Changing front struts, any recommendations?

[Raptor#2018]

Hello everyone, i want to change my front struts on my 2018 cx9 any recommendations, should use aftermarket EBAY parts or OEM ?

 

[ColoradoDriver]

I think quick struts are hit or miss. For suspension parts my vote is OEM.

 

[Lazy2.5]

I think quick struts are hit or miss. For suspension parts my vote is OEM.

I've had KYB quick struts installed in the front since May. They are holding up well.

 

[roundle1979]

How many miles? I'm at 80 and have noticed any 'float' yet.

Given how well the OE is holding up, I'd be temping to stick with OE.

I like Bilstein but they do not have an offering for the CX9.

 

[Lazy2.5]

How many miles? I'm at 80 and have noticed any 'float' yet.

Given how well the OE is holding up, I'd be temping to stick with OE.

I like Bilstein but they do not have an offering for the CX9.

I think I had around 330,000km when I replaced the fronts. The rears are still original.

The fronts were not leaking, just old and tired. They did not sag much compared to the new ones.

I blame the worn feeling on hard cornering and bad roads. Otherwise, I think I may have just left them alone. The rest of the front suspension has been rebuilt too.

Rears feel good.

 

[roundle1979]

Have you done front control arms yet?

My dealer telling me mine need to be replaced as bushings are worn / torn.

 

[sm1ke]

I would go OEM, but in my case, the prices were ridiculous. I went with FCS struts when I had to replace my leaking fronts. FCS doesn't have the best reputation, but they were just fine on my lowered 2018.

I also replaced the passenger side front LCA on my 2018 at the same time. I had the same issue with the bushings being worn out. The replacement arms come with balljoint and bushings already installed. I went with the Beck/Arnley brand and it was perfectly fine.

 

[Lazy2.5]

Have you done front control arms yet?

My dealer telling me mine need to be replaced as bushings are worn / torn.

Honestly, the front drivers side control arm has been replaced 3x now.
The passenger side I think has only been replaced once.

The bushing in the passenger side control arm has been torn for a while now. My mechanic suggested not to bother with replacing it. They probably don't want to deal with the heavy corrosion due to salt in our area unless necessary, but they are simply being honest. You will probably get a bit of slop in the handling, but so long as the ball joints are nice and tight, I would not worry about it.

Once you actually need to do suspension work, or any work really, I suggest to stay far away from the dealer.

 

[Lazy2.5]

I would go OEM, but in my case, the prices were ridiculous. I went with FCS struts when I had to replace my leaking fronts. FCS doesn't have the best reputation, but they were just fine on my lowered 2018.

I also replaced the passenger side front LCA on my 2018 at the same time. I had the same issue with the bushings being worn out. The replacement arms come with balljoint and bushings already installed. I went with the Beck/Arnley brand and it was perfectly fine.

At what mileage did your front struts begin to leak?

 

[sm1ke]

At what mileage did your front struts begin to leak?

About 130k kms I think? Only the front passenger strut was leaking. Lowering springs were installed at 90k kms. I think they would have gone a lot longer if I hadn't hit so many potholes last year.

 

[ColoradoDriver]

Honestly, the front drivers side control arm has been replaced 3x now.
The passenger side I think has only been replaced once.

The bushing in the passenger side control arm has been torn for a while now. My mechanic suggested not to bother with replacing it. They probably don't want to deal with the heavy corrosion due to salt in our area unless necessary, but they are simply being honest. You will probably get a bit of slop in the handling, but so long as the ball joints are nice and tight, I would not worry about it.

Once you actually need to do suspension work, or any work really, I suggest to stay far away from the dealer.

When both my front LCA's had torn bushings, the cornering was very sloppy. I wouldn't want to stay driving on torn bushings. My CX-5's LCA's were good until summer of 2024. I bought the car in April 2013, so the originals lasted me a good ~130k miles.

Did the end links and front struts with them. Was thinking maybe I should do the back shocks now that I am approaching 150k miles.

 

[Lazy2.5]

When both my front LCA's had torn bushings, the cornering was very sloppy. I wouldn't want to stay driving on torn bushings. My CX-5's LCA's were good until summer of 2024. I bought the car in April 2013, so the originals lasted me a good ~130k miles.

