OK, I pulled the trigger on my Christmas week project. My struts are shot and 3 of 4 tires are to the wear bars across at least some of the tread. I'm at almost 62,000 miles, and I will have to squeeze another 600 mile run in severe weather next week, but after that the boxes should start to arrive...

I went with the Monroe "Sensa-Trac" on all four corners. The KYB's were special order, a bit more money, and seemed to be favored by the "Rice Boy Racer" crowd, for reasons they couldn't cogently articulate. I've used Monroe's before, they were fine.

Up front will get new bearings, made by KYB and new spring mounts, from... somewhere.

The rear will get new struts, but no one sells a rear seat cushion. If it is worn through, I might use Willard's trick with the hose section over the end.

One of my tires is only 6 months old due to an unfortunate encounter with a piece of rebar for a bridge. I will save that one and scrap the rest. I ordered 4 Yokohama AVID ENV's, delivered from Tire Rack, for a hair under $400. No sales tax. No BS California enviro fee. The UTQG is 560, AA A. They are lighter than the Michelin's and they have a max psi of 51.

I plan on teaching my kids how to change struts, then hustling the car over to the tire installer right afterward.

Hopefully this will solve a multitude of clunks and noises, let me focus on that weird chirping from my brake pump.

Would anyone be interested in a photo tutorial of this effort?

These cars do eat suspensions, and for me, tires, pretty quick.

 

I'd like to see how you go about R&R'ing your rear struts.

 

KYBs, hah....
well, ricers like them for one simple reason - they are awfully stiff. i had adjustable KYBs on my Galant front end, i have KYBs on my truck rear end. Billsteins in the front. result is same - driving on rocks. with adjustable ones, they were either soft beyond tolerance, or hard beyond tolerance. i should have listened to my Galant impression and stay away from them for the truck. but i have tendency to buy quality parts, and those are considered the best in the mid price range...

i have changed many, many shocks and struts. on domestics and imports. firstly, shocks are not considered "shot" unless there's obvious hydraulic fluid leak. but everyone has his or her decision.
2ndly, and i have done cheap ones, expensive ones, and OEM ones(2004 Honda CRV, full set), so far my final opinion on changing them is this: it is not worth the money. comfort is restored for maybe few weeks, then it's about the same like it was before.
i dare not to ask how this car ended in shocks that need to be replaced and dented seat in only 62K miles. but i had 54K miles on my V year one, so i can see it happen.

so far, i have witnessed only ONE vehicle that had perfectly well, back to new, driving comfort restored, that involved struts replaced. same vehicle also had the whole entire front end rebuilt, meaning - ALL OF THE BUSHINGS were replaced either. we just bought our 19th car, i do all of maintenance and repairs i can possibly do myself, prolly, i had more shocks replaced than most members here. plus, throw in my sons' cars. it never ever restored original, like new, ride. i am firm, that if suspension was beat up so much that shocks need to be replaced below 100K miles, shocks itself will not do the trick and bushings have to be done either. control arms, antisway bars, etc. plus, those large rubber donuts that sit in the strut towers, and DO NOT come with new struts. have to be ordered separately and replace old ones.
otherwise, heartily wish you all the best on the project. it is not an easy one, and Toyota does not make it a breeze. friendly suggestion. get struts out, grab new ones, and take them to a decent tire shop. they have special machine that compresses springs. yes, i do have spring compressors, but here's the thing. when they do it for you, they also align springs on plates and on dampeners, or those rubber donuts. and it's warranted. so if you end up with clicking noise coming from strut weeks down the road, when you turn, you simply have them realign it. it's their headache now. this is what shall do next time i get to one of these jobs. which should be my wife's lexus. 126 000 miles, it's getting a tad bumpy. i have learned this lesson on little 91 Civic. it was a nightmare to do struts.

 

Well the car has not been abused in any way. But I do travel where trucks and tractor-trailers go, for my work. Plus a lot of city street driving. Basically, at around 50k/miles the strut towers started to clunk and click while turning at low speed. By 55k/miles I could feel it through the steering. Now even going over drainage dips or speed bumps the struts make a terrible howling noise as the rods stroke out to max length.

My experience has been different. Every car I've owned has needed new shocks/struts past 60k/miles. In every case, the ride quality and response was like night and day difference. I did order the "donuts", those are notorious on Toyotas.

For KYB's I only considered the GR-2 product, not the 'ABX' or whatever the hot rod adjustables are called.

I've got a spring compressor, a manual one, but it cost $200 back in 1988 when coil over struts were still pretty exotic. It is grossly over-engineered for the purpose and quite safe. The only reason I don't want to take it to a shop is precisely because I don't want to take a chance of one coming out mis-aligned, then having to argue with some dude about whose fault it is, or absent that, even to waste the time on it.

Hopefully there won't be any problems.