Group: alt.autos.gm Date: Thu, May 25, 2006, 3:33pm (EDT-3) From:
dasbrow@gmail.com
What are peoples opinions of the monroe struts that Canadian tire has on
sale right now?
Thanks!

I guess it depends on what kind of driving you intend to do.   I put a
set of Monroe shocks on my '90 Burb years ago and I just replaced them
with new Monroes (after 112,000 miles)  none of them leaked and they
still worked okay but the top weld broke on one of the rear ones when I
threw 1000 pounds of garden supplies into the truck (go figure).   But
remember, there are better shocks out there; it's your choice.  

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"Sometimes, when you're up to your butt in alligators, it's hard to
remember that the intial objective was to drain the swamp."  
~ Unknown ~

I see in outr newspaper the Teaxs speedlimit is going to be 80 MPH.

Harryface

I just installed new struts on my wife's 98 LeSabre, ca 75,000 miles.

The factory GM struts were worn completely out, but were not yet leaking.
(So much for OEM superiority.)

I got the Monroes (for a reason that takes too long to tell), for about $75
US for
the two.

It took me about two hours to install them.  (Found the brake pads thin, and
replaced them too.)

Found a tie rod bad, replaced that.

Fresh alignment was US$60.

SO, the original target would have cost about $135.
(The pads were about $30-40. The tie rod was in the same rough range.)

If they are good out of the box then you are probably ok.
Two years ago I put new strut shocks on my G/A.  My car then had 158k miles.
I decided to try Monroe gas shocks at $76 US.  Right out the boxes: One front was
leaking, the other front one would not extend.  I did not even look at the rears.
Took all 4 back and got Gab gas shocks.  They are ok, car has 190k miles now.
Due to a 100% failure rate of the Monroes ones that I looked at, I decided to
never again buy Monroes.
 Why do you say your car needs (extra) mounting hardware and bearings?
They hardly ever go bad.