G50 Front Strut Replacement - Job Pictures

[OwnerCS]

Front strut replacement turned out to be one of the easier maintenance operations that I’ve performed in a long time. This was one of those “walk in the park” easy jobs. I was actually quoted $440 ($110 per strut) for labor to replace struts by a local shop. So this is an easy DIY job where you can save some bucks.

1) Remove upper strut bolts as shown in the picture below. Consider replacing rubber bumper and insulator components. There is a rubber bushing under black cap in this picture.



2) Remove the lower mounting bolt. The strut and spring can be easily removed at this point.



3) The spring compression tool was borrowed (deposit refund option) from Advance Auto Parts. Many auto parts stores provide coil spring compression kits as a rental or a loaner with security deposit.



4) Plan to replace dust boots (and other rubber components) during installation. I found OEM replacements fit perfectly. The ½ inch I.D. poly-braded tubing replaced the original plastic insulators that crumbled during removal. I coated the spring with some dielectric grease and used a heat gun to warm the tubing so it would slide into place. Installing the poly tubing was the hardest part of this job.

A posting for rear strut replacement is at the following link.

g50-rear-strut-replacement-job-pictures-t531715.html

[maxnix]

You have a white G50? Those are rare.

[OwnerCS]

Thanks Brian - The color code is KH1 C .. I don't know if it is called white or something else. The base coat is a near white with some gold looking metal flake in the pearl finish. It is one of those paint colors that seems to change from sunlight to shade.

[Heath]

Thanks for the writeup. I need to do this soon too.

I'll have to go and check my paint code. I don't know what it is for sure. But the under hood shot of yours looks like its the same as my Cotton White. However you mention the gold flake which makes me think of the Ivory Pearl, which is what your profile pic looks like.

[rkleff]

I can't get your pictures to come up on my computer for both the front and rear and wonder if you could repost them or email them to me. Thanks for putting this together, I will have to do my soon and would love to have the pictures.

[OwnerCS]

The pictures are on PhotoBucket. Are you on a work computer that possibly blocks PhotoBucket?

Send me a PM with your email addy, I will be glad to email..

[rkleff]

I found them - great pictures!

In case there are other newbies out there who are getting four little balls rotating clockwise and seeing "loading" when you hover your cursor over them, they are not going to load. You must go to the bottom of the post and click on the photobucket link and go to OwnerCS's pictures and click on "view albums" and scroll about half way down to "struts".

You will also find some other great pictures there to use as a resource for working on your Q.

Thanks

Just found an easier way of getting the pictures to come up - click on the Compatibiolity Icon just to the right of the URL if you are using Internet Explorer.