New Struts and Shocks Installed

[FFeng7]

I spent Sunday afternoon installing new struts, shocks, and sway bar end links on my 2007 Cobalt. Was having a terrible ride and knock going over bumps and of course bouncing on the front end every time going over bumps. I used Monroe Quick Struts and Monroe Sensatrac Shocks on the rear. The sway bar ends were Moog. Got all the parts from Advance Auto using two separate coupon codes. I had never done struts before it was very easy to install. So far rides so much better. Going to the alignment shop
today. Here is some pictures of the old and new.

 

[JHZR2]

Nice! How do you know the spring rate is correct?

 

[FFeng7]

I really do not know if the spring rate is correct for the car. It is the correct application according to Monroe and it rides great too.

 

[JustinH]

For regular cars, these quick strut products are great.

I have used them in 3 different applications. The only problem I had was that the spring rusted really bad in a matter of a few months.

Now that I live in texas this is a non issue, but might be something for the rust belt folks to think about.

 

[datech]

How many miles on the cobalt?

 

[MCompact]

They should work great.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

It the steering link is positioned low to the axle cL, the toe may be OK. How is the wheel position and feel? You can pretty much string out a toe in on a flt driveway. Just trying to save you 70 bucks. Camber you can eyeball too.
No new outer or inner tie rod ends? Inners used to get really beat up in short time on my cars - a source of mysterious knocking. Easy to check slop here.

 

[FFeng7]

I went ahead and got an alignment. Probably didn't need it because the tire wear looked good. I wasn't sure if the camber would be out of adjustment after the new struts. The problem is that camber is supposedly not adjustable on the car without using new bolts for the struts. Ether way it is at least in spec. The car has 145 k on it now. First time getting new shocks and struts on it.

 

[bourne]

Monroe Quick Struts are great, our customers love them. We havent had any major issues with them either. One thing I do recommend, torque the nuts and bolts on the assembly before installing. We have found at least a handful where certain bolts werent completely tight and cust had a noise complaint.

 

[daves87rs]

How does she handle?

Trying to decide struts and shocks on my Cobalt.....

 

[FFeng7]

The car drives so much better then it did with the old shocks and struts. It's hard to tell from the pictures but I think the right front was blown out judging from the oil dripping out of it and the noise seemed to be coming from that corner also.
Seriously it's like a completely different car now. I wish I would have done it sooner.

 

[ThirdeYe]

My dad had issues with his suspension on his 2006 Ion when he had it (same chassis, IIRC) where it would bang over bumps. His had really low miles on it at the time, probably around 30,000 or less. They must have used some shoddy suspension parts from the factory on those. That's awesome to hear it's handling so much better now.

I think his was an issue with bushings rather than the shocks/struts, if I remember right.

 

[FFeng7]

Yeah I've been there and done that too. The control arm bushings are weak from the factory. I also used Moog bushings for those and so far so goods