I have a question. Is 2,000.00 a good price to pay for OEM Front and Rear struts for a 1999 Seville STS with FE3/F45 option?

Holy crap man. I wouldnt pay that much for a set of struts for ANY car over 5 years old, its 1/4 the value of the whole car!

Unless you INSIST on having the car factory original, I would STRONGLY suggest you look into an aftermarket set of passive shocks/springs for your SLS. We have a supporting vendor on this forum, Arnott, who sells complete kits for about 500.00 for Lincolns, Cadillacs etc.

Even still, that price seems like it should come with labor to me.

i second that are you nutz man????

I appreciate you all suggestions but I want active struts. From my understanding you can tell the different in passive vs. active from the ride quality. I want a comfortable ride. I think that the active struts will give me that. So, is 2,000.00 too much to spend on active struts for a 99 STS?

dude go to a used dealer drop another 2 grand buy another sts and youll have a parts car 2 grand common check ebay out

Those struts/shocks are about 4 bills each. So, $1600 in parts alone. The balance is labor.

No, I do not think you are being jacked. The quote given is on par. And I am certain an alignment is included...is it? Please ask.

Is that installed or are you doing the work?

I had new CVRSS struts installed at the dealer, and parts and labor came to $1641. Unit price at the dealer is $741.56 by the way, so only a small portion is actual labor cost. In case you wanted to install them yourself and save the money, the CVRSS strut part #s are 22064765 and 22064766.

I think $2,000 for Front and rear is a good price if it includes installation.

I was quoted at $1666 for parts and labor for only my fronts. I bought the OEM Active CVRSS struts for $995 shipped.

I did the labor myself. you can find all the details here. I just did this job this past Sunday.

http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62982

Yes the price includes both the front and rear struts. Front struts part numbers are 22064765 & 22064766. The rear struts part numbers are 22064872 & 22064873. The 2 G's include the front/rear struts and installation. I am not for sure about the aliginment. I did not even think about that. I am going to asked for that to be included. For 2 G's they should include the alignment and a date with their daughter after the work is done.

I wanted to know if that was too much to spend on the work. This is my first Cadillac and I got the Cadillac bug. I have had this car for a while but when I first got it, I would not drive over 60 mph. I did not want to hurt it at all. Now I just want to keep it up to factory standard. I mean we are talking about Cadillac here. Not some $200 junk car. Thank you all for your opinions. I am going to get the work done. After they agree to the alignment that is.

$2000 does not sound out of line if it includes labor and even better if it includes an alignement.

Is it at the dealer? If not, be careful of places trying to sell you something other than the real AC delcos.

Yea the struts are from a dealer.

While I am not a fan of the passive replacement shocks/struts as I feel that one of the things that make these cars what they are is the CVRSS... Its too bad that the aftermarket hasn't produce "real" CVRSS units to provide an option to the expensive stock ones..

BUT

If your goal is "comfort" keep in mind that all of the passive systems are based on the shocks/struts that came standard on the base Devilles and SLS's... These cars tended to have a suspension tuned more on the soft/comfort side...

You will save a ton and have a soft ride... just don't expect it to be as flat in a turn or hard stop as the CVRSS units...

BTW you don't need to buy the Boston or Arnott Struts... There are a couple of sites that show how you can duplicate there system with a few "big" 10 ohm resistors... In fact its a bit of a debate as to who actually figured this out first...

Good Luck

Make sure that when they replace the front sutruts, that (if damaged) they install new rubber cushions for the springs. When I had mine replaced, the front right rubber piece was falling apart, and they had used Duct Tape to pice it back together. Needless to say that simply would not stand, and I demanded they be replaced for free (which they were). No reason to transplant a damaged $5 part from one strut to the other, especially when the customer just spent over $1600. Just a word of caution so you don't get stuck with the same issue.

I'm ignorant about this, so please indulge me: does the STS model have struts in the rear? doesn't it have the level-ride air shocks that the SLS has? my SLS has plain old air shocks in the rear, and actually I've sometimes wondered "when do you know that it's time to replace them?". If they don't leak (oil nor air) does that mean they're still good?

