Any reviews of Monroe Quick Struts

[04SE]

My Avalon is in major need of new struts and I can buy Monroe quick struts via Amazon for dirt cheap compared to the local parts stores saving over $120. It seems everyone on the interweb is 50/50 on Monroe Quick Struts. I don't need road hugging sport suspension and I only want OEM ride quality.

It seems Monroe is the most widely available quick strut assembly for my car. I am not even going to mess with replacing just the shocks and using spring compressors. I want to unbolt the old and bolt in the new then get an alignment.

 

[Whimsey]

Put 4 of them on 6 months ago in my wife's 2005 Explorer. They ride and handle fine. In the spring I'm probably going to get a front set for my 1996 Contour. It slams hard on minor road imperfections in the front. The rear struts were change out a few years ago with Ford units due to cracked springs.

Whimsey

 

[Bud_One]

Last year I replaced all 4 struts on my Accord with Monroe Quick struts. The factory struts were on the car. Ride is good. Don't expect any sporty stiffness to them. I'm pleased with the results. Supple ride but not too floaty. Main reason I replaced them was due to strut mount knock/creak over bumps and that they were 16 yrs old.

 

[Hollow]

I just asked this.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...ns.#Post3519439

 

[FFeng7]

I just installed them on my 2007 Cobalt. They are so much better then the stock units with over 140k on them. Ride is smooth and quiet. Not exactly sporty which is great for this model car. The biggest difference is that the ride height seems to be maybe a 1/2 higher or so. The car no longer scrapes the air dam backing out of my driveway. I bought them at advance auto using the online coupon codes.

 

[Nick1994]

My 97' Camry had Munroe Quick Struts on it, rode great! Go for it.

 

[tommygunn]

Monroe and Gabriel both make good quick struts. Use them with confidence

And of course, don't forget about the rebate!

.

 

[Chris142]

i prefer gabriel if given a choice

 

[buck91]

Pretty recent thread about this. Im 50/50 on them on the olds. They installed find and ride find but the upper mounts squeak slightlt. Cannot comment on durability.

 

[Jimzz]

I'm not a hugh fan of them. They are easy to install yes but seems the quality is not as good as doing yourself.

If you do use them make sure the nut for the strut mount to the strut is tight. Have seen many report they were a little loose when they got them.

I prefer KYB and rank Gabriel and Monroe about the same.

 

[cjcride]

Put them on my previous 2001 Corolla, DIY. Easy enough and worked fine till I sold the car 2 years later.

 

[MNgopher]

Just installed a set on my 2004 F150 (really a coil over shock setup, but same idea).

I went this route as I had a broken coil spring. I would have spent extra for the OEM spring code if the truck weren't as high of miles and age that it is. I'll sell it in less than 2 years...

End result: Rides fine. Not a major change from the OEM setup with 154,000 miles on it, so either the old ones weren't worn out out the new ones are a lot floatier. It did result in a higher ride height by about 1 1/2 inches in front - the old springs prior to breaking were saggy!

 

[HangFire]

I helped a buddy put NAPA Monroe/OESpectrum struts on his Volvo last year. He was very pleased with the results. I think if you just want OEM ride quality back again, you'll be happy with them.

 

[Mykl]

I made a thread over on the Toyota forums recently trying to figure out exactly what parts I needed to swap my struts out and I was warned by several people to avoid Monroe quick-struts (even though I wasn't asking about that).

A couple of people were very vocal about their dislike of this product.

I have no firsthand experience with them. I swapped my own springs and gathered all the required parts and swapped the springs myself.

 

[zzyzzx]

I put them on a 2000 Camry and would use them again. Just to be extra paranoid check the torque on the stop bolt though.

I prefer Monroe over Gabriel because they are made in USA and they have a place on the top to put in an allen wrench so the top bolt can be tightened if needed in place. If I had to tighten the top bolt on my Gabriel struts, I'd have to remove the whole strut assembly!

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

I put Monroes all around on my wife's Corolla about two years ago. I was satisfied with the build quality of the parts but somewhat unhappy with the soft spring rate and soft dampening on the front. Had I known that beforehard I probably would have gone with KYBs and swapped the springs instead, but overall I'm OK with them.

 

[Mykl]

Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
I put them on a 2000 Camry and would use them again. Just to be extra paranoid check the torque on the stop bolt though.

I prefer Monroe over Gabriel because they are made in USA and they have a place on the top to put in an allen wrench so the top bolt can be tightened if needed in place. If I had to tighten the top bolt on my Gabriel struts, I'd have to remove the whole strut assembly!


On my Camry there was an indent in the top mount that the strut rod could only fit into one way, and once in it the rod couldn't rotate.

I know the strut body on my car was used across a wide variety of other platforms, and his Avalon may have been one of those. Because of this, you don't need the indent in the top for the allen key. Just get the nut finger tight, mount the assembly in the car, and take your torque wrench to it; the rod won't spin because the top mount won't let it.

But even if you didn't have that there's no need to remove the entire strut. Just get a strap wrench to hold the rod in place while someone torques it. If that doesn't work use a thick piece of rubber to protect the rod and a pair of vice-grips to hold it in place.

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
I put them on a 2000 Camry and would use them again. Just to be extra paranoid check the torque on the stop bolt though.

I prefer Monroe over Gabriel because they are made in USA and they have a place on the top to put in an allen wrench so the top bolt can be tightened if needed in place. If I had to tighten the top bolt on my Gabriel struts, I'd have to remove the whole strut assembly!


That's what leads me to suspect the OEM for my Buick's front struts are Monroe. They have that place on the top to put an allen wrench like you say. My OEM front struts are 14 years old and still going strong.