[Red89gt]

I have been contemplating changing my wife's 2008 MDX with 120,000 miles shocks and struts but not sure if I am wasting money?

We plan on keeping the truck at least until 200k miles if possible pending no catastrophic incidents. My friend has a shop and will swap the struts for me since he has the nice wall mount spring compressor. Is it safe to say with 120k miles it is time to put a new set of shocks/struts on it?

These are the base gas shocks/struts not the magnetic bawler ones. I haven't noticed any leaks on the housings but the SUV seems to handle pretty heavily like a tank. Wondering what you all have encountered regarding when you may have changed out yours?

 

[Bluepill]

I have been contemplating changing my wife's 2008 MDX with 120,000 miles shocks and struts but not sure if I am wasting money?

We plan on keeping the truck at least until 200k miles if possible pending no catastrophic incidents. My friend has a shop and will swap the struts for me since he has the nice wall mount spring compressor. Is it safe to say with 120k miles it is time to put a new set of shocks/struts on it?

These are the base gas shocks/struts not the magnetic bawler ones. I haven't noticed any leaks on the housings but the SUV seems to handle pretty heavily like a tank. Wondering what you all have encountered regarding when you may have changed out yours?

I replaced mine on my 2005 at about 110K miles. Made a difference. My rule of thumb is that if you plan to keep the vehicle for at least 5 years or 50K miles, it's worth the expense.

 

[csmeance]

I have been contemplating changing my wife's 2008 MDX with 120,000 miles shocks and struts but not sure if I am wasting money?

We plan on keeping the truck at least until 200k miles if possible pending no catastrophic incidents. My friend has a shop and will swap the struts for me since he has the nice wall mount spring compressor. Is it safe to say with 120k miles it is time to put a new set of shocks/struts on it?

These are the base gas shocks/struts not the magnetic bawler ones. I haven't noticed any leaks on the housings but the SUV seems to handle pretty heavily like a tank. Wondering what you all have encountered regarding when you may have changed out yours?

It's worth it to do new shocks and springs rather than just the struts/shocks only. You can buy the full assembly and swap them over, no compressor needed! Plus you won't have to worry about squeaks and other rubber bits needing replacing with taking apart the old assembly. I did it on my TL and have reassembled it a few times to get it squeak free and still haven't managed to.

I would also replace the front lower control arms as they come complete will balljoints and the lower compliance bushings. If you have play in the steering, check and replace the tie rod ends (fairly cheap) and also look for the power steering pump leaking.

I would also get the A/C checked out and get an alignment done after you get the suspension work done!

 

[qqzj]

I have been contemplating changing my wife's 2008 MDX with 120,000 miles shocks and struts but not sure if I am wasting money?

We plan on keeping the truck at least until 200k miles if possible pending no catastrophic incidents. My friend has a shop and will swap the struts for me since he has the nice wall mount spring compressor. Is it safe to say with 120k miles it is time to put a new set of shocks/struts on it?

These are the base gas shocks/struts not the magnetic bawler ones. I haven't noticed any leaks on the housings but the SUV seems to handle pretty heavily like a tank. Wondering what you all have encountered regarding when you may have changed out yours?

if you have not noticed anything wrong, why bother? the oem stuff might last 200k miles. you never know.

 

[litespd]

I had a leaking shock on my MDX when I purchased it. I bought a set of KYB's from Rock Auto...even with shipping, I got both of them for what one would have cost from my local parts store. The KYB's look identical to what came off of the car, so I'm guessing that KYB may be the manufacturer of the OEM shocks. I had a clunk in the rear everytime I hit a bump or a dip, and changing the shocks solved that problem. One thing...I had to take the car to a shop to have them replace the LR shock, as I could not get the lower bolt out, it was rusted in place. The RR shock came out with no problem at all. My daughter's Civic had exactly the same problem, the shock bolt on one side was rusted solid. I'm guessing Honda/Acura doesn't put any anti-seize on these bolts when they're installed at the factory.

 

[mrgold35]

I did my RDX struts/shocks around the same mileage last year. I just did the whole front strut assemble to cut down on labor. I also had lifetime alignment with Firestone and that saved my another $75-$100 on install. You don't realize how bad the ride is getting over time until you put new struts/shocks on the vehicle.

 

[Red89gt]

Still sitting on the fence to get kyb strut and have friend swap over or spend money and order complete new assembly from Tim/Acura.
It will be substantially more money $300 to buy the whole assembly. Really would like to just order the strut and swap over but wondering if I am asking for trouble.

