Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hi there,

I own an '88 944 Lux and in a recent MOT I was advised that both near & offside Mcpherson struts have 'slight play in the sliding bush or gland'. I was quoted c.£1300 (by a specialist independent in Fulham who has serviced the car for the last couple of years - nice people, good job) to carry out the work. Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether this is a fair price though? Or whether there are other recommended shops in or around SW London who carry out this kind of suspension work more economically? Willing to travel if I can save a few pounds!

In addition, my car's front/centre exhaust is corroded and will need replacing some time in the next year, depending on the miles I cover. Does anyone know a good, cheaper exhaust supplier for 944's?

Grateful for any help or advice.

Cheers, Tim

Bloody hell is the politest I can manage! He must think you have a glass willy.
I think the front struts are around £80-200 each depending on quality & on my drive, doing the rears as well all for the first time we did the lot in 6 hours. That included buying tools for the front, an issue with a stripped bolt at the back & setting the geometry.

Hi Tim,

As the advisory says "slight play", I personally would not worry about it at this stage. I had a Merc 190E some years ago with this flagged up on the MOT for 4/5 years, it never got any worse. I don't think that you are looking at a safety issue yet, but perhaps you should get a garage/mechanic to look at it (one that you trust not to do work unnecessarily).

With regards to the exhaust, I have a dansk system on my car (924) which makes a lovely noise. I bought it off E-bay 8/9 years ago and took it to a local exhaust centre and they were happy to fit it for me for a reasonable fee.

My MOT is due next week, always a worrying time!!

Savid

Tim, i wouldnt worry either, i had the same advisory on my struts last year, and this year nothing was noticed, and it was the same garage.
i think some times the testers just have to find something to moan about.

Yep, Testers have to be seen to picking up on things. If VOSA pop round and they say "in the last 100 cars youve only noticed 5 things, are you doing your drop sir?"

Even if they just put daft stuff down it fills a box and makes it look like their doing their job, even if they were doing it perfectly well with out finding pointless faults!

RE the exhaust, get a dansk

This depends.

Alot of dampers will be long gone (in their performance) before they start to leak or become an MOT failure, hence why people are often stunned when they change the dampers (and sometimes falsely believe their 'uprated' items are an improvement but that is more for other marques).

In your shoes seeing as it is an advisory I would be tempted to sit on it for now but to look out for someone who can do the work at a reasonable rate. IIRC a chap on PCGB (and another forum I frequent) had this issue and ended up changing both front inserts.

Thanks, Jim. Are there any independents you'd recommend in and around the London / SE area? I am worried that I'm being overcharged and in reality, being a bit of a novice, would love to build a trusted relationship with a garage over time.

Thanks for your earlier thoughts too. Appreciated.

Tim

Thanks for the thoughts and recommendations, David. Good luck with the MOT!

Tim

I tend to use OPC Tonbridge for most of my work these days, would be worth phoning Aaron & getting a price for them. They'll give TIPEC discount if you're a member. Not sure what price an OPC would quote for the struts.
To be honest any garage can do this it isn't specifically Porsche.
Whereabouts do you live? I have a good guy in Chatham whom I'd trust to do it. It'll need a full geometry check after though so someone else could do that.