Monroe Quickstrut 4 Corner Install Results

[rjacket]

I just got my car back after Monroe Quickstruts were installed on all 4 corners.

In case you haven't read before, mine is a 2004 SES without SAS. 70k and mainly garaged in California. Only the front struts needed replacing but I took the advice here and replaced the rear as well. I opted to go for quick struts as there was a deal and I thought it better to replace as many parts as possible if I'm paying for the labor anyhow.

My mechanic said that all other suspension components looked fine. This makes sense to me as I only have 70k and haven't driven much on the worn out struts once I noticed they were going. I have the old rear pinch bolts and they don't look nearly as bad as the picture of 8 year old CA ones posted in other threads. So it seems my garaging is helping here as well as generally lower mileage.

However, I immediately noticed that the left rear is sitting lower than before and lower than the right rear.

I measured with and without a 150lb weight in the trunk. These are the ride heights:

Rear Right with 150lbs total weight in trunk: 69
Rear Left with 150lbs total weight in trunk: 67
Rear Right with nothing in trunk: 70.3
Rear Left with nothing in trunk: 68.3

Spec 69.6

So in other words:

a) Left is 2cm lower than Right
b) The springs on both sides seem to be reacting the same and as expected to the addition of a weight in the trunk

Now, what is interesting is the following

a) Prior to taking the car in, and as part of my decision making about changing the rears, I measured the ride heights all around. The right rear was exactly to spec. The left rear was 2cm below. All struts and springs are original. So I interpreted that the left rear springs were failing while the right rear were fine.

But, it seems that my car is 2cm lower on the left rear all the time, and my 70k rear original Ford struts and springs were fine all along.

b) Prior to taking the car in, the front right was also at the exact correct ride height, while the front left was below by a cm or so. Now, the front left is about half a cm below the height of the front right, and perhaps that is related to the rear left?

Overall though, handling and ride have improved. The car had begun to pull left, due to the failing front struts, and that problem has gone.

The front sits higher with the Monroe quickstruts by about 1.5cm compared to OEM / official ride height specs.

The rear seems to be the same although I have this weird 2cm difference between left and right.

Thoughts about what could be causing this height difference in the back? Would an alignment solve the issue?

[Markcuda]

With out pictures, it never happened.

[SoNic67]

That's not normal. Either your parking place is not level or one strut is out of spec. Park the car in opposite direction and redo the measurements.

[rjacket]

I was going to do that but the height difference was visually obvious at 3 different parking locations and my mechanic verified it also. He said it's most likely the springs on the new quick struts.

What caught my attention is that the difference is the same with the 70k OEM assembly as the newly installed Monroe quick struts.

I want some opinions because my next step is to contact Monroe which would then lead to the left rear strut being changed out, which will cost me time and money. I want to not go through that process if something else is at fault. It is very strange that there was this ride height difference between rear left and right both with the OEM strut assembly and the Monroe Quick Struts.

[SoNic67]

Was the car in an accident before? Rear alignment (toe) is done only on one side on our car. But that won't affect than much the ride (2 cm - 3/4").
The angles are found here.

[rjacket]

No accidents that I know of. It was a rental for it's 1st year and 25k.

Ride height has a tolerance of +-1cm. I am in total out by 2cm, so is this technically in tolerance?

[SoNic67]

Well... you won't know unless you reverse the two struts or put a new one in.

[rjacket]

Thanks

I'm unlikely to do that as it's not something I can do myself and I don't want to spend another $240 on speculating.

It's good to know that it's unlikely to be alignment.

I think there are only 2 possible causes:

1) The new strut assembly
2) Something else wrong with the cars suspension

If it is the new strut assembly, I assume it has to be the spring ie there is no other part of it that could be faulty?

[rjacket]

Originally Posted by Markcuda

With out pictures, it never happened.

I have pics of the ride height and the measuring tape.

Overall I'm very happy. No noises, nicer ride, better handling. Haven't had the problems others have had. Just want to understand in what direction to push this ride height difference.

[nytaurusabuser]

I installed Monroes in the back and KYB in the front about 35K ago - after install the right rear was lower than the left, I think Godfather had the same issue, we both slipped the lower strut up into the knuckle and evened it out.

With 35K, they've all sagged. If I were to do it agan, I'd do Moog springs, but with 200K on the car, it's not likely I'm going to do anything further (though I may slip the fronts up into the knuckle and have it realigned to keep from chewing up my tires).