Through rockauto.com I can get all 4 shock/strut KYB, new moog front sway bar links and moog sway bar bushings for $365 shipped.
If I do Acura assemblies I am looking at $500 for just the struts.

 

[Red89gt]

I replaced mine on my 2005 at about 110K miles. Made a difference. My rule of thumb is that if you plan to keep the vehicle for at least 5 years or 50K miles, it's worth the expense.

Did you do the whole assembly from Acura or just replace the strut?

 

[Red89gt]

Wife's MDX and she said leaning towards just change whole assembly to reduce my time and aggravation. I would order struts and some other parts from Tim and kyb shocks, links, bushings from rock auto.

 

[PRGonzalez]

My 2008 has over 120K miles right now and I am also considering replacing the struts just because they have that many miles. To my assessment, the original struts/shocks are still performing acceptable to me. In my case, the cost of KYB or OEM replacement is almost the same. I do not pay labor since I do the work myself. However, a differentiation factor is KYBs are lifetime warranty. All future changes will be minimal cost. On performance, typical feedback on KYB users is they are more firm than OEM for this vehicle.

I installed KYB in my Honda Accord and the ride is a little bumpy. It has a sporty ride feedback, but in general, I like them very much because the car is more stable while turning, breaking, and starting.

 

[Red89gt]

My 2008 has over 120K miles right now and I am also considering replacing the struts just because they have that many miles. To my assessment, the original struts/shocks are still performing acceptable to me. In my case, the cost of KYB or OEM replacement is almost the same. I do not pay labor since I do the work myself. However, a differentiation factor is KYBs are lifetime warranty. All future changes will be minimal cost. On performance, typical feedback on KYB users is they are more firm than OEM for this vehicle.

I installed KYB in my Honda Accord and the ride is a little bumpy. It has a sporty ride feedback, but in general, I like them very much because the car is more stable while turning, breaking, and starting.

Thanks PR, appreciate the feedback, I have built a ton of cars over the years but never had one to do OEM maintenance on at this mileage.
We are tying to keep this one for the long haul or atleast another 100k miles since no rust and still looks good.
Yeah, I do my own work as well so saving a bunch on labor otherwise paid out.

 

[Red89gt]

LOL, parts on order, kyb rear shocks, acura complete front strut assemblies, moog sway bar links and bushings for front.
Thanks everyone for the help.

 

[Red89gt]

Back shock was a bear to get one bolt on driver side since it was rotted to the shock bushing, but I eventually got it out. Thank god for impact wrenches.

Well I went to do an easy strut job and it went south pretty quickly. I was disconnecting the speed sensor on the front strut and I also unbolted it from the spindle. I had intentions of sliding out the speed sensor and setting it out of the way. When I undid the speed sensor the collar just crumbled and the sensor is rusted into the spindle. Any idea's you guys can help me out with?

I have two choices leave it alone and let the rot hold it in place and just put bolt back in spindle and let it be, kind of not the way I like to do things or get it out of there and replace but I don't know whats holding it in other than rust and I am affriad it is just going to break off if I mess with it further? If it breaks off I will have to pull the bearing hub I think to get access?

I have a feeling eventually I will be doing wheel bearings on the front of this mdx since they are getting noisy and a tire rotation confirmed it wasn't tire noise. Maybe then I will have parts on hand to drill out old sensor and install new with wheel bearing assembly? Pull the bearing and then deal with the abs sensor? Once I get done with the job tonight I will take for a test drive and see if the sensor got disturbed or is still working.

Got to love the IL winters and the copious amounts of salt thrown down that rots midwest car parts.

 

[Apex1]

I would leave that as is.

Oem and Kyb should be similar. No need to replace the spring (except for simplicity) as they really don't wear. Replace the upper bushings/mount if replaceable.

 

[Red89gt]

Once I added up the cost of the strut, bushings, bearing top plate and a shop to swap the spring it was a wash to just buy the assembly and zero hassle. It is all brand new and rides really nice. The sway bar link bolts at the sway bar on each side had to be cut off, they were just rotted together. I got at it with a sawsall on one side and ran out of blades so a cut off wheel on the other side did the trick. The moog replacement links are much nicer as they have a grease fittings and flats on the stud to put a wrench if they ever need to be replaced. I had the alignment done saturday morning and they adjusted toe front and back the guy said. Wife didn't even notice a difference lol but it rides really tight and responsive again like new versus a lead sled it felt like prior.

 

[Kummer]

There is a strut recall from Acura - I dont have the letter but it came in the mail. Give your dealer a call. Replaced mine and drives like NEW!