I want to know how hard is it to change the front and rear struts could me and my husband do it or is it better left to the mechanic. we just replaced the water pump with no problem.A 1995 buick lasaber changing front and rear struts?
keeping the wheels aligned be the roughestA 1995 buick lasaber changing front and rear struts?
McPherson struts have the shock absorber and spring mounted together in a single removable unit. To replace the shock absorber element, you have to compress the spring with a special tool. That's a hazardous operation which I've done myself, but don't recommend you try to do yourself. You'd have to rent or buy the spring compressor tool.
Unless your Buick chassis is bottoming out severely (weak springs) and continues to oscillate up and down (weak shocks), meaning the springs are so weak that the body and suspension are hitting each other, it may not be worth the cost to replace them on older vehicles unless the car is unsafe to drive. If the body is sagging at one wheel, then you could replace the spring on that wheel if necessary. Of course you could have a broken or leaking shock in which case you could replace just the front or rear pair of shocks.
