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I've already replaced one new strut due to air leaks.
The car was parked for a maximum of 36 hours. Both sides, on the stops. Nothing has been touched from when they were okay, a week ago. Looks like I break out the soapy water sprayer, again, check both sides, and take many deep breaths. Though, the leak is small enough, it may be difficult to detect using this method, while they're installed.
that really sucks , I know how horrible you must feel
What are you going to do ? Im sure you have lost confidence in the product and even if they ship you another set are you okay with doing the install again?
Have you ever thought of swapping in a strut and spring ? I have mine sitting right beside me that I will install when the time is right .
that really sucks , I know how horrible you must feel
What are you going to do ? Im sure you have lost confidence in the product and even if they ship you another set are you okay with doing the install again?
Have you ever thought of swapping in a strut and spring ? I have mine sitting right beside me that I will install when the time is right .
I've already ordered a pair of new OEM rear air struts. The air suspension's sensors are already as high as they'll go in the rear, and it still bottoms out on the slightest of sharp impacts...like on freeway bridge transitions or even slow speed driveway entrances. It's not topped-out, either, because if I press Height High, it raises a good amount, and the bottoming problem goes away.
I'll remove these, after I film any air leaks, then proceed with either returning or exchanging them. I prefer a return at this point, as I'm going a different direction, but if that cannot be agreed upon, I'll resell the replacements for my defective ones. However, I may have to take a loss, and that's just parts/shipping. I have several days invested into getting this to work correctly, but I'm all-in at this point.
There's no way I'm going to metal springs on this car. The air ride really is that nice when it's 100%. If there comes a time I can't get it 100%, I'll get it the best I can, sell it, and move on to something else (seriously, I'd consider a 1977 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham two door). However, I know the OEM struts were fine, before, just somewhat short-lived as they slowly lost proper damping control after only 115K miles. There's really no excuse for this as non-air struts can go 200K miles without an issue, and the air spring changes nothing in the damper's design...at least it shouldn't. While the spring and damper are part of the same assembly, they do two completely different things and don't 'touch' each other.
The spring, be it air, metal, or Fiberglas, merely supports weight and absorbs impact. The damper controls how the spring responds during and after doing what it's supposed to, but it does so indirectly.
There's a possibility the adjustable aspect of the damper contributes to its relatively short life, but it seems to happen more often to the rear struts than the front. I had an '05 Cadillac STS (RWD) which had Magneride, and the rear struts on it went first, too...right about 105K miles. Fronts were fine up until 145K when I replaced the car with this one.
Did you order OEM new or did you find a used set? If so, how much and where did you order from? Good luck with OEM, hopefully those will work and you will be back to normal.
Ebay, they've sold several pairs, both front and rear, claim all of them to be new, in the OEM box...and I asked specifically about them being OEM, new, not rebuilt, not used, etc. If they're lying, that's what credit card challenges are for.
$650 for one side, $670 for the other (I don't know why they're different, didn't care at this point), but as soon as I bought mine, the price went to $1,600 each. Don't know what's up with that. Supposedly I bought the last set, so they may be out of ones on which they scored a great deal.
I'll have them next weekend, so I intend to tackle this the first week in November.
I wrestled with going through ebay, which is why I asked about if they were OEM and new, NOT refurbished. One is shown, in the OEM Toyota parts box.
Even so, I have doubts. I'll keep everyone up-to-date.
Being the guinea pig kinda sucks, but at least I'm technical enough, and gearheaded enough, to get through it all. I hope putting the OEM back in won't take me but a day...I hope. It's much, much cooler, now, so it should be better in the garage.
I've already ordered a pair of new OEM rear air struts. The air suspension's sensors are already as high as they'll go in the rear, and it still bottoms out on the slightest of sharp impacts...like on freeway bridge transitions or even slow speed driveway entrances. It's not topped-out, either, because if I press Height High, it raises a good amount, and the bottoming problem goes away.
I'll remove these, after I film any air leaks, then proceed with either returning or exchanging them. I prefer a return at this point, as I'm going a different direction, but if that cannot be agreed upon, I'll resell the replacements for my defective ones. However, I may have to take a loss, and that's just parts/shipping. I have several days invested into getting this to work correctly, but I'm all-in at this point.
There's no way I'm going to metal springs on this car. The air ride really is that nice when it's 100%. If there comes a time I can't get it 100%, I'll get it the best I can, sell it, and move on to something else (seriously, I'd consider a 1977 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham two door). However, I know the OEM struts were fine, before, just somewhat short-lived as they slowly lost proper damping control after only 115K miles. There's really no excuse for this as non-air struts can go 200K miles without an issue, and the air spring changes nothing in the damper's design...at least it shouldn't. While the spring and damper are part of the same assembly, they do two completely different things and don't 'touch' each other.
The spring, be it air, metal, or Fiberglas, merely supports weight and absorbs impact. The damper controls how the spring responds during and after doing what it's supposed to, but it does so indirectly.
There's a possibility the adjustable aspect of the damper contributes to its relatively short life, but it seems to happen more often to the rear struts than the front. I had an '05 Cadillac STS (RWD) which had Magneride, and the rear struts on it went first, too...right about 105K miles. Fronts were fine up until 145K when I replaced the car with this one.
agreed , the air ride is really luxurious and special , I just don't have the temperament to go through the issues your having.
Wish u luck man, hope the oem ones from ebay go on well without any issues.
10-27-18, 10:13 AM
I don't *&?k&!# believe it
