Customer Reviews

Monroe 171958 Quick-Strut Complete Strut Assembly

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This product review refers to the following suspension products as installed on a 1996 Camry LE 4 cyl.

Monroe 171958 Quick-Strut Complete Strut AssemblyMonroe 171957 Quick-Strut Complete Strut AssemblyMonroe 171979 Quick-Strut Complete Strut AssemblyMonroe 171980 Quick-Strut Complete Strut Assembly

Moog K90313 Rear Sway Bar End Link Kit

Moog K90253 15 mm Rear Sway Bar Frame Bushing

In another century and another life I was a professional mechanic, but with the last two decades' more complex automobiles, I keep it simple. The Monroe Quick-Strut assemblies are simple to install and come with adequate install directions, although for my own comfort, I bought a used Haynes repair manual. Unless you are willing to pay a lot more for something exotic, buy the individual parts to make-up an assembly and do a lot more work requiring more specialized tools, Monroe, an old and respected aftermarket auto parts supplier, gives you all the pieces properly assembled at a "bundled price" you can't beat. For an older high mileage cars like mine, springs, seats, bumpers, and strut bearings are worn and fatigued (especially springs) and need replacement. Replacing all four struts, the sway-bar bushing and links has restored my old Camry to its new-car ride.

You will need an assistant to help you lift the 25-pound assemblies into the fender wells and attach the top three nuts on the struts. Before installation, checking the top strut compression nut for proper torque is a good idea as suggested by another reviewer. Mine were fine out of the box. I used the old nuts, but think the new nuts supplied are probably ok. Torquing to specifications is mandatory and if done properly, locktite should not be necessary. I highly recommend the use of a click-type torque wrench over a beam variety and you will need one that torques above 200 ft lbs. My local O'Reilly Auto Parts loaned me this tool on my credit card and you may be able to find a parts store in your area that will do the same. Penetrating oil on the nuts and bolts, especially on the underside a day or so before you go to work is an excellent tip from another reviewer, particularly in climates where salt is used on the roads.

After installation you will need a four-wheel alignment. Today this is a completely computerized laser-beam operation, so with the Camry's simple adjustment set-up I took the low bid (about $72). Check for discount coupons. If your car has been in an accident, you may need someone (a real mechanic) who knows how to deal with an "out of specifications" situation.

Finally, if after all is said and done, you have a knocking sound from the back when you go over bumps, it's most likely the rear sway bar bushings and/or the sway-bar links. Disconnecting the sway-bar links and wire or tape them to the sway bar and drive the car. If the knocking sound is gone, then this is your problem. Replacement of bushing and links is four bolts, four nuts, and a small amount of vegetable oil (not petroleum grease) to lubricate the bushings.

Tools: 12 mm, 14 mm. 19 mm. 22 mm sockets, ratchet, ½ inch breaker bar, extensions, hammer, punch, 200 ft lb ½ inch drive click-type torque wrench.

I installed two new quick struts in the rear of my camry, willing to pay the premium for the ease of instillation for having the entire strut preasembled for me. They went in fine, but when I took the car out for a test drive there was a terrible knocking from both sides. Not thinking for a second that it would be a problem with the struts, I removed the wheels again and checked to see if anything was tight.

After a lot of wasted time I finally found a couple posts for other cars that had similar problems that came from Monroe not properly tightening the top strut nut to anywhere close to 60ft/lbs. After fighting my way to gain acess to the top nut I found that it must have just been put on finger tight.

I would have given this product 4-5 stars if they had put it together right and not made a 1hour job take 5 hours. You pay essentially an extra $25-50 for them to compress the spring and tighten one bolt, which is apparently beyond them. Monroe should be embaressed with the quality of there assembly.

Bought these for a 95 Toyota Avalon and couldn't be happier with how simple the installation is. It is literally an 30 minute job needing the following tools:

21mm socket

19mm socket

14mm socket

12mm socket

10mm socket

Jack Stand

Jack

If you can do a simple brake job, you can install these struts too.

ps. you might want to change your brake pads while doing this job you will already have them out.

