A guy was in a fancy restaurant ordering a delicious steak dinner. The waiter asked, “would you like sour cream, bacon and chives on your potato?” The customer stared at him and said “That’s a loaded question.”

When it comes to your customers’ vehicles, sometimes the loaded question is the right answer.

Loaded struts are struts that come pre-assembled and ready to install. These products have the potential to get your customer on the road faster, and you to open up a bay faster.

The struts and spring in today’s cars are responsible for setting the vehicle ride height and providing a comfortable, stable driving experience. Worn components will decrease gas mileage and increase tire wear, braking distance and give a generally lousy ride.

These signs indicate when a spring or strut is near the end of its service life.

– Rough or bouncy ride quality
– Clunking sounds or feel over bumps
– Uneven tire tread wear
– Improper or uneven ride height
– Or visible wetness on the strut body.

While you could replace the individual part that looks worn, whether it’s a spring or a strut, you face the problem of mixing new and old components. Rebuilding the suspension with old parts won’t give the best performance and the old parts are likely to fail sooner as well.

Plus, it’s always best to replace all four corners of the suspension at the same time, or at both sets side to side.

Loaded struts solve a lot of parts sourcing problems with just one part number and, over the past two decades, the availability of loaded strut assemblies have become an option for many vehicles.

But remember, no matter the vehicle, it is not a total plug-and-play parts solution. You still need to pay attention to surfaces on the vehicle that make contact with the upper strut mount.

Save yourself from having to deal with a customer comeback by installing an OE-quality strut assembly that’s designed with the right components for the application. This video is sponsored by The Network Academy.