Another Malibu question... ha! Rear strutts... any tricks?

[BoxMN]

Hi guys, another 98 Malibu question...

I need rear strutts, and actually bought them already. I got the "complete" ones with springs ($89 each, my nephew works for big company that carries them, thank goodness).

I was told that as long as the lower bolt hole is not oblong (it is not) that I should just be able to take theold ones out and slap the new ones in, as there is no adjustment. The allignment should still be pretty good. Should I get it alligned after anyway? I do need to put tow new tires on anyway, so maybe do strutts, get tires, then allign it?

I think I should be about good with this car then... 150k; just did the intake, t-stat while I was at it, some hoses, plugs, new coolant obviously, a wheel bearing to fix antilock brakes, a blower resistor, and now strutts. Did almost all of it myself and learned a ton, and saved some cash. Still cheaper than new/different car but hope I am to the end of it haha! Good thing was that I did not do a thing to this car for the previous about 4 years or so...

Thanks for any thoughts about rear strutts, or any gotchas I might encounter.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I hope there not gabriels!

Unbolt, bolt, align and drive. Make sure your front end is tight before you bring it in for the alignment. Ball joints, bearings, and lower control arm bushings are really common on these along with broken sway bars which don't effect alignment per say but affect handling.