Hey Everyone- I have an older 2006 Mazda Miata that needs struts. I was going to have one of the auto mechanic schools do the work and I purchased the struts (naked) already. But, the class lab manager unfortunately ran out of semester and realized the students can't take on the project. I can't find a garage in the area that will install the purchased struts without sourcing themselves. The other unfortunate part is that the garages I checked with can't source the front struts for some reason......age of car?

Does anyone know of a garage/mechanic who will install parts they don't sell?

Kinda in a bind with this. I can return the struts but would rather just get them installed since sourcing a full set locally is such a pain!

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Guygan t1_je6vszo wrote on March 29, 2023 at 8:58 PM

In the past I’ve offered to pay the garage what they would have made in markup on the parts that I provided in addition to labor and they were willing to do it. Perhaps try that?

crashtheface t1_je6wsnk wrote on March 29, 2023 at 9:05 PM

you're better off doing it yourself. get a jack from harbor freight, a socket set and a wrench set. should only take you a few hours. If I wasn't busy I'd charge you to use my tools and lend a hand. I do all the work on my rx7 by myself in my south portland driveway.

lobstah t1_je73g8w wrote on March 29, 2023 at 9:50 PM

I give an approving nod to someone who is willing to crawl under a Harbor Freight jack !

derpmcperpenstein t1_je7frs4 wrote on March 29, 2023 at 11:21 PM

jackstands enter the chat

whimsicalfoppery t1_je7gdnb wrote on March 29, 2023 at 11:25 PM

Miata struts are wicked easy. You can do them with just a basic tool set that you absolutely ought to own if you've adopted an old car. Buy everything from Harbor Freight except the jack stands. Don't get under a car without good jack stands. The only thing you need a shop for is the alignment it'll need afterwords (and technically, with enough patience, you can do that at home, too).

In general, though, we've found Duval's in SoPo to be good to us.

eigenstien t1_je7mis1 wrote on March 30, 2023 at 12:12 AM

Hamilton Auto on Park Ave in Portland might help you out.

Hi_this_is_Doge t1_jee71kc wrote on March 31, 2023 at 11:23 AM

I have the same generation Miata and did this same exact job last month. The only things you need are a spring compressor (you can rent one at most auto stores, like NAPA), a wrench set, a breaker bar, jack, and jack stands.

I'm not sure how much your struts were, but returning them and buying coilovers would make the job much easier. The coilovers come as a fully-assembled unit. So you only have to jack the car up, take the three nuts off at the top of the shock tower, take the shock bolt off of the back of the knuckle, pull out the shock/spring assembly, and then reinstall the bolts in reverse with the coilover in place. No spring/shock disassembly required at all. And with the coilovers, you can adjust the suspension height and stiffness, and it'll make the car handle (and look) much better.

If you absolutely want those struts put in, I may be able to help out. DM me.