Monroe's new Roadmatic economy quick struts

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Monroe has rebranded their Econo-Matic line as Roadmatic. The Roadmatic part numbers are the same as the old Econo-Matic, and they are probably the same exact assembly, but now you get a 2-year warranty with the Roadmatic. (The old Econo-Matic has no warranty)

They also added a few applications to the economy assembly, such as the 8th gen Civic (2006-2011)

Roadmatic

The bare struts and shocks are still called Monro-Matic and still have no warranty
 
If there's one thing which confuses me it's shock quality.

Is it that all the manufacturers have a cheaper line or are there cheap manufacturers to avoid all together?

I love the Bilstein B6 (Heavy Duty) I installed and many knew about and were impressed by them.
Does Monroe make any as good as those? Do manufacturers have quality ceilings?

Because you mentioned "economy quick struts", are they cheap garbage?

Installed "Rancheros" on a friend's truck and I think they are Monroe made. Are they OK? etc.
 
Monroe= Garbage. Theyve screwed me twice with warranty replacement quick struts, after about 8 months they failed.
 
The quick struts had a lifetime warranty. If you're planning on keeping the car for a while, go with quick struts. There's nothing magical about struts, like any suspension component, they will wear out. I went through 3 sets of them in one car so it was worth payihg for the quick struts. The cheaper line would be worth it if you're planning on getting rid of the car after a year or so and don't want to dump in an extra money in the car or for those with a tight budget.
 
Economatic line is/was bad.They had bad top mounts,and the springs were undersized and not wound as per their premium "Quick Strut" line.Also,they and the Monroe Matic line have issues with leaking seals rather early on in their lifetimes.I wonder....does existing Economatic line stock go to the 2 year warranty or does that wait until new Roadmatic labeled product comes along? With the same part number,who would know which is which? Warehouses will have Economatic line stock for years to come.
 
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
Economatic line is/was bad.They had bad top mounts,and the springs were undersized and not wound as per their premium "Quick Strut" line.Also,they and the Monroe Matic line have issues with leaking seals rather early on in their lifetimes.I wonder....does existing Economatic line stock go to the 2 year warranty or does that wait until new Roadmatic labeled product comes along? With the same part number,who would know which is which? Warehouses will have Economatic line stock for years to come.


They probably go by the tag on the strut. I did get a defective set of rear struts once, ended up changing them out after a year. The ride height was too low, they had me take a picture of the tag and they confirmed those were the defective ones and sent me a new set and paid to send the old ones back. The quick struts usually has a rebate twice a year and the regular ones never seem to have one. I thought about dumping them and just getting KYB at one point, but it seemed there were similar complaints about them also. Not sure if Moog might be better as there are complaints about their quality also going down hill.
 
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
Economatic line is/was bad.They had bad top mounts,and the springs were undersized and not wound as per their premium "Quick Strut" line.Also,they and the Monroe Matic line have issues with leaking seals rather early on in their lifetimes.I wonder....does existing Economatic line stock go to the 2 year warranty or does that wait until new Roadmatic labeled product comes along? With the same part number,who would know which is which? Warehouses will have Economatic line stock for years to come.


even the name does not sound good
 
Originally Posted By: edwardh1

even the name does not sound good


They are trying to shame you into spending more money.

I'll hand my head low and sit on my fat wallet.
 
They are junk. I have some almost 2 year old econo-matics with less than 20k miles on them on the front of my Taurus, the mounts make noise and the ride is not very good. Even from the beginning they weren't that great. I am planning on replacing them with KYB like I have in the rear.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
If there's one thing which confuses me it's shock quality.

Is it that all the manufacturers have a cheaper line or are there cheap manufacturers to avoid all together?


Monroe, Gabriel, and Sachs do have cheaper lines.
Monroe's cheap lines are Econo-Matic, Monro-Matic, and Roadmatic. Any Monroe with "matic" in its name is cheap economy-grade low quality garbage. They rarely last more than 30k.

Gabriel's economy line is called Guardian. They are painted red. A fairly new offering from Gabriel, they are probably on par with Monroe's -Matics.

Sachs has a value line simply called "Sachs Value Line." These are painted red. Not as wide of an application range as Monroe and Gabriel, they are mostly offered for older American cars/trucks. I don't Sachs offers quick struts in their value line, though.

And there are tons of cheap manufacturers to avoid altogether. Any of the cheap Chinese quick struts, and they go by so many names. Unity, OSC, Leacree, FCS, just to name a few! Service life around 10k. Raybestos and Moog quick struts are also Chinese and also do not last very long, either.

SenSen is also not good at all. They are an OE supplier to Chinese-market cars, including some Chinese-market European-nameplate cars such as VW and Volvo, but they are still no good. The SenSen aftermarket shocks/struts have been described as a Chinese copy of KYB, but they will still not last beyond 10k.

