Quickstruts for Front End

[Joel Groff]

I am looking at replacing my front struts in the front end of my car. I am looking to do quickstruts due to time constraints and quickness. I am looking at FCS or Monroe, cant seem to find KYB anywhere that are quick-struts. I do not do anything fancy or performance wise for my car and I just need opinions or experienced opinions. Whats better FCS or Monroe for this car anyways or Taurus' in general.

 

[TTSHO]

I actually just installed the monroe quickies on my 16. Im sure they wont hold up as long as the ford mc ones but it was pretty easy so worth it to me. Just make sure you install them correctly for the bearings sake. No problems so far. Ive use monroe on a few vehicles but never FCS so i dont know about those.

 

[Joel Groff]

When you say bearing are you referring to the one on the top of the strut mount or the wheel bearing?? Also, did you run into something with that??

 

[TTSHO]

The bearing in the strut mount up top. Ive heard of ppl getting popping sounds after putting on quick struts. Thats the bearings binding up. There most likely not as solid as the factory strut mounts so you really have to make sure everything is in its home before torquing everything down. Tighten the 4 bolts up top last after you let the weight of the car down and dont overtighten. Just like any other strut replacement. I think the quick struts are just less forgiving if you don't do it right. Pretty easy job though.

 

[DouglasB_SHO]

I did Monroe quickstruts on my 2011 with 105K miles on it. Also replaced lower control arms & bushings, stabilizer links, in outer tie rod ends on the front, and shocks, upper control arms, and stabilizer links on the rear. As I mentioned on another thread, my EcoBeast is now as solid and quiet as it was when I bought it with 18K miles.

 

[DouglasB_SHO]

I did Monroe quickstruts on my 2011 with 105K miles on it. Also replaced lower control arms & bushings, stabilizer links, in outer tie rod ends on the front, and shocks, upper control arms, and stabilizer links on the rear. As I mentioned on another thread, my EcoBeast is now as solid and quiet as it was when I bought it with 18K miles.

Add to that work the front inner tie rods and rear toe links when my dealer found (and showed me) they were too rusted to be able to adjust fully for a good alignment. I hate the added expense but I'm not going to have to worry about those parts for quite awhile. Good news is the mechanic was really into keeping performance cars going and we chatted some about the next long-term maintenance items -- drive belt, timing chain, water pump, and seals in the next 20K or so.

 

[Joel Groff]

How deep money wise were you into all that Doug??

 

[DouglasB_SHO]

How deep money wise were you into all that Doug??

Over $3K total. Some of the parts I bought myself and installed and then I had to invoke professionals when I couldn't break bolts loose for the front end pieces. The last ones came up when they couldn't get the alignment to spec - not enough adjustment left on front inner tie rods and the rear toe links threads were rusted away. I'm not unhappy about it as the car is as solid as when new (to me at 18K miles) and it beats the daylights out of buying something new.
Unrelated aside -- they gave me a 2021 Explorer as a loaner for the day and I, as one who historically hates anything SUV-ish, actually liked it. It drove like the SHO just sitting higher. And the 2.3 EcoBoost was responsive and peppy, with the same torque boost kicking in about 2200 rpm as the SHO has with the CAE and SCT tune.

 

[Joel Groff]

Damn, amazing how expensive shit gets. I like you buy myself and then try to replace them myself. I am lucky to have someone who has a lift/tools I can use even though I have most tools myself. It does get expensive. I will replace the stuff I feel it needs and then go from there. Yes you are right, the price of the vehicles are ridiculous now a days and shit gets expensive. Thanks for all your insight Doug.

 

[DouglasB_SHO]

Yes, and thank goodness I really love the car! It would be easy to skip it if it were a POS but it's been a great car, even sometimes serving as our truck hauling way more stuff than most people think it can hold. One more big trip to New England the just after the end of the month and it'll be ready for some TLC. I'll have my garage up there and while I won't have a lift, I will have my QuickJacks to get under it for some work, and I'll have time to give it a complete touch-up, paint prep, re-do of the ceramic coat, interior detailing (and replace some front seat padding), and to get the wheels renewed to get rid of the blistering. It'll look almost new. Now, if I could figure out how to put Sync3 and a digital dash in it, I'd be golden!

 

[ridered74]

I got the monroe quick struts from rock auto. Only issue was that one of them was defective and made a rubbing noise every time I would turn the wheel. Not a huge deal to swap it out since they are so easy on the 13 and ups, but I bought them and waited a few weeks to install them.

If you get them from rock auto, know ahead of time that they only honor a 30 day warranty from date of purchase, so don't buy them until you are ready to install them as soon as they arrive. I had them on 30k miles after that with no issues.

 

[Joel Groff]

I just bought mine last week and they are going on in two days. Hopefully I’ll have a week or two to test them and also hope they won’t be defective. Appreciate the honesty and heads up man as I bought off rock auto too.

 

[ridered74]

I just bought mine last week and they are going on in two days. Hopefully I’ll have a week or two to test them and also hope they won’t be defective. Appreciate the honesty and heads up man as I bought off rock auto too.

I'd bet if they are good immediately at install you will be good. If not, just file the warranty claim immediately. They give you a few days to actually ship it back after you file the claim, and it's relatively easy to file thru their website.

I'd rather do entire strut twice than mess with compressing springs to just replace the shock absorber.

 

[Joel Groff]

Yeah, to **** with that compressor spring. Not worth the hassle or chance of getting injured if that thing flies off or is broke regardless. I’ve seen it mess someone up pretty decent in a garage I worked in as a **** tech one upon a time. Thing spring up and hit him in the shoulder and low jaw. Thank god there wasn’t a lot of compression at the time or he may have bit the dust from that thing.