lexslexus

The upper coil insulators on my rear struts are completely worn out and appear to have ripped in half. However, the struts themselves are almost like new with no bouncing. When sitting in the back, you can feel every little bump in the road but you'd think the back end was perfectly fine when sitting up front. Can I just replace the insulators? Or is it best to go ahead and have all 4 struts replaced since I was going to get the front struts replaced anyway (along with other suspension work)? This is a '96, non- air suspension with 177,800 miles.

Moarpower

Are these the original struts? There will be quite a few suspension items due to be swapped out by now. If money isnt tight, do them all at once. If you are doing it yourself, just do what you can afford. While it wont be a dire thing if you dont replace the rears asap, they MAY cause wear and create rattles if you leave them too long.

lexslexus

Both the front and rear struts have been replaced before. Thanks for the advice. I'll just try and knock everything out at one time.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

if you are referring to the top hat rubbers themselves being ripped in half that should not really contribute to a harsh ride. neither will the rubber isolators on the body of the springs themselves (mainly for noise suppression, anti-squeak). if the struts were replaced in the past it is possible they were installed poorly causing premature tearing.

to answer your question, yes you can just replace the top hat rubber independently but you will need to uninstall the entire strut/spring assembly. if you can spare the money, I would replace the shocks too since as they will need to come out anyway.