If I HAD to use one of these economy-tier quick struts, it would easily be Monroe's Roadmatic (or perhaps Gabriel's Guardian Readymount), with SenSen being a VERY distant third.

But none of the above are anywhere near as good as Monroe's premium Quick Strut, Gabriel's Ultra Readymount, KYB's Strut Plus, or Sachs quick struts. The premium quick struts are good for at least 50k. Note that all four are also OE suppliers.

Ford is offering Motorcraft quick struts for select applications. This seems like the best choice if you have a Ford they're available for, and you just want OE replacement.

Quote:
I love the Bilstein B6 (Heavy Duty) I installed and many knew about and were impressed by them.
Does Monroe make any as good as those? Do manufacturers have quality ceilings?


I also love the Bilstein B6, but unfortunately, they don't make shocks and struts for every car. Almost every manufacturer has more than one quality tier, including Bilstein.

For example, the B6 HD is a high performance/upgrade shock. Their OE replacement line is B4/Touring Class (usually painted black, but some are green, particularly where Bilstein was the OE supplier)

Monroe's Reflex, some of their Rancho shocks, as well as KYB's MonoMax and Gas-a-Just are probably near or the same quality as Bilstein. They cost less than Bilstein HD, but also have narrower coverage than the Bilstein B6 HD.

Also keep in mind that Monroe, KYB, Gabriel, and Sachs are all major OE suppliers as well. Bilstein is also an OE supplier, but still largely a niche supplier (high performance cars and trucks).

Quote:
Because you mentioned "economy quick struts", are they cheap garbage?

Installed "Rancheros" on a friend's truck and I think they are Monroe made. Are they OK? etc.


Yes, Rancho is made by Monroe.

Only Monroe's economy quick struts are garbage. As mentioned, Monroe has several quality tiers:
Economy grade (Roadmatic/Econo-Matic/Monro-Matic/Anything-matic)
Premium/OE replacement (OESpectrum/Quick-Strut)
High Performance/HD (Reflex, as well as their Rancho line)

The Ranchos are fine
smile.gif


Monroe's OE-grade quick strut is simply called "Monroe Quick Strut", which can become confusing since "quick strut" is widely used as a generic term for these complete assemblies
crazy2.gif



Originally Posted By: NHGUY
does existing Economatic line stock go to the 2 year warranty or does that wait until new Roadmatic labeled product comes along? With the same part number,who would know which is which? Warehouses will have Economatic line stock for years to come.


It probably goes by the receipt. If it says "Roadmatic" you will probably be covered. They will probably end up slapping Roadmatic labels on the old Econo-Matics. But this is just my best guess.
 
I still think, that the best method is to use OE strut mounts and go with top brand struts and assemble them yourself. It's not hard. If you can install quick struts, you can disassemble and install struts. I think the quick struts skimp on the spring and mount/bearing quality.
 
Originally Posted By: spasm3
I still think, that the best method is to use OE strut mounts and go with top brand struts and assemble them yourself. It's not hard. If you can install quick struts, you can disassemble and install struts. I think the quick struts skimp on the spring and mount/bearing quality.


The hard part is compressing the spring to install the struts. It is not an easy task if you do not have a good compressor. Many aftermarket compressors you can rent from parts store cannot clear the spring and struts, some of the 90s Honda have metal dust boots, and the Autozone compressor won't clear it.
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Originally Posted By: spasm3
I still think, that the best method is to use OE strut mounts and go with top brand struts and assemble them yourself. It's not hard. If you can install quick struts, you can disassemble and install struts. I think the quick struts skimp on the spring and mount/bearing quality.


The hard part is compressing the spring to install the struts. It is not an easy task if you do not have a good compressor. Many aftermarket compressors you can rent from parts store cannot clear the spring and struts, some of the 90s Honda have metal dust boots, and the Autozone compressor won't clear it.


Don't think compressing the spring is that hard. I do agree you need a quality tool, not a cheapie. A bit of common sense ( not putting your head/body over either end of a compressed spring). But i find its no harder that removing the strut body. I also don't mount my strut in a vise as it leaves only one direction for all the force to go, rather than each end if something goes awry. I don't use an air gun on the center nut for installation. I use a touch of anti-seize to make it easier to get the center nut down tight.

I use a 2 finger strut remover i bought about 30 years ago, easily have gotten my money out of it. I get oem mounts and bearings if available ( saturns are not available oem). Then its kyb or monroe top of the line strut. I have used the economatic strut and it was a waste of money. I have no experience with gabriel struts. Kybs seem to be a touch stiffer than stock, at least on saturns.
 
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I have some of those cheap Monroe blue struts in my 1995 Escort. The ones in the back lasted around 115K miles, and the ones I put in the front are still in the car. So they worked for me.
 
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