Front strut avaliability

[Judd]

Few questions about struts, springs and shocks.

Have a 2015 Mirage ES. I live in rural NW Arkansas and want the car stiffer and taller {understand that my car has 200K+ hard, dirt road miles on it so the springs have sagged even lower than new}. I bought 98 VW Beetle rear springs and installed new shocks in the rear. Fine with the added stiffness but it's simply too tall. If I have to, I can install the aftermarket coil spring compressors/speaders that clamp on the spring coils and pull them closer together.

Here is my largest issue. The front struts are crapped out including the bushings in the hat assembly. I would like to just buy complete assembled struts because I do not want to look around for bushings, look for new springs and get a compressor to assemble all that. I have spent alot of time on the internet and can-not find complete struts. Anyone know of a source?

If not, I suppose KYB is likely the stiffer of the options. That sound correct? If so, I'll get them, new bushings and while I was researching this, I read where someone bought 98-2000 VW Beetle lowering springs and installed them front and rear. If so, sounds like the best of both worlds, higher rate springs but not terribly tall when installed on the lighter Mirage????

[Top_Fuel]

I have spent a lot of time on the internet and cannot find complete struts.

The last time I looked, I couldn't find "loaded" struts for a Mirage. I ended up buying used struts from a low-mile, late model wrecked Mirage. I have a 2015...which has softer spring rates than anything made after 2015. So buying any used Mirage struts newer than 2015 should be an improvement.

[sunbeam]

When I search rock auto it shows "struts".
What is the difference between what is on rock auto and what you need?

Looking to learn more about car suspension myself.

[mirthmobile]

AFAIK nobody in the aftermarket makes complete strut assemblies. You need to buy individual pieces unfortunately and most are only available at the dealer.



Our parts availability really suffers from a couple of problems

1) it's a low number car - there aren't many out there
2) they're decently reliable - there are even fewer broken ones out there so not much demand for parts when they're probably going to sit on shelves for years

[Top_Fuel]

When I search rock auto it shows "struts".
What is the difference between what is on rock auto and what you need?

He is asking about complete strut assemblies...also known as "loaded" struts.

A bare strut is just the shock absorber portion of the strut. That's what is available on Rockauto. You would have to take all the used stuff of of your existing struts (mainly the coil spring and strut bearing) and transfer those parts to the new strut. That's a fair amount of extra work that requires specialty tools, and you are just transferring old used stuff onto the new strut.

Loaded struts have all new parts and are really simple to install with normal hand tools. Unless you are on a serious budget, loaded struts are the way to go when it comes time to replace them. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a loaded strut for a Mirage in North America.

You can check out THIS video explaining bare vs loaded struts.

[BigMW]

He is asking about complete strut assemblies...also known as "loaded" struts.

A bare strut is just the shock absorber portion of the strut. That's what is available on Rockauto. You would have to take all the used stuff of of your existing struts (mainly the coil spring and strut bearing) and transfer those parts to the new strut. That's a fair amount of extra work that requires specialty tools, and you are just transferring old used stuff onto the new strut.

Loaded struts have all new parts and are really simple to install with normal hand tools. Unless you are on a serious budget, loaded struts are the way to go when it comes time to replace them. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a loaded strut for a Mirage in North America.

You can check out THIS video explaining bare vs loaded struts.

Thanks for that video - it really clarified for me what I need to do with my truck. Just an aside, my incompetent mechanic messed up installing my high end Elka shocks, then misdiagnosed the squeeking, missed those shocks wearing out; and finally ordered wrong replacement struts (now my truck is lifted in the back and lowered in the front)

Oooof, thanks, I needed to vent that out

[sunbeam]

He is asking about complete strut assemblies...also known as "loaded" struts.

A bare strut is just the shock absorber portion of the strut. That's what is available on Rockauto. You would have to take all the used stuff of of your existing struts (mainly the coil spring and strut bearing) and transfer those parts to the new strut. That's a fair amount of extra work that requires specialty tools, and you are just transferring old used stuff onto the new strut.

Loaded struts have all new parts and are really simple to install with normal hand tools. Unless you are on a serious budget, loaded struts are the way to go when it comes time to replace them. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a loaded strut for a Mirage in North America.

You can check out THIS video explaining bare vs loaded struts.

https://nextgentuning.com/products/b...overs-b-32-br?

So in this link above, it looks like the strut is inside the coil.

These are probably what I am getting once the oem suspension is toast.

[foama]

https://nextgentuning.com/products/b...overs-b-32-br?

So in this link above, it looks like the strut is inside the coil.

These are probably what I am getting once the oem suspension is toast.

Wow! Thats a bit pricey!
Maybe you could settle for a set of four Eibach springs and a set of four Excel G shocks.
The average Mr Simpson should be able to do that job without hassle. Its pretty much straight forward and quckly done.

[sunbeam]

Wow! Thats a bit pricey!
Maybe you could settle for a set of four Eibach springs and a set of four Excel G shocks.
The average Mr Simpson should be able to do that job without hassle. Its pretty much straight forward and quckly done.

I know very little about suspension. Looked up the parts you have written, would you think these are higher quality then that BC racing kit?

[foama]

It all depends on what you want! Of course you can't make a race car out of a Mirage, and if you wanted a race car you probably should have bought something else.
Me thinks: If your goal is to replace 200000+ mileage suspension parts, and to do it with a good and proven product without paying through the nose, I would go with Eibach springs and KYB shocks. The Eibach set of 4 springs is not really that expensive. They are called lowering springs, but are quite a bit firmer and don't sag so much under load, so it doesn't bottom out as before. There is not much lowering from them, but are so much firmer and therefore better on bad roads. The KYB shocks, especially the more recent sort, are also a bit firmer than the OEM. Compared to a softer 2015 style suspension with 200 000miles, that should be a huge improvement. Compared to OEM part prices, it is also beneficial for your wallet!

The parts you mentioned are very much more pricey. In these parts and probably in Canada too, for that much $$$ you could get an entire and perfectly useable old used car. Like I said, it all depends on what you want.