You can either have the "shock" portion replaced, which is cheaper as far as parts go, or the complete strut assembly. If you have basic tools, you can do that yourself, although replacing a pair shouldn't cost you more than an hours labor at a shop. If you want to just replace the shock, I would gladly pay a shop to do it. That requires compression of the spring and a potential catastrophe if it escapes the compression tool.
Honda Civic 2000 on has 'macpherson strut' which incorporates the shock,spring and strut in one unit. The shock is the strut.
It's a single assembly. The "strut" is a shock absorber, surrounded by a coil spring. If you're replacing a strut, you get new shock absorbers in the deal.
(I suppose it's possible to disassemble the strut, and just replace the shock absorber, keeping the spring. I don't know if anybody actually does this. It's probably not worthwhile from the labor cost viewpoint.)
You can change the shocks. Let a Honda Dealer change the struts.
That car has a tendency for shocks in the back to weaken and cup the tires back there. Then when you rotate you feel it on the front. I would do them all and be GTG for years.
Struts and Shocks!
2004 Honda Civic EX Sedan 1.7 Vtec Automatic
I know that shocks and struts need to be replaced in pairs (the two in front or the two in back).
My questions is: Can I just have the two front struts replaced or should I get the two front struts AND shocks replaced?
