Step-daughter's '09 Nissan Altima broke a front spring, at ~95k. Should I (she, really) spend twice as much, and replace it with a loaded strut ass'y, or go through the exercise of wrestling with a spring compressor and just change the spring? Should I do both sides?
Seems like you ought to do both sides, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. How about getting a pair of strut assemblies from a wrecking yard, then you don't have to mess with spring compressors. Alternatively you could tale the assembly with a broken spring off the car and have a shop do the spring compressor gymnastics.
In reply to Toebra :
Car-part lists used struts for as much as new ones from RA. Wrecking yard? Nah, I'm berking around in the cold with rustbelt cars.
What does a shop typically charge to do springs? A pair of springs is ~$80, loaded struts are about that much, each.
Loaded struts aren't that expensive, and easy to replace. After 95k, you need new struts anyway.
Pretty common problem, I've changed lots. FWIW, we just change the one spring.
In reply to Kramer :
Thanks, that's the confirmation I was looking for. 
RealMiniParker said:In reply to Toebra :
Car-part lists used struts for as much as new ones from RA.
And probably of better quality.
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