Starting to start looking to going over the front end on my 01 ES300 with 245K. Front end bottoms out on a small bump occasionally. Actually leaving work at a red light turning left onto a boulevard if I don't take it slow it'll bottom out. That's Bought a set of Mastercraft VSR grand touring tires few weeks back and had them mounted. Tire wear was even, but about the time a few months ago when I first started having what I'm pretty sure is warped rotors, I started getting a slight vibration at about 60-65mph. Stayed there after new tires, so need to look elsewhere.

Also just this week I'm getting a slight clunk from the rear struts just going down the road at lower speeds. So the question I have now is what are people using for struts now. Initially I thought just replace the struts and bellows with KYB's up front and reuse the insulator, seat and mounts. But I'm really wanting to get a quick strut for ease of install. Problem is not many good quick stuts are out there for the ES300's. Looking at KYB quick struts for a Camry XLE with V6 looks to be the best I can find. I'm looking to do this once and forget about them for the next 200k as I drive 75% interstate miles 60 a day. Any thoughts?

 

I've heard the same for both expensive and cheap struts, they all last about the same so, the only thing I could add is make sure you use a quality tire. A good high quality tire will greatly help with road feel while working with the struts. good luck

 

I guess no here running up high miles on their ES300's. Looks like I'm going to order KYB Exel G struts and reuse the mounts and coils. A little more work, but a little cheaper

 

Dont reuse the mounts. My rear clunking was caused but sway bar bushing and mounts. I replaced all my struts with KYBs and front OEM mount with rear KYBs as OEM was just way too expensive. Dont cheap out if you planning to keep the ride for while.

 

Oh no, lots of folks with many more miles and rebuilt suspensions. I would more suspect a collective "yawn..." about answering a question that has been beat to death on the forum and could be answered with a simple search of this sub-forum. That said, I'll turn off the snark and say that your plan sounds fine, except the rear coils. The rear in these is OE lightly sprung and wears badly; you likely need to do a KYB quick strut back there, or get some Moog coils to mate with the KYB struts (I did that 5 years/90k miles ago - still very happy and performing great). I would NOT re-use rear coils after that many miles - waste of time and cheap, GOOD alternatives are available vs. OE (IIRC, the MOOG p/n is cc273). You can parse your own value of rebuilding with KYB cartridges/Moog coils vs. KYB quick strut, but do one of the two and not re-use the stock coils. Too much labor to come back to re-do it.

Only the front has bearing mounts (re-use them if they aren't giving problems if you are not quick-strutting; and if so, still keep the old ones in case of problems). The rear "mount" is just a molded stud assembly, not like the front bearing mount. Confusing nomenclature here.

Also, understand how critical it is to get the upper strut mount bolt torque right. So many complaints I see are from DIY jobs where I do not see the expressed mechanical ability to get that right with complex tools or with the suspension loaded/unloaded.

 

Yeah that was kinda tongue in cheek in my reply. Reading back over the first post what I really meant to ask was is it fine to use KYB quick struts for Camry XLE because I can't find a listing for ES300 any more. I do see the strut itself in the Excel G is the same for 97-01 Camry es300 Solara and Avalon models so I assume it will. While I have not done this job in the past, I am pretty good at following guides so I'll heed your advice.