Cut a coil from quickstrut?

[MD Ever]

Has anyone ever cut a coil from the Monroe quickstrut? The price and convenience make these a good deal for my DD but they make the front way to high. Rear too i guess. Seems like the cheapest way to go though and money is TIGHT right now.

 

[SASHO91]

I'm not sure on the springs, if you can cut them or not, but I do know that those struts can only take about a 1'' drop. After that, the struts will fail pre-maturely.

IIRC, the springs are Moog springs. But im not sure on the spring ratings for those specific springs used on the quick struts, allthough I do recall Kenny (NotSoSlowSHO) saying that they were SLO spring rates. In either case, if you do cut coils, i'd only cut 1 coil from the front and (if this is possible) .5 off the rear. That is, if these springs are infact softer than the SHO replacement Moogs CC's.

 

[K-Dawg]

The springs on the Quickstruts look different than any other SHO springs I have seen. I wouldn't think you would have trouble cutting a coil out the front springs. With the rear, I would just drop the strut in the knuckle.

 

[jelloslug]

I have quickstruts on my '90 and I really don't like them. They are very soft and I don't think there is much that will help them.

 

[MD Ever]

Are they softer then stock? This is just a daily driver. It will never see a track and the "spirited" driving is kept to a minimum. Plus I'm in MI (WORST roads in the country!!!). Thanks for the replies guys.

 

[jelloslug]

Are they softer then stock? This is just a daily driver. It will never see a track and the "spirited" driving is kept to a minimum. Plus I'm in MI (WORST roads in the country!!!). Thanks for the replies guys.

They are "floaty". They are not suited for anything "sporty" at all. They also make the car squat when you accelerate.

 

[MD Ever]

Alrighty then...Moogs and Sensatracs it is. Thanks guys.

 

[St Louis SHO]

A quickstrut is basicly what you are going to do there......

 

[MD Ever]

I thought that the quickstruts came with some other type of spring? Everyone seems to be happy with the Moog/Sensatrac combo. Am I wrong about the spring?

 

[K-Dawg]

Yeah, the springs on the Quickstruts are most likely softer.

 

[jelloslug]

A quickstrut is basicly what you are going to do there......

That's not the same as a quickstrut.

 

[JEM]

I thought the Quickstrut uses SLO (140 lb/in) springs vs the SHO (200 lb/in) springs.

By my calculations a few years back (when I was blaming bobbly, floaty ride around normal ride height on the Eibachs) cutting one coil off a SHO front spring leaves you at 250 lb/in straight-rate, which is the compressed rate of the Eibach.

But then I tossed the Konis and went to Tokicos and everything improved - ride, performance, and NVH - so I never had any reason to go forward with that.

 

[itwonder]

Has anyone ever cut a coil from the Monroe quickstrut? The price and convenience make these a good deal for my DD but they make the front way to high. Rear too i guess. Seems like the cheapest way to go though and money is TIGHT right now.

If you read through all of the responses, I think it's logical to conclude that nobody really knows for sure what spring the Quikstrut uses. As for the Moog CC's, both the 1995 SLO and SHO use the Moog CC858 front and CC859 rear variable rate springs.

I recently installed the Moog CC springs on my 1992, along with Monroe Sensatraks. I cut one coil off of the top of the front springs, rear installed out of the box. The result is the rear is at stock ride height. The front is lowered about 1/2", giving the car a slight rake. I like the look. The Sensatraks perform very well. The Moog springs are stiffer than stock, at least when new. I do not think the Gen II ride height would be taller than stock if both springs were installed uncut, once 1000 miles or so is driven to allow them to settle in.

I like the idea of the Quickstrut, but I would want them only if they use the CC variable rate spring. It may be worth a call to Monroe tech. support at (734) 384-7809. You could also have your parts store bring in a CC858 and a quickstrut from the warehouse and eyeball the two to see if you can determine if the springs are the same. You can at least measure the wire diameter, which is 0.656 for the CC858 and 0.593 for the CC859. The spring rates on them are 142 and 137 lbs/in. respectively.

 

[itwonder]

I couldn't bear not knowing the answer to this so I made a phone call to Monroe and talked to Jeff in tech support. Nice fellow, but he said Monroe considers spring specs to be proprietary, so he could not share that information. BUT, he did tell me that Monroe recommends against using the Quickstrut on the SHO and Police Sedan because the spring rate is too soft! That exception does not appear in their online catalog so far as I can see.

So I guess we have an answer after all. Monroe (or at east this tech support guy at Monroe) says the Quickstrut spring is too soft for the SHO and the Police sedan. He said the Sensatrak + Moog cargo coils is the way to go.

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

allthough I do recall Kenny (NotSoSlowSHO) saying that they were SLO spring rates.

 

[BaySHO Performance]

I couldn't bear not knowing the answer to this so I made a phone call to Monroe and talked to Jeff in tech support. Nice fellow, but he said Monroe considers spring specs to be proprietary, so he could not share that information. BUT, he did tell me that Monroe recommends against using the Quickstrut on the SHO and Police Sedan because the spring rate is too soft! That exception does not appear in their online catalog so far as I can see.

So I guess we have an answer after all. Monroe (or at east this tech support guy at Monroe) says the Quickstrut spring is too soft for the SHO and the Police sedan. He said the Sensatrak + Moog cargo coils is the way to go.

Good to know. It's my understanding that the SLO front spring rates are 155 lb., not 140, per a call to the Motorcraft technical hotline I made in '97. I have to assume that the springs in the Quickstruts are also 155. Monroe confirmed today that they use Sensatrac struts.