dr_fosg8

barfan, what car are you talking about? You say your springs are 10 years old but a first year hhr has been on the road six years at best. Anyway, I was just reposting to clarify the physical difference in the springs. And let anyone that had gotten quick struts in the early days of release that they will warranty them for the correct part if you have your receipt and are able to get them a copy.

donbrew

That is odd that the Cobalt spring has more coils than an HHR.

barfan1

I put rear quick struts on my previous car, a Honda Civic, and the springs rusted in six months. Also, many people have had issues with springs rusting early on the quick struts for the Ford Taurus. I have used Monroe products for 15 years but after the rusting spring and now the issue with the HHR, I think I am done with Monroe. It just seems like KYB and other companies have better quality now.

donbrew

Exactly what is the problem with rust on a spring, other than cosmetics? Do you mean they rust through? Surface rust is not cause for concern on steel/iron parts. Ask the NAVY about that.

Monroe paints the springs ("the Expensive American parts") and if the KYB's don't rust, I suspect that the "Cheap Asian parts" are powder coated. But, maybe not since heat is involved with powder coating.

Good luck finding American made shocks that are not made by Monroe (in their factory, anyway).

barfan1

The rust I saw on the aftermarket springs was heavy rust. I know poeple have had quick strut springs fail in 1-2 years when the rust weakened the spring enough to crack. Monroe just gives you another part-lifetime warranty-but it doesn't really assure me of a quality part. OEM and high end springs are powder coated and I have seen some GM truck springs that are actually coated with a rubber like sustance for long life and quietness. I understand an aftermarket spring is made to the market it serves, usually an older high mileage car and the person just needs a spring or strut to put on the car so they can get to work the next day, they are not looking for performance or durability, just price. It is disappointing to me that as a past user of Monroe products, it seems their quality has slipped. I am not sure where KYB manufactures thier products, I know Monroe(Tenneco) is mostly US or Mexican produced parts, they even source some of the strut bearings and springs from OEM suppliers. Gabriel(ArvinMeritor) has manufacturing facilities in Oklahoma and Mexico as well, I have used their struts before and they seem to hold up well. I have the Gabriel Ultra shocks on the back of my HHR right now, seem to be okay.

donbrew

When I went to the Monroe website I saw Gabriel listed also. "manufacturer" these days does not mean the same as it used to. Most auto parts come from a factory that made x number of units then sent salesmen out to "manufacturers" that really only pay the printer to put their logo on boxes.

Something like HDTVs, one factory makes 98% of the tuners and one factory makes 90% of the flat screens and one factory makes 95% of the power supplies, The "manufacturer" buys parts then has somebody assemble them to their specifications and put them into a box with a logo.

barfan1

Monroe, Gabriel and KYB are the main afermarket replacement manufacturers of ride control products. They mostly make all of thier own products, maybe filling in a small bit of thier line with competitors products when the demand doesn't justify tooling up for the part. Sachs(ZF)-these are the HHR OEM, Bilstien(ThyssonKrupp), Showa, Tokico, and a few more are mostly the OEM providers of ride control to the OEM manufacturers. Tokico and Bilstien along with Koni are the high line aftermarket ride control manufacturers. I understand what you are saying about your example of TV's, if you didn't know, Funai is one of the main manufacturer of TV's and builds and labels them to other manufacturer specs. Many auto parts have become commodities that one company makes and then just re-boxes for customers. The issue comes when parts need to be vehicle specific and the OEM makes very specific demands, smaller aftermarket companies don't have the capability to do that. Monroe used to be a strictly aftermarket company but they bought the GM/Delphi ride control operation when Delphi basically sold off most of thier operations and now it looks like Monroe is going to be a player in the OEM side as well.

dr_fosg8

Well, after less than a month the quick struts that Monroe sent out under warranty are coming off. The springs that are on them are junk. They are so weak that over bumps of a certain type/size the top 2 coils of the spring are rubbing and binding creating a nice little boing/clunk/bang sound. Pulled off the Monroe spings and compared them to an OEM spring and the OEM one is almost 2 inches longer uncompressed.

I will now be siding with most other members here. STAY AWAY FROM THE QUICK STRUT!

It doesn't matter how quick or easy it is when you have to do it 3 times.

MichiganMarty

I am on the second set of Monroe quick struts in less that a month due to spring noise. The noise is not from the springs hitting the wheel well. It is from "Spring Binding" - - which is the coils hitting another coil above or below it.

On mine the top winding in the seat hits the next winding down.

A call to Monroe says they are familiar with the issue and a letter went out to all distributors that effective July 1, 2011, the "in stock" quick struts needed to be returned for the upgrades.

The upgraded units have two @ symbols on the box label.

I am now waiting on O'Reilly Auto Parts to get in another set from a different warehouse. We shall see.

In the meantime, I am on the second front end alignment and now looking at a third @ $50 / whack at my local Belle Tire dealer.

Kudos to Belle Tire though - they have a front-end alignment tech there that does my alignments 'spot on'. Best alignments I ever got.

alexrckid

SOUNDS like i'm having the same problem with my quick struts. bought them back in november but they may have been on the auto parts shelf for awhile...anyway........just got a e-mail reply from monroe...sez that their warrenty dept will send out two NEW quick struts(hopefully with springs that do the trick) for free....just gotta get them a copy of my receipt(which i saved). will give them a call to figure out how to get this process rolling...