I'm typically not one to write product reviews, but I thought I might contribute some of my thoughts on this product used on our '94 Camry LE with 139,000 miles. I didn't know that aftermarket fully assembled strut assemblies were available. The price on Amazon with included free shipping was great, even cheaper than Rock Auto's online price. The installation was relatively easy. Unlike others who've mentioned you'll need another set of hands to install them, I had no problem doing the job myself. The vehicle now rides and handles quite superbly, much more so than had been expected. I should mention that folks might take advantage of a Monroe rebate offer "Buy 3, Get the 4th Free" available from April 1st to May 31st, 2011 (we bought ours before this rebate offer), just google it, or check your local parts retailer to find the rebate form. As of this review, the final cost after rebate to outfit our vehicle with 4 Monroe Quick Struts would be around 440 US dollars. Also worth noting, these struts appear to have been manufactured using workers who are employed in the U.S.A. ("Made in USA" clearly marked on the cartons). Of all the replacement auto parts being manufactured in China, it's kinda nice to see something being made in the United States for a change.

As far as installation, there really wasn't any brute force required, with the minor exception of the removal of the lower portion of the strut from the vehicle where I used a 3 lb hammer and block of wood to unseat the strut from the stronghold grip of rust and grit. Our climate region and roadway salt during winter months help to provide generous quantities rust on unprotected ferrous metals, as such the only area of difficulty came when removing the stabilizer links from the rear struts. However, there is an internal hex in the link stud that can be utilized to enable one to insert (hammer) an Allen wrench into to help keep it from turning whilst removing the nut. A dousing of penetrating oil (P-B Blaster, Kroil, etc.) on exposed fasters being removed is likely mandatory, more so for those folks residing in snow-belt regions. We reused the factory upper nuts for the struts, as others have reported them to strip out. Other earlier reviews have mentioned the strut rod "nut" not being seated correctly from Monroe, ours were checked during installation and appeared to be fine. Our torque values used (Haynes Manual): 36 ft.lbs (checking the strut shaft nut), 59 ft.lbs. (3 front upper strut nuts) & 29 ft.lbs (3 rear upper strut nuts). The 2 lower strut knuckle/carrier bolts were simply yanked super tight, but the torque values are 156 ft.lbs. (front) and 188 ft.lbs. (rear) for those folks wanting to know the real values.

Ride height of the vehicle appeared improved after the installation of 4 struts, the rear more so (maybe higher than OEM?). Before the vehicle was brought in for 4-wheel alignment (don't skip this), the rear of the vehicle exhibited an obvious positive camber condition. Like me, you might be nice and spray some penetrant oil on those rusty adjustment areas to help out the guy doing the alignment. Our cost for a 4-wheel alignment ran just under 70 bucks, your cost may vary (call around).

Why not breathe some new life into your old car and help improve America's economy (made in USA) at the same time? We did, and it feels (and drives) good.

This product does what I hoped it would, eliminate the annoying metal on metal clunking noise coming from the rear suspension non 1992-2002 Toyota Camrys. I have owned 5 of these cars and they have all had this problem. Lots of internet speculation from the rear sway bar bushings to rear control arms to rear strut mounts. I tried all of the above "fixes" but no help at all. The problem is the the strut is completely worn out and allows the coil spring to move around and make metal on metal contact with it mounting cradle. There is no way to fix other than replace the strut. This strut kit is a all in one remove and replace package that ensures all items are new and drastically reduces install time. If you have a impact wrench and hydraulic jack, you can accomplish this job on both wheels in less than 1 hour. Well worth the money!

wife wanted new struts after she saw how great the old camry rode with new struts. now had to order her new struts. I got 2 and had them installed, she now wants the back 2, thanks Amazon!

Bought the front and rear struts for 1996 Toyota Camry. I was able to install the front ok, but its a 2-person job, because you have to jump on the rotor to get the lower control arm to line up with the strut holes. Also helped to put a lug nut on and use the tire iron as leverage. The nuts given with the strut for the top mounting are not high enough grade and they strip out when torqued to spec. Use the original nuts, with locktite.

The rears are another story. My car is rusty, and the stabilizer link was impossible to remove without torching off the stabilizer link, so I had to take it into the shop to have that done. They charged me $300 to install the rear struts. So it still was cheaper than having it all done by the shop but unfortunately, if you live in the rust belt, then you will need a torch or plasma cutter to get the rear struts off.

great product and great price. I ordered the wrong ones because the description is so hard to navigate. I order Left and right front and recieve two left rear. Product is great, ordering the correct one is terrible. Amazon took them back no questions but I am a little gun shy with car parts now.

LE QUEDARON MUY BIEN A MI TOYOTA CAMRY 1992, LE PUSE CUATRO ESTRELLAS PORQUE NO BENIAN EN LA CAJA ORIGUINAL Y NO PUDE RECLAMAR UN DESCUENTO DE PROVEEDOR.