Sharing my thoughts on my new struts

[rockfangd]

Hi All. 

My front struts on my 97 Seville were starting to make noise and not handle as well as I would like.

I decided to try to replace them this year. It has been a very tight year so  I opted to try the Dorman quick Struts (not my first choice)

Part #949533.

I was not highly confident so I saved the old units. I ordered them from a reputable supplier. Let it be known I had no issue with supplier.

I ordered the set of struts in April. They were shipped direct from Dorman. The first set was mangled when it arrived. The struts smashed through the poor packaging and damaged each other.

It took almost a month to get another set sent. I specifically asked to be sure the packaging would be done better. It was not, the second set was almost as bad as the first set. I was not happy. Now 2 months in and no good parts.

I opted to try the second set. I installed them. I set them to the same place the old ones were just to get alignment in the ballpark.

Well The car was nearly undriveable. It took 3 weeks to get appointment for alignment. I picked up car from alignment and noted it had memory steering. Within 1000 miles the strut bearings were binding and snapping. If I turned to the right and finished the turn the car would still pull right until I forced it. Now I'm really not happy. 5 Months into this ordeal, Money into parts and alignment, Hours into removal and installation.

I called not only emailed Dorman Products but called them as well. Sadly they were of absolutely no help. Just said if I am not satisfied to return them. Did not care about the packaging, quality, nothing. Sadly I am not surprised. The Supplier is gladly going to return them and even provided a gift card to help toward my costs. 

Finally today I reinstalled my old struts and am sending the defective ones back. I stress that if this was one of my customers vehicles I would be eating all of this, but this was my vehicle. Let this be a lesson about not going with my gut and buying something better. Since April I am lucky I got 1000 miles on my car, been driving my truck every day because of it. I am so disgusted. I hope nobody else goes through this. I just thought I would share my experience

[Bruce Nunnally]

Wow, sorry to hear.  Good thing you kept the old ones.  Hope the next replacement works out better.

[rockfangd]

Hi Bruce. 

Not this year. I will probably try to go with Arnotts