Did the end links and front struts with them. Was thinking maybe I should do the back shocks now that I am approaching 150k miles.

Did you notice clunking sounds from torn bushings alone? Ie no other play in the suspension?

 

[ColoradoDriver]

Did you notice clunking sounds from torn bushings alone? Ie no other play in the suspension?

The end links were toast too and the struts were wearing out..though not leaking.

I did the LCAs myself (a job I never want to do again let me tell you) along with the end links. Ended up paying a shop to do the struts and an alignment.

I wonder if there's some sort of maintenance that can be done to keep the rubber bushings in good shape. Mine mainly failed from age and dry rot at which point they cracked and tore.

 

[roundle1979]

Did you notice clunking sounds from torn bushings alone? Ie no other play in the suspension?

I brought mine ins because it felt like I needed an alignment. Sloppy handling. Not tracking quite right. I also get some 'clunking' over pot holes. Alignment shop told me to change controls arms before alignment to prevent wasting money on alignment.

 

[Lazy2.5]

I brought mine ins because it felt like I needed an alignment. Sloppy handling. Not tracking quite right. I also get some 'clunking' over pot holes. Alignment shop told me to change controls arms before alignment to prevent wasting money on alignment.

Interesting. I've done an alignment once when the vehicle had around 220k km on it. They changed one value by .1 , can't remember what. Since then, I never bothered to check the alignment again, not even after rebuilding the entire front suspension. The car tracks perfectly fine.

I've confirmed the alignment is fine by closely inspecting the set of tires that came off after around 30k km. They wore perfectly even with no issues whatsoever. I'm at nearly 350k now.

I would probably check to see how the car drives first after changing components, before doing the alignment. Modern suspension components tend to limit how much adjustments you can make anyways.

If your alignment is clearly off, there is usually a worn suspension component(s) causing that. You can try to align it all you want, but without changing that component, your alignment will still be off.

That's even if the car seems to track fine, but say, has clear uneven wear on the tires.

I drive on some pretty bad roads and like to push on the chassis around the bends too.

 

[ColoradoDriver]

I brought mine ins because it felt like I needed an alignment. Sloppy handling. Not tracking quite right. I also get some 'clunking' over pot holes. Alignment shop told me to change controls arms before alignment to prevent wasting money on alignment.

Makes sense if your bushings are torn. This is what they looked like on my CX-5 when I pulled the originals off.

 

[Lazy2.5]

Makes sense if your bushings are torn. This is what they looked like on my CX-5 when I pulled the originals off.

Yep, mine looks something like that.

I brought my car in for some front end clunking. My mechanic said the only thing they were able to find (other than previously noted control arm bushing) was some worn sway bar bushings. It's a lot of work to get to them. Subframe needs to be dropped. If it's just bushings, but all other major components in your suspension are tight, it's up to you whether it's worth to take stuff apart and replace entire suspension components just for a bushing that won't last very long anyways.

Hey, I'd still prefer to have tight bushings, but with the way everything corrodes in salted areas, and the fact that manufacturers would rather have you replace the entire control arm for just one bushing, it's really debatable whether it's worth it.

 

[ColoradoDriver]

Yep, mine looks something like that.

I brought my car in for some front end clunking. My mechanic said the only thing they were able to find (other than previously noted control arm bushing) was some worn sway bar bushings. It's a lot of work to get to them. Subframe needs to be dropped. If it's just bushings, but all other major components in your suspension are tight, it's up to you whether it's worth to take stuff apart and replace entire suspension components just for a bushing that won't last very long anyways.

Hey, I'd still prefer to have tight bushings, but with the way everything corrodes in salted areas, and the fact that manufacturers would rather have you replace the entire control arm for just one bushing, it's really debatable whether it's worth it.

Yeah I don't even live in an area that uses straight up salt (we use mag chloride), but still had plenty of rust and I had a hell of a time getting any of the LCA bolts off even with high torque impacts / air impacts. It's not a fun job. I try to get the underside of the car cleaned off after a snowstorm.

Replaced all the bolts with new ones. I am going to be doing some work soon when it warms up a bit and inspecting the bushings is going to be on the list.