dr_fosg8

Several on here have had very bad luck with the Monroe QS, myself included. From personal experience get the struts and bearing plate new and either buy or rent a spring compressor and reuse your OEM coil springs.

barfan1

Please, please, DO NOT BUY THE MONROE QUICK STRUTS FOR THE HHR! They are not worth the hassle to have to return and/or dis-assemble if you get ones with the wrong springs. I guess Monroe has fixed this problem, it's not worth the chance. Buy KYB struts and mounts and either rent/burrow a spring compresor and do it yourself or take the parts to a job and let them switch out the struts. Trust me, you will be time and money ahead.

alexrckid

within the last few days, MONROE shipped me REPLACEMENT QS's for my 2006 HHR.....the ones that i have on the HHR now have some sort of coil problem resulting in a knock/rattle in the front when going over bumps(parking lot bump strips, for example).....going over them real slow presents no noise, though. anyway.......the QS's that they sent me(retrofitted) have an extra spring coil/closer spaced coils. the dire diameter between the the two are the same........just an extra coil. MONROE sez that this is a fix and that the coils replicates the stocker.....wish that i still had the stock struts to compare.....oh well....will get around to doing the install and ship the others back to MONROE......MONROE was very nice and understanding about this deal.....

SS fan

i have to agree get the good stuff, and pay someone to install it correctly. You might be short of change for a couple days, but if your car drives right and is safe. Its all good.

barfan1

I compared the stock springs to the wrong springs on the quick strut units, this was after I contacted Monroe and the only course of action was to switch the the springs out. The difference I saw was that the quick strut springs were slightly longer and the last coil on the top of the spring did not taper in like the OEM springs. I also believe the spring rate on the two springs is different. What seems to happen is that the last coil on the quick strut spring, because it is not tapered, rubs on the next coil below it and you get the noise problem. I only had the wrong springs on my car for a couple of weeks and you could already see where the rubbing on the coil had worn away the paint and was starting to wear into the spring, so this is a very real issue. I meant to take pictures of the two springs when I switched them but I was pressed for time and forgot. I still have the wrong springs so I might at least take a picture of the rubbing on the coil to show what is happening.

SteveMaine

I found out KYB doesn't hace complere strut assem, so i need to order the parts seperate. I know I need the strut and top bearing plate. I also notice they list a top and lower spring seat. Do I need to order those also?.Also do i need to order anything else. Thanks

843de

You can usually reuse the spring seats without any problems Steve, they are just basically rubber pieces that the spring rests on so there is no metal to metal contact. You can look at yours with the wheels off and see if they're cracked or disintegrating, but 99.9% of the time they are reusable without any problems.

MCHHR

That noise is annoying! I replaced all my struts and one end link and still have the noise. Looked at the stabilizer bar support bushings and they definitely need replaced. Hoping that will do the trick when I get around to it.

I was really disappointed when I talked to a Chevy mechanic who does side work at his home and he told me all they can do is keep replacing parts until the noise goes away or quiets down. They had no real definite fix for the issue.

nacademus

My SS made a wop wop sound going over undulations and speedbumps. Turned out to be my control arm bushings. I thought it was a bearing plate...

donbrew

Also, have somebody who knows how inspect the control arm bushings. They are very difficult to see and I wouldn't give them much more than 100K.