Hi all, I just got a second hand 1992 Camry LE 4 door sedan, and the struts are shot. I took it in for wheel alignment, and they discovered that the front springs were cracked too...so anyhow, I have decided to replace the struts and springs on all 4 corners myself. A few questions for all you DIY'ers here

1. I see that my best option to buy struts are to buy the KYB GR2's for this car. I see them online with free shipping for around 280 or a set of 4, which sounds reasonable to me...unless there is a better price or a vendor(s) you can recommend?

2. The only springs I seem to be able to find are the Eibach springs, and I really don't need to buy an eibach pro kit set for this car. Any better options there?

3. If I get a set of springs and struts, do I need anything else? I can reuse the camry's tophats(i think the manual refers to them as upper supports),upper insulators, and spring bumpers correct?

4. Installation : It looks straightforward while reading the assemly info on the camry maintenance manual...I have done many strut changes on my subaru WRX, and it seems to be very similar, save for the fact that the camry rear has a bar going from the sway bar to the strut as well. I assume I need to take out the rear seats as well. I wonder if they go on similar to my WRX....any info on the rear seats avail online?

5. any other info would be nice

Thanks!!!

EDIT : oh i see the diagram now in that manual on where the rear seat pieces go in..still would like advice however thanks!

 

well you can always find a junk yard for stock springs or go to stealership/ebay.
kyb gr2 is a nice oem replacement. Tokico blue struts for a stiffer ride.
tein makes lowering springs too if you're going that route. I would just keep it at stock ride height if its a daily driver.

The install/removal is pretty straight forward. Since you've done suspension before you probably have the spring compressor and other tools.

 

Yeah I've done these kind of struts many times. My current hurdle today is, that I found how to take the side pieces of the rear seats off, but I can't sem to get to the bottom bolt without removing the seat bottom, and I can't find where to get the seat bottom off...any bolts or such. any help in that area? yeah I will not be lowering it, as it is just my old beater that I drive to work. ]My AP1 s2k is my fun car, and that's low enough for me, lol!

 

most toyotas i've delt with are simply yank up on the center part of the seat (center of left passenger and center of right passneger). it should pop up out of clips. Then its just a tug to get it off.

 

very nice, thanks a ton! I just pulled it right out. There was a right, left, and a center one. I'll just go ahead and order the strutsand springs now I do have a spring compressor, but probably will go to my friends house to use his air compressor and impact wrench to compress them, or break down and buy myself an early birthday present

 

good stuff. looks like they got lazier later and just put two in, because mine only has two.

haha early birthday present indeed. Maybe an electric one is a better option?

 

Yeah, you know how those seats like to fly off..haha...yeah if i can find a good adjustable and not expensive electric i would..but it is tempting to get a compressor, and use all the cool attachments for other things

 

haha yup.
so it sounds like things went well.

 

I did all four corners recently on my sedan. For the rears, I bought Monroe's quick-struts (everything included and assembled)for the rears and piece-mealed the fronts as the quick-struts were not available. I bought most of my parts at rockauto.com and had excellant results. I believe I purchased the spings at a local auto store (mine were cracked/broken). I also bought a new set of bellows for the front as mine were in tatters. My strut mounts were fine and did not need replacing. As far as that connecting rod from the rear strut to the sway bar goes, mine were impossible to disassemble. I ended up cutting /drilling out the old ones and replacing them.

 

those would cut a lot of time and guess work out of installing a new suspension.
how were they in terms of cost? And how is the ride?