I have a 2009 ES350 with 135,000 miles. I recently had all 4 struts changed (Monroe's) and the front strut mounts changed as well. Afterwards I took the car to be aligned as the shop that did the job didn't do alignments. When I got the car from the mechanic I noticed it was pulling left (figuring because it was just worked on). When I received the car from the alignment shop I noticed that now it pulled a hard left and would feel stiff. I returned it to the alignment shop and he looked at the car and the machine said it was aligned properly. He sent me back to the 1st mechanic to review his work. The mechanic referred me to another shop which redid the alignment and noticed that the front left strut mount was deflective (had just been changed) and replaced that as well. He did recommend the rack & pinion be changed and made a few recommendations as he didn't do that work in his shop.
I take it back to the 2nd shop, they replaced the rack & pinion, the left axle and re-aligned the car (now 3x's). Again same issues no improvements. I return to shop #3 to have it checked again. He took it apart put it back together and can not find out what's wrong with it, (All that at no charge). All he recommended was that I have Lexus take a look at it.
Honestly the car rode better with the old struts because it was straight and didn't make noises. Now pulls hard left and becomes stiff, creeks and makes noise when turning the well (like an old Ford truck) and when I hit a bump on the road sometimes it sounds like I had no suspension.
What are your recommendations? Thank you in advance!
The million dollar question, what kind of struts did they put in?
this videos especially for you.
I forgot to ask you this, was the steering wheel before you had the work done stiff?
if it wasn’t stiff, why would they need to replace the r & p?
@oneimich
before the work was done there was nothing wrong with the steering, only the struts (bouncy car when hitting a bump on the road) According to the mechanic it was because of oil he found coming from the r & p suggesting that it may have been a coincidence that it all happened at once
Suspicious that’s all I’ll say, someone owes you the appropriate repair, without spending anymore of your money. Whoever put in the struts and the r & p has some explaining to do.
@oneimich
only thing he says is that it is correctly done. BTW I saw that video before having it done. I only bought the struts and front strut mounts
I would get a second opinion and document everything.
@oneimich
Anything in particular I should keep an eye out for?
Maybe it might be beneficial taking it to the dealer and see what they say.
if they find something that contradicts what you’ve been told from the other parties, they’re gonna owe you an explanation and or compensation.
please let me know your outcome moving forward.
Scotty just moved from Houston to Tennessee, what bad luck.
@oneimich
He was moving when I had the work started
Maybe the axle is defective, it’s something that’s for sure....
so you didn’t buy the quite strut?
@oneimich
Correct no quick strut
Monro quick struts are warrantied foras long as you own the vehicle.
I would’ve used those instead.....