could be giving me this feeling. The seat seems fine and I have tried to adjust the seat to see if that would help..didn't work. Do you have to replace struts in pairs? Are they suppose to last a long time? Thanks for the help.

 

Lose some weight

First damn thats a lot of miles for an 03, and second the car is build to hold 4 people and I forget the exact load rating. Struts should last much longer than 50K miles. My nissan sentra has 140K with the stock struts. Just replace the springs and struts and dont worry about it

 

lol...I only weigh 320

I bought the car with 59,000 in April from a doctor who liked to travel alot. I use to be worried about milage but what is the point? Life's to short. The car is in perfect shape and I only paid $11,000. Since I came from an Explorer with 130,000 miles, this car should last me along time or at least till 100,000 miles when I trade it.

This all could be in my mind...I am very picky about car stuff.


btw...I only weigh 130

 

Damn. You only paid $11,000 for an '03. Is it a 6-speed?

 

Cars have a little sag when you sit in them. All of them do that. As you notice with aftermarket springs and shocks... they are labeled "left" and "right" to compensate for the driver's weight....

 

Maybe the guy before you added lowering springs then took them off to sell the car. Lower springs on stock strus will wear them out faster.
If not, might just be a fluke & 1 of the struts is bad. It happens.

 

yeah the price was great. It's an automatic . It is also on its 3rd transmission. It seems crazy that each transmission crapped out. Why can't they just fix it?

I don't think the doctor lowered his car...doesn't seem like the type. If it is just the one strut, do you still have to replace both rear struts or just the one? Wish it wasn't so expensive...everything I have done to this car has cost a small fortune. But, I still love it.

 

I have about 102k on my 03 with stock struts. I read in playboy that dealers tend to wait a lot longer to replace the struts cause they don't need to be replaced till about 150k miles or so. The person who wrote in said he worked for a dealership and said that more of the local shops replace struts sooner for more profit. This would be under normal circumstances, so if they had any mods done then maybe it could be the cause of the problem.

If the car was in an accident and a strut was replaced the one side could be newer than the other and it could appear to be sagging. This may not be true, just an idea.

 

Well i know the car has never been in any accidents....So i have to believe they are all original. I guess I would probably replace both struts on the back just to keep it even. My luck I would replace one and it would be sagging on the other side.

Also, Where is the gas tank located in the rear of the car? Is it on one side or in the middle? I know Ford was having problems with explorers because the constant weight of the gas tank would prematurely ware the driver's side leaf spring. Leaving the car sagging in the rear. Since the CL has struts and the explorer has leaf springs it might not matter. Just wondering.

 

it's the spring that does the height, the strut has nothing to do with height

 

and

The perch on a strut can greatly affect the height of a car.

 

i've been noticing lately that my ride seems harsher, i was driving my dads trailblazer, and it was smoother, quieter...i'm at 65K on an 03, is it in my head or do you guys think the struts are going?? i do drive on some very very rough roads, well actually off road, how much would this affect it??

sorry for the hijack dude

 

True, but the chances of the perch moving up or down on the strut are pretty damn slim.

 

If the car sits flat on a level surface you do not have a strut problem.

 

exactly, unless aftermarket strut's perch are installed at different heights, oem is nowhere near this situation.

 

Should I leave changing struts to the dealer? I know it involves removing seats and stuff. One thing I worry about is damaging my seats or carpet. I guess by taking it to a dealership they will (hopefully) fix what they mess up. I know my local place would just tell me to go away.

 

I bought new tires that actually had tread on them and the ride immediately became smoother and more quiet. How do your tires look?

 

Strut life depends on many variables of course including road and driving conditions. I'd try to look under the car or get it up in the air and see if you see any oily spots on one of the struts. This would indicate a leak which would mean you should at least replace that pair. All four together would be better. On Honda products I get about 120k before they no longer provide adequate control. I'm at 95k now on my type-s and they are just starting to feel a little softer but I think they will go 120 before they are too soft.

 

Tires look good. They were replaced when I bought the car in April. I am going for an oil change next week, I just switched to synthetic oil, and I will have him put it on the lift and take a look.