Mike l.

I just ordered a pair of front Struts for my 2002 Toyota Camary V6 LE. I was Leary from the start about ordering from Cardi because of mixed reviews.
1st Problem: upon receiving the Struts I compared both of them. One Was made in Japan and the other in the USA.

2nd Problem: The Strut that was from Japan looked used and had a flat black paint that was chipping already. The USA Strut had a nice black gloss finish to it. No chips in paint.

3rd Problem: After closer inspection I pulled back the dust cover boot and felt the piston shaft and it was very oily. The USA Strut did not appear to be leaking oil.

4th Problem: The Japan upper Strut bumper looked used and was yellowed and did not have a part number on it like the USA Strut.

5th Problem: on the Japan Strut there was a silver round piece that was missing on the Strut which holds part of the Strut together. The USA had one and also had the KYB sticker.

6th Problem: The upper mounting screws looked used and had cheep cover caps that easily came off. The USA Strut had hard clear caps that protected the threads which is good.

7th Problem: After being on hold by text the first call for over 35 min, i was very frustrated and so I called on Saturday which the Customer service Rep was horrible and I had to argue with her to get a Manager to resolve this.
After speaking to a Manager I'm still frustrated that I have to have my credit card on hold because they will not send out another part with out reviewing pictures first and then sending the Strut back to KBY.
So now I'm maxed out on my credit card and can't by anything until KBY gets the Strut back and says, yes this is a defective Strut and will cover the cost.
I've never had to do this with other parts companies.
If I didn't inspect the Struts like I did, I would of been screwed. I only double check because another review on Cardi said to compare and inspect right away.
I took off work just for this and now I'm loosing work time just because no one bothered to check and compare both struts.

I'm very Disappointed in Cardi for not stepping up and just sending another Strut with out me having to basically to pay for another one until KBY looks at it. This is terrible business practice.
Depending on how this turns out I will not use Cardi again and will complain on YouTube and tell everyone.
At least the Manager tried to resolve it but at my cost which is sooooo frustrated with this whole thing.
I will add lots of pictures.
In the last picture you can see where my finger is pointing to the Japanese stretch and the weld does not go all the way across like the American one. There is also differences on the metal brackets and I measured it with a micrometer and on the American one it's a little bit thicker than the Japanese bracket mounting bracket I should sa in the last picture you can see where my finger is pointing to the Japanese strut and the weld does not go all the way across like the American one. There is also differences on the metal brackets and I measured it with a micrometer and on the American one it's a little bit thicker than the Japanese bracket mounting bracket.
On the other picture where it shows the top of the mount where it shows the mounting screws the ones with the clear plastic coverings is the USA made one the ones with the black covering caps is the Japanese one and they break very easily which can damage the threads if you're not very careful laying down you're strapped. You can also see chips and flakes on the paint on the top of the strut and one of the close-up pictures.