How to change rear shock absorber

[Patrick t]

Hello everybody! I`m new to this club. I`m from manila, Philippines by the way.I just needed some SPECIFIC advice and tips on replacing the rear shock absorbers on my wife`s 98 Suzuki Esteem station wagon. I`ve only done this 2 times in my life on another brand car from the 1970`s(with help from a friend). So essentially, all i know is that you jack the car up, remove nuts from the top of the struts and also from the lower part of the strut that connects to whadda ya call it(pardon my ignorance). Then manuever the entire strut out from under.Then use the spring compressor and unbolt the top portion holding the spring in, then transfer the spring to the new shock absorber. I suppose i would have to get the CAMBER checked again afterwards, right? So anything i should know about doing the job on THIS particular car? Any advice/tips will be really appreciated! THANKS! Patrick

[suzibyte]

I guess you must have replaced it by now but I'm getting quotes of $500CDN to do this work. I never realized that the mcpherson strut thing was such an expense for the owner. Apparantly the justification for this is the weight savings but i dunno its so expensive compared to the old system just replacing the shock itself. Shocks are about 120-140 with labour the balance. Wanna do mine??!! :-)

I'm assuming i need new shocks due to the chattering of the rear when driving on the rough roads around here (really bad potholes this winter, freeze thaw more extreeme than usual. I jumped on the trailer hitch and the rear end oscilates more than once, about 2 times at least.

[Patrick t]

Well actually i didnt have to replace the shocks after all. It`s something else causing some kind of sound in the rear that didnt use to be there. It use to really bother my wife until i checked all my receipts on previous work done on the esteem and saw that quite a few parts were already changed in recent years at a Goodyear service facility(i checked underneath as well) as regards the suspension. Yeah, 2 oscillations at least, thats likely your shocks. And i dont think youd want me to change your shocks, at least not if your physically close to the car, coz i dont have a coil spring compressor and just compress the spring and tie it up well with strong wires before i take the strut out of the car, definitely NOT RECCOMENDED!!! As far as winter driving i had a ball driving on skinny 165 80 series tires when i was stationed on Mcguirre AFB New Jersey. Dont know about Canadian winters though...