Fuego

I had my car into the shop the other day to get a tire replaced, and the shop
recommended that I get my shocks/struts replaced. I have over 160k miles on my car and
am still on the original shocks/struts. They quoted me close to $1200 for everything.
This is way more than I want to put into my car at this point, though I do want it to
last several more years. So, I have been looking into doing it myself and saving some
money. I have read up a little bit so I understand more of the terminology, but I
wanted to find out a little more on the actual parts themselves.

The shop was going to use 2 K331010 and 2 K343162, which are both KYB struts.

I found these parts cheaper online, no surprise there, and found out that they are the struts only. I was looking at a couple of different sites and found the same thing, strut only, for cheaper and it was a Monroe 72186/72185/71340 for all four wheels. I have read some things on here talking about Monroe parts are worthless, but no one says why. What is wrong with Monroe? I want to like them, mainly due to the price and they are having a 4/3 promotion going on through the end of October and I never find deals on parts I need when I actually need them.

Also, Monroe offers something called a Quick-Strut assembly, which is the strut and spring, and a couple of other things, all together for about $40 more. I know you might not need to replace all of those things, but I don't see the harm in it. Plus, it looks like you save time/energy/frustration without having to mess with all of those small parts. Any thoughts on these?

Thanks for all of the insight!

Pete6032

You can likely find better struts than the stock Honda struts, and at a lower cost if you buy online. I had to replace my struts at about 80,000 (previous owner must have driven my car like a race car). I replaced them with Tokico blues, which have a lifetime warranty. Bought online and had a friend help me install them. It wasn't too difficult if you have the time and parts needed.

EDIT you don't necessarily need to replace all 4. If the front ones are bad, then do the front and dont worry about the back and vice versa.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

Is the car bouncing or are the struts leaking? Replacing them will improve the ride, braking and handeling but just to replace them because they are old is unneeded.

Tokico makes great struts and will give you a little more performance then the stock ones. KYB are good also (OE brand I believe). I have not heard mixed things about Monroe and would personally go with Tokico or KYB.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

my experience with some monroes in other cars are that they don't last long, bounce. It seems the same can be seen in the civics.
some in the miata community are experimenting running a temporary solution until they can buy a better setup on some Sensen shocks, they seem to think it is equivalent to stock so far, but no one knows about longevity yet. i do believe not so much data exists for monroes either. If you want to try, and all you want a A-B point car, by all means go ahead.
just have in mind they *might* not last long or could bounce.

also, as said above, you don't need to replace if you don't think it's bouncing or too harsh or no signs of oil leaks.
But be aware that if you push the car a little harder, well, they will act as an old geezer trying to lift 400lbs. they could simply let go. or could hold out. who knows?

Fuego

Thanks for all of the replies! I haven't really noticed it bouncing or anything. Though recently, it seems to sway/pull a little bit when driving. I might be searching too hard to find something wrong, now that I am thinking about it all the time, and it might just be that the front driver tire just got replaced.

The shop said that struts were causing some rub on the tires or uneven wear on the tires. Does this make sense? Please explain a little bit if it does. I thought the struts provided a smooth ride. Now if they were bent or sagged a bunch, I could see that.

also, any thoughts on the tradeoff for the strut/sprint assembly versus the strut by itself? The assembly is a little bit more, but with the selling point of less work/time needed.

mfskarphedin

I know this is ancient, but for posterity I thought I'd share my guess why bad MacPherson struts would cause uneven tire wear. To quote wikipedia:

"Although it is a popular choice, due to its simplicity and low manufacturing cost, the design has a few disadvantages in the quality of ride and the handling of the car. Geometric analysis shows it cannot allow vertical movement of the wheel without some degree of either http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camber_angle change, sideways movement, or both. It is not generally considered to give as good handling as a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_wishbone_suspension or multi-link suspension, because it allows the engineers less freedom to choose camber change and roll center."

I assume the worse the strut, the more likely it is to cause uneven wear. Well, that's how I understand it, anyway.