All- I think the strut bearings are going bad on my van. The shock portion of the strut seems to be working well. I am thinking about hooking up a set of Unity strut assemblies, replacing them myself then having the van aligned. Any issues with that I should be aware of? It seems to me like a good ROI as I will have the majority of my front suspension freshened up, (already did the end links and swaybar bushings) for not too much more than just new strut bearings (which I think I would have to pay someone to do). Anyone have experience with Unity products? Better ideas?
Pre-assembled struts
- Thread starter 95busa
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Originally Posted By: 95busa
Better ideas?
Yes, use Monroe or Gabriel instead (my preference is for Monroe Quick struts, but you might like Gabriel better if you like a stiffer suspension). The Gabriels are made in Mexico, but Monroe (for my cars) are all made in USA. The Unity struts are cheap Chinese parts what are best avoided unless you plan on selling the car right away.
Better ideas?
Yes, use Monroe or Gabriel instead (my preference is for Monroe Quick struts, but you might like Gabriel better if you like a stiffer suspension). The Gabriels are made in Mexico, but Monroe (for my cars) are all made in USA. The Unity struts are cheap Chinese parts what are best avoided unless you plan on selling the car right away.
Bud_One
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+1 for Monroes
If you are going to use an all in one unit I would agree with Monroes. Lifetime warranty. Is your car sagging or have any indication that the coils are going? If not you might consider replacing just the strut. Either way make sure to torque everything down.
Originally Posted By: Bgallagher
you might consider replacing just the strut.
If they live someplace where cars rust, you really want the whole assembly!
you might consider replacing just the strut.
If they live someplace where cars rust, you really want the whole assembly!
Installed the Monroes on our Oldsmobile. They went in easy and feel fine but the drive side does have a squeak during suspension or steering movement in the upper mount.
Please don't use unity or any other white box strut/shock.
I am not a big fan of the pre-assembled struts and the white box ones are even worse.
Stick with a name brand like KYB, Gabriel, or Monroe. KYB is my main one but have used the other as well.
Rockauto has the Monroe sturt for $60 each. The strut bearing, 4721602AB, can be had for $26 at eBay. If its not completely bad you might be able to clean and re-pack it with grease. I did that on a Mazda 5 I just did front struts for.
I am not a big fan of the pre-assembled struts and the white box ones are even worse.
Stick with a name brand like KYB, Gabriel, or Monroe. KYB is my main one but have used the other as well.
Rockauto has the Monroe sturt for $60 each. The strut bearing, 4721602AB, can be had for $26 at eBay. If its not completely bad you might be able to clean and re-pack it with grease. I did that on a Mazda 5 I just did front struts for.
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Originally Posted By: buck91
Installed the Monroes on our Oldsmobile. They went in easy and feel fine but the drive side does have a squeak during suspension or steering movement in the upper mount.
Some Monroe's you need to tighten the nut on the rod. Mine was a bit loose on one but not the other.. didn't know about till a quick Google search and there's plenty of stories!
Installed the Monroes on our Oldsmobile. They went in easy and feel fine but the drive side does have a squeak during suspension or steering movement in the upper mount.
Some Monroe's you need to tighten the nut on the rod. Mine was a bit loose on one but not the other.. didn't know about till a quick Google search and there's plenty of stories!
Replaced the rear shocks on my RAV4 and the oem had two nuts holding the top of shock. The replacement Monroe had only one and trying to use on from the oem shock I was surprised to find the Monroe used SAE nuts instead of metric.
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You might want to see is If there is a complete OEM strut assembly available from Dodge. Honda has them for various models they produce (we have an Odyssey) and they are easy to install. Fit, quality and performance should be excellent.
I would not use a Monroe mount or shock.
One Lexus/Toyotas, the all-in-one Monroe's fail all the time - the mount is very, very weak compared to OE and fail a high percentage of the time. As to their shocks, I put some in my SUV - their high end ones - and after 2 years and only 15k miles, they are sagging and soft.
I recently put KYB in our ES300 and they are great - re-used factory mounts as they are high quality and don't wear.
Each application is different but I've been disappointed w/Monroe personally as well as helped far too many people solve suspension issues on their Toyotas because of inferior Monroe mounts that they are off my list entirely.
One Lexus/Toyotas, the all-in-one Monroe's fail all the time - the mount is very, very weak compared to OE and fail a high percentage of the time. As to their shocks, I put some in my SUV - their high end ones - and after 2 years and only 15k miles, they are sagging and soft.
I recently put KYB in our ES300 and they are great - re-used factory mounts as they are high quality and don't wear.
Each application is different but I've been disappointed w/Monroe personally as well as helped far too many people solve suspension issues on their Toyotas because of inferior Monroe mounts that they are off my list entirely.
I would not use pre-assembled struts from any brand. Unless maybe the entire assembly including spring was 100% OEM.
I had Monroe once and they jacked up the car suspension more than an inch higher than OEM, and made the car ride very stiff. Even under moderate acceleration and new tires the front end would lose traction. I've put a decent number of km on the car as well, so it's not from the springs not being broken in.
The springs they put into pre-assembled struts are complete garbage in my opinion, and do not match OEM specs.
Originally Posted By: ronbo
Replaced the rear shocks on my RAV4 and the oem had two nuts holding the top of shock. The replacement Monroe had only one and trying to use on from the oem shock I was surprised to find the Monroe used SAE nuts instead of metric.
lol After my experience with Monroe I'm not surprised.
I had Monroe once and they jacked up the car suspension more than an inch higher than OEM, and made the car ride very stiff. Even under moderate acceleration and new tires the front end would lose traction. I've put a decent number of km on the car as well, so it's not from the springs not being broken in.
The springs they put into pre-assembled struts are complete garbage in my opinion, and do not match OEM specs.
Originally Posted By: ronbo
Replaced the rear shocks on my RAV4 and the oem had two nuts holding the top of shock. The replacement Monroe had only one and trying to use on from the oem shock I was surprised to find the Monroe used SAE nuts instead of metric.
lol After my experience with Monroe I'm not surprised.
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Originally Posted By: copcarguy
+1 (3?) lol for Monroe's... HOWEVER this is only for the Black Quickstruts, NOT the blue Econostruts...
I have used the blue ones on my Escort and one pair went bad but it took around 100K miles. The others still work.
+1 (3?) lol for Monroe's... HOWEVER this is only for the Black Quickstruts, NOT the blue Econostruts...
I have used the blue ones on my Escort and one pair went bad but it took around 100K miles. The others still work.
Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
Originally Posted By: copcarguy
+1 (3?) lol for Monroe's... HOWEVER this is only for the Black Quickstruts, NOT the blue Econostruts...
I have used the blue ones on my Escort and one pair went bad but it took around 100K miles. The others still work.
You got lucky.
Most people don't get more than 30,000 miles from blue Monroes.
Originally Posted By: copcarguy
+1 (3?) lol for Monroe's... HOWEVER this is only for the Black Quickstruts, NOT the blue Econostruts...
I have used the blue ones on my Escort and one pair went bad but it took around 100K miles. The others still work.
You got lucky.
Most people don't get more than 30,000 miles from blue Monroes.
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