Other dumb question, speaking about struts: is it possible (or at least common) for the front struts to be worn out but not show up as a computer warning? in fact, is there even a computer warning when something goes wrong with your front CVRSS struts?

Thanks very much, as always.

People use the terms "strut" and "shock" rather loosely and often switch them around. The front does have a Mcpherson strut, where the Shock, and coil spring are one, and the uses a seperate air shock, and coil spring.

As far as an internal mechanical failure such as a leaking piston seal, or bent shaft,..ect. SUch failures would not be regonized by the PCM, since there is no way to determine such a failure. The only failures that can be detected are on systems monitored by the PCM such as the ride height sesnors, or the motor that operates the internal valves in the strut. When something does go wrong with an elctrical system linked to the CVRSS system, it will usually display a message stating "Service Stability System" or "Speed Limited to 90mph"...ect, indicating a problem with the suspension.

As far as whether or not they are good, a simple way would be to let the rear shocks fill up with air, and then pushing down on the rear. The car should dip down a little bit, and then come back up. If it feels liek it's bottoming out, or bobs up and down for a bit afterwards, that's usually a pretty good sign that they are on their way out. Same goes for the front struts as well.

danbuc is correct on the computer error part. my front struts were basically trash, especially the one on the right side, no errors no nothing from the DIC. Only error was that i would bottom out if i went too fast on a smooth road with dips in it. and the other was metal on metal rattling. after i replace the struts on the front it all went away, i am very happy now. i'll be replacing the rear struts this fall.

What about these struts? They are Monroe for the SLS with electronic adjustable suspension. They are almost $400 each.

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?mfrcode=MON&mfrpartnumber=40021&parttype=49&ptset=A

What about these struts? They are Monroe for the SLS with electronic adjustable suspension. They are almost $400 each.

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?mfrcode=MON&mfrpartnumber=40021&parttype=49&ptset=A

I have read mixed reviews. One guy said it made his SLS ride like his Saturn?!

Do an advanced search in the suspension, tire, brakes forum.

There are different types of electronic suspension. To my knowledge, most Caddies have the self-leveling suspension in the rear. Some companies say these are "electronic adjustable suspension" and they're right regarding the self leveling aspect; however, these are not to be confused with the CV-RSS.

why would you slap cheap struts on a luxo car that most people buy for the ride..... no other car rides like a caddi, but a caddi with passive struts is just like any other car...... get the oem bro. love that vehicle.

why would you slap cheap struts on a luxo car that most people buy for the ride..... no other car rides like a caddi, but a caddi with passive struts is just like any other car...... get the oem bro. love that vehicle.

I couldn't agree more.

So which are the right struts for a 98 SLS?

Katobud, please post what you do about your struts, Im going to be doing mine this summer, and Id like to know how your experience goes.

So which are the right struts for a 98 SLS?

you'd have to have your dealer run your VIN to find out if your 98 SLS has passive or active/CVRSS.

Mine has the CVRSS, the struts have a harness coming out of it that plugs in behind the wheel well. check out my how to with the pictures in the tech tips section.

why would you slap cheap struts on a luxo car that most people buy for the ride..... no other car rides like a caddi, but a caddi with passive struts is just like any other car...... get the oem bro. love that vehicle.

I couldn't agree less: (must be these young guys with money to burn, eh? or is it that us older guys have learned the value of a dollar? probably neither! they're single and we're ...... well, let's just say some of us have teenagers to put through college.)

sorry but I disagree that "a caddi with passive struts is just like any other car." It's a personal preference thing, of course, and that's why I find it strange when people make all-encompassing statements like this. Maybe YOU bought your cadillac for its ride but don't put "... most people ..." into the same category.

I've driven many cars that I actually prefer the ride they give me, but I bought my caddy for other reasons those other cars don't satisfy. (a big one being that I'm a luxo-loving cheapskate; what other five-year-old luxury car can you buy for 10% of its factory sticker?)

As to why someone would put passive struts on their cadillac, I know of some who prefer the "more-controlled" handling they get with passives. But mostly it's economic reasons, I think: to paraphrase someone earlier, replacing these CVRSS struts means spending practically half of what the whole car is valued in the market. (notice I said market-value, not what the car is "worth" to the individual owner; that could be a whole different picture.)

