I try to avoid amazon parts like the plague. You may get a gem AND a stinker in the same box from the same seller, but... Has anyone bought air struts off Amazon? My 3 has 287k on it and I'm not sure how long I'll keep it around. I have a leak in one of my fronts, so I need to replace them. I do my own work, so no labor cost involved, other than a half day of my time. If I buy OE, they'll outlive the rest of the truck, so I only need 2-3 years to be happy. Anyone have any real world input?

 

I'd suggest looking for a particular brand, like Arnott, and making sure they are new (from Amazon or wherever else). Many have had good results with that brand; I have them on my '06 (went OE on my '05). So far so good, and they have a lifetime warranty.

 

Yeah, respectfully, that’s not what I’m asking. They now only have a 2 year warranty, according to their website (updated March 2023). I can get them through FCP Euro and get their lifetime warranty, but at more than 3x the cost and pushing 300k mileage? I’d rather spend that money on gas exploring southern Utah. I’m likely to take the gamble, unless I get a slew of people who have had a bad experience.

 

We put on a set of the cheapest struts we could find from Amazon as a test on my sons 2007. It has been 20 months and no failures yet. There was a fitment issue as the lower bolt up point of the strut was too wide to fit in the control arm and it needed to be filed down quite a bit to fit.

I will not do that again.

Hope this helps
Jeff

 

That is helpful. I imagine an angle grinder and a flappy disc could speed that up quite a bit if it were still an issue?

 

I bought a single strut from Amazon, though via Atlantic British as the supplying vendor. "Front Strut and Air Spring Assembly, Original Equipment, RNB501580 for Land Rover LR3 2005-2009". I paid a premium ($277) over the Amazon cheapies and it arrived in a no-name box, and had no labels or stampings and appeared to be cheaply made. So "OEM" is super doubtful. I also only replaced one, which I know is less desirable, but I've had no issues that would be attributed to that. No issues that could be attributed to an aftermarket cheapie also, to be fair. 3 months in at this point.

If I were you, I'd get the cheapest single strut with good reviews, throw it in, and forget about it. 300k is a lot of miles and it sounds like your 3 has an expiration date, at least under your ownership. Different situation if you were going to hold onto it long term.

 

Hi, to be clear, that strut you are referencing is manufactured by BWI.

BWI manufactures those struts for Delphi (branded OEM label) and for Land Rover (branded genuine label).

Our OEM struts come direct from BWI and we sometimes get the struts from them with the Delphi brand and part stamped on them (when they are doing a run for Delphi while also fulfilling our supplier order)... sometimes they simply do a generic label manufacturing run with no Delphi labeling (which is what you got.)

... but make no mistake, it is an OEM strut from BWI.

Cheers,

 

I bought a pair of front air struts off ebay, some non-branded el-cheapos. So far they work fine and for $230 for the pair I can't complain but I only have 750 ish miles on them.

 

Here is my take.....

First, AB is spot on about BWI. The struts will be very, very generic looking but they are indeed OEM. BWI bought Delphi. And sorry to tell AB, who I do love, that I bought mine from the UK. Price was about $450 for a pair with shipping being $122 or that total. I could not find a better price. But I plan to keep my LR3 for a very, very long time.... And wow, the ride quality change was AMAZING after swapping these in at over 200k miles.

Now my take on cheap one... get whatever. Its a crap shoot but honestly I feel the airbag portion will last a decent time no matter what. There difference will be with the internal shock absorber which on the cheap ones is probably pretty damn cheap.... So your ride quality will not be near OEM and may fade fast. But like I said, I have faith the airbag portion will probably hold up pretty well for years. But the issue I have with the cheap ones is that is seems basically one or two sources pump em out and the prices are ALL OVER THE PLACE! I mean its nuts when you see one strut for $90 each then the same exact one for $150 - because they are playing on ignorance. Pure and simple. Hell, if you look on eBay you see the SAME cheap ones with fake OEM labels. They look legit OEM but for a "too good to be true price"... well that's because it is too good to be true and they sell em for WAY more than the other cheap ones, even though it is the same exact item.

So... get what you can, have low expectations and consider longevity a bonus. But done be a sucker and pay twice as much for the same strut.

 

BWI is a Chinese company and i have read that the struts are now made in China although i have nothing to confirm that, would be good to find a direct source for them if they are as at least the quality seems to be better than some of the other cheapies.