Take matters into your own hands

When changing the wheels, at the beginning of April, when switching to the summer set, I noticed that the elastic rubber that protects the shock absorber from mud, dirt and stones was torn on the shock absorber of the left wheel.

The option is either to replace the shock absorber set or to replace only the protective rubber, which is a much more affordable option that requires a little more work, because it is necessary to release the shock absorber spring.

I took the car to a mechanic to check the condition of the shock absorber, and when I received confirmation that it was in excellent condition, he told me that it would be a shame to change it.
But I had to replace the protective rubber, because at some point the shock absorber would be damaged by dust and stones.

When I told the mechanic that I would change the rubber on both shock absorbers, he gave me an appointment: "Only in a month, 65e per shock absorber".
Considering that I need the car every day and we are planning a trip at the beginning of June, I couldn't wait that long.
I decided to buy a set of rubbers and replace them myself.
That option, which will require my work, turns out to be the most favorable and probably the fastest, if I don't screw something up.
Price of a set of protective rubbers for both shock absorbers, 32e.

I called a friend who has a garage and good tools, to ask when the garage was free and got to work last weekend.

This is not the first time I have changed parts on my car myself.
Taught by the experience of replacing the springs on the shock absorbers of my Suzuki SX4 before, I prepared all the necessary tools, screws, replacement rubbers, I found and learned the instructions on YouTube and armed myself with patience.
This car, the Nissan Qashai, turns out to be a lot more complicated to operate than the previous SX4.
When I removed the shock springs on the Suzuki SX4, I loosened two screws on the bottom and one on the top of the shock (from the shock cup) and the shock was off.
With Nissan, it is much more complicated.
In order to remove the shock absorber, I had to dismantle the disc, brake system, balance bar, and free the drive shaft...

In addition, I also removed the forks.
In addition to all that, it was necessary to knock out the entire disc mechanism with a heavy hammer, in order to free the lower part of the shock absorber.

On the upper side, there are three screws, by unscrewing which, we release the shock absorber.
After that, the shock absorber goes into the clamp, when we use a specially made tool, the so-called paws, which compress the springs, in order to release the shock absorber.

I couldn't photograph this, my hands were too dirty.
And it wasn't a pretty picture either, because it was necessary to properly lubricate the whole assembly, so everything seemed messy, greasy and dirty.

After replacing the protective rubber, putting back the spring, oiling and fastening I moved on to putting the shock back in place.
As complicated and difficult as it was to dismantle it, it was just as much, and maybe a little more complicated, to reassemble it.

The only relief that gave me hope was that, with that installation, the job is finished.

First I worked on the left wheel, and after that, I moved to the right side.
After more than 6 hours, the operation was successfully carried out and the wheels were returned to their place.

Epilogue: very dirty hands, which I barely washed 🙂 and saved money in my wallet.

Don't ask me why I wasn't wearing gloves. This assembly is so fat. that everything I picked up was so slippery that it fell out of my hands and I had to frequently wipe my hands with a cotton cloth, which is very complicated if you have gloves on your hands.

The entire 100e is left over for some other service interventions, such as changing the oil and filter, which I have to do in the next 10 days.
And what is most important, the car was not left in the service center and was available for driving the very next day.
I would have driven it during the day as well, but I didn't have the strength to leave the house, as this replacement made me tired.

But it was worth it. In addition to saving money, faster implementation of the replacement, I also learned something.
As my mother says: "When you do something with your own hands or try to do it and fail, even if you haven't learned how to do it yourself, you've learned how demanding that job is and you'll appreciate whoever does that job for you."
This replacement is now fully implemented, as it should be, and this story goes to #HiveDIY as successfully implemented.
Until some next repairs and handiwork, gretings 👋