My '99 cost me close to five grand, a year ago, and if I'm faced with replacing the struts (knock-on-wood; brazilian zebrano to be exact) I'm not sure my budget nor my frugal sensibilities could fork up the kind of scratch you guys are talking about spending on a six-year-old car;
BUT ......... I would never presume to advise anyone else what the "right" decision is for them. Having researched this somewhat, I would tell Katobud that $2000 is a damned good price for a dealer doing front-&-rear with OEM parts including labor & alignment, as this thread's discussion is suggesting.

If the time comes for mine to get newly-suspensioned, I hope I can somehow find as good a deal and find the money and convince the little woman that putting two grand into a four grand car is the "right" thing (if not the smart thing) to do.

Dumb question, I was looking up the pricing on these front struts at

https://www.partszoneonline.com/Frameset/frame.php?link=4

Struts for sport suspension or without, How can you tell if the car has sport suspension?

Check out this site: http://www.car-part.com/index.htm (http://www.car-part.com/index.htm).

These are salvage parts, but if the donor car has low miles, and you see the strut prices are very attractive, then maybe you can get a good deal and save some coin.

Just a helpful link either way...

bigmutt, i can see why you wouldn't want to put money into a car when you've got kids to put through college. I'm not there yet, thankfully. i'm still unmarried and young and probably 'foolish' ;)

same here. i got a good job and no woman to marry yet.....i think i have found the right one though :D im taking her to central park on a carrage ride.. ;) Anywho, ya, call me a devoted caddi lover, but i refuse to slap on passive struts due to the fact i got my sls to feel like a cloud, not an STS..... so i will ultimatlly, when the time comes, splurge for the oem, because i love the caddi "bounce" when i go over HUGE potholes here in this wonderful state of New York(sarcasim, NY SUCKS!!). Thats my .2 cents

Im young and I wouldnt blow 2 grand a set of struts. Id rather buy a set of passive struts, not worry about them ever again, and put the 2 grand into a pair of Xenon assemblies and 17 inch Sport wheels and a NAV system for my 98. Or get a set of passives and a Rolex for my wrist.

As far as Im concerned, this is one of the FEW high cost items we Caddy owners actually have a low cost workaround on thats relatively easy to install. And we need all of those we can get.

danbuc is correct on the computer error part. my front struts were basically trash, especially the one on the right side, no errors no nothing from the DIC. Only error was that i would bottom out if i went too fast on a smooth road with dips in it. and the other was metal on metal rattling. after i replace the struts on the front it all went away, i am very happy now. i'll be replacing the rear struts this fall.

mine is coming up on 70k...the struts are original...so it should be a no brainer
however...mine makes a little whistle niose very brief on bumps...its almost
unoticeable. It almost sounds like and under dash noise like two things rubbing.

does anyone remember hearing nybody else with a similar noise..???

hey, Jonny5:
I know about those potholes in NY state! lived near border in Ontario for long time.
But now I live in Mexico City and you want "bounce"?? try the six-inch speed bumps here, found every 50 ft, it seems. Brutal. The bottom of my SLS scrapes on some of them no matter how slowly you take them!

How was the carriage ride in Central Park? Did she say "yes"???

I just got a quote to replace the front and rear struts on my '95 Eldorado. The service manager told me the fronts would cost $1,000 each, the rears would be $900 and labor would be $2,100 which amounts to a grand total of $5,000.

I just got a quote to replace the front and rear struts on my '95 Eldorado. The service manager told me the fronts would cost $1,000 each, the rears would be $900 and labor would be $2,100 which amounts to a grand total of $5,000.


HAW HAW HAW..wat a sec...WAW HAW HAW..k..

I just got a quote to replace the front and rear struts on my '95 Eldorado. The service manager told me the fronts would cost $1,000 each, the rears would be $900 and labor would be $2,100 which amounts to a grand total of $5,000.

that's insane. I'll change your fronts for $500 labor! damn i charged what your dealer charged i'd quit my job! :bouncy: