My Monroe Quick-Strut Story

[kleinhhl]

I've got 52,000 miles on my '06 Pontiac Vibe... a little before 50,000, I noticed some fluid leaking from the front OEM struts and general sloppiness in all four struts/shocks. This is an automatic failure on the safety inspection in Virginia.

After a bit of research and a $1400 quote from the Toyota dealership, I decided to tackle the shocks and struts myself. I decided to go with Monroe Quick-Struts for all four corners, which I purchased from RockAuto.com.

Well, the back ones went on great with no problems at all. I was able to torque all of the bolts and studs to the Pontiac service manual spec. Now, on to the front. Again, no problems installing the front driver side... but when I went to torque the upper mount studs/nuts, the first one snapped right off. I've read some posts on this forum and others where people have had the same problem.

So, I decided to call Monroe and without asking any questions besides, "Did you follow our instructions?" and verifying that 29 ft. lbs. is the correct torque spec (from the Pontiac Service Manual), the Monroe tech. and warranty reps. shipped me out a new one post haste.

I got the new one last week and installed it this weekend. I only went to 26 ft. lbs. because I didn't trust going to 29 ft. lbs.. Well, on to the passenger side one, which is one of the original ones from RockAuto. Again, the first upper mount stud snapped at or before 26 ft. lbs. So again, I called Monroe and they are shipping me a new one no questions asked.

I asked if they had a bad batch of studs that their Q/C didn't catch and the tech. rep said they are monitoring the situation... effectively a non-answer. But, I can't complain at all about their warranty and technical support.

Well, it remains to be seen whether the $450.00 investment in Monroe Quick-Struts will last for the next 50,000 miles. I've read posts on other forums where the upper mount studs are snapping during normal driving. I will be installing the new passenger front assembly as soon as I get it. I will only torque the upper mount stud/nuts to 26 ft. lbs.

I just can't see how the grade and size of the studs Monroe is using can make it to 29 ft. lbs. I believe that Monroe is using Grade 9.8 M8 x 1.25 clinch studs in the upper mount. If you look at a torque chart for bolts and studs, that grade and size stud has a maximum torque spec of approximately 21 ft. lbs, so even 26 ft. lbs. is over torqued. Monroe swears that 29 ft. lbs. (the Pontiac Service Manual spec.) is the correct torque. Perhaps I will take a thread gauge and see if any of the studs are stretched at 26 ft. lbs.

Needless to say, it has been frustrating and I've put way too much time into changing shocks and struts on this little car but I can't say enough for Monroe's warranty and tech. departments.

Sorry for the ramble but I thought you shadetrees out there might be experiencing the same frustrations.

[vibrologist]

Thanks for sharing!
Keep all receipts and stuff. There is a good chance they need to recall. In fact I suggest placing a report on Safercar.gov. i don't know if they have a section on aftermarket products. If not I would place under Pontiac Vibe and mention Monroe in the file.

[KITT222]

Interesting. I wonder if this is just the Quick Struts, or the upper bearings/mounting plate issue as well...

[kleinhhl]

Yes, I've kept all receipts and I will definitely consider going to Safecar.gov. I'd like to see how well the top mount studs hold up under normal driving. Monroe is sending me two UPS labels to ship the broken assemblies back to them for further research.

The OEM top mounting plate must use higher grade studs because I've had no problem tightening them to the proper torque (29 ft. lbs).

[gtv237]

This is a very common issue with aftermarket strut mount studs. The problem is a combination of weak(cheap) studs and locking nuts. When I do struts I will NOT use the provided locking nuts. I've broken too many studs that way.

[vibrologist]

What exactly do you use instead of the locking nuts?

[gtv237]

What exactly do you use instead of the locking nuts?

The factory nuts.

[ParknVibe]

I hope you tighten all the nuts easily, equally, and evenly before you begin the torquing of each bolt. Perhaps that one nut/bolt was over tighten before you torqued it.

[kleinhhl]

ParknVibe: I made sure to lower the vehicle off of the jack stands to put weight on the shock assembly and also made sure the shock assembly was seated correctly against the body mounts. Then, I tightened each nut with a ratchet just enough to seat each one. I did this in a rotational way to ensure that all nuts were seated approximately equally. Then, I used a Snap-On torque wrench to tighten to spec.

gtv237: The Monroe instructions specifically say to use the new nuts with their assemblies. As far as I can tell, the nuts are not lock nuts.

[joatmon]

How dangerous is it if the stud breaks while driving, would it cause a catastrophic loss of control, or just make a lot of noise and give you a rough or bouncy ride?

[dnoishere]

...ok I put my Monroe struts on the front last night. I under torqued them a little...only to about 24 lbs. I'm having new tires and an alinement done and I'm gonna ask them to check my torques on everything I replaced, the struts and sway bar links (which were a b i t c h to get off) so if they break them, they fix them, I'd hope...I didn't lower the car off stands to torque the upper nuts (oops) but I might redo that today. Doing the rears in a bit.

[vibrologist]

How dangerous is it if the stud breaks while driving, would it cause a catastrophic loss of control, or just make a lot of noise and give you a rough or bouncy ride?

There is safety in duplication: if one stud breaks there are still two that hold it in place. If those two break also, then "Houston, we have a problem". In theory you would feel strange steering reactions and pulling to a side. In theory you have enough control to bring the car safely to a stop or even limp it home.

I say "in theory" because I never had this happen to me.

Let's think it through one more time: these studs connect the strut mount to the strut tower and therefore they set the upper pivot point of the steering and wheel alignment angles. They also keep the strut mount from dropping out of the tower when the car goes airborne. In light duty driving the car will not go airborne and the vehicle weight on the strut will keep the mount in the tower. But being disconnected from the body will allow for jumpiness between the strut mount and the top of the strut tower. The mount can shift around and thus affect the steering and wheel alignment angles. Braking will also feel funny because the strut mount will want to move fore within the confines of the strut tower. It still will brake though.

[vibrologist]

...ok I put my Monroe struts on the front last night. I under torqued them a little...only to about 24 lbs. I'm having new tires and an alinement done and I'm gonna ask them to check my torques on everything I replaced, the struts and sway bar links (which were a b i t c h to get off) so if they break them, they fix them, I'd hope...I didn't lower the car off stands to torque the upper nuts (oops) but I might redo that today. Doing the rears in a bit.

Yea, I missed that too on my former Windstar. I went ahead and torqued them again when it was on its wheels. At this point you probably have no more than 10ft-lbs on the mounting studs.

[dnoishere]

...got the rears on. Both sides I had a issue with the bolt from underneath. I couldn't get a socket on it without slicing away some of the insulator rubber. Who the hell designed that? Also the rear replacements were a little longer than the ones I took off. Compressed perhaps?...is that normal? Looked like the new ones had tighter coil springs on them. Anyways not too bad of a job done by me (1st time)...saved myself around $920 that the local shop wanted to charge me for the labor. Got new tires all around and swapped out the sway bar links when I did my fronts. I re-checked the upper nut torque with car on the ground and upped it a bit more...maybe to about 26 F.P. I asked the tire shop to check my torques and I guess mine was all good...All said and done after my rebate is paid, cost will be around a grand.

[vibrologist]

Good job, dno! The first time around it is kind of exciting, maybe even nerve racking. Then you look for the next car to do because you gained so much confidence.
You replaced the original struts that came from KYB with Monroe. It is quite possible that Monroe changed the spring rating and the damper valves a little bit. Let us know if you feel a difference in the way of stiffer or softer or anything else noteworthy.

[kleinhhl]

So, I received the replacement assembly from Monroe for the passenger side front and put it on today. I under-torqued the top mounting studs again to 26 ft. lbs. like the front driver side assembly that I did a few weekends ago. I haven't gotten around to checking for thread stretch on the driver side with a thread gauge. I just didn't feel confident going to Pontiac's specified torque value of 29 ft. lbs with the Quick-Struts. I haven't noticed any clunking.

I got the car into the shop today too and got an alignment done. It was out quite a bit on toe in the front; typical of replacing the shocks, I suppose. I purchased a year long alignment deal through my mechanic so I can bring it in as many times as I want in the next year for alignments. I'm going to monitor the alignment and see if it goes out with the under-torqued top mounting studs.

I'm also going to monitor the top mounting studs extra carefully for the next few months to see if any break. I drove the car a very small amount with one broken stud and I didn't have any problems... I only went a few miles though, nothing long distance.

dnoishere and vibrologist: When I had to call Monroe about getting replacements for the two front assemblies that had broken top mounting studs, the one question they asked was whether I had lowered the car off of the jack stands before I tightened the top studs. I had and the studs still broke... I know they say to do that in the instructions.

dnoishere: I had the same problem while putting the rear assemblies on my Pontiac... I had to cut away some rubber from the OEM assemblies to get an open-end wrench in there... it was a pain in the a$$.

With this project done and out of the way, I don't think I'll be buying Quick-Struts again. Monroe's warranty is excellent; they replaced two struts for broken top mount studs no questions asked. However, I shouldn't have to worry about breaking studs on such an important place on the car especially at such a low torque spec. In the future, I'll buy OEM top mounts and have a local mechanic assemble the new strut for me...

The Quick-Struts are a good idea but not when they break so easily...

[bax08]

I'm also going to monitor the top mounting studs extra carefully for the next few months to see if any break. I drove the car a very small amount with one broken stud and I didn't have any problems... I only went a few miles though, nothing long distance.

Resurrecting an old thread as I'm getting ready to install Monroe Quick Struts on my '03 vibe next weekend along with Deeza end links. How have the studs held up? Do you recommend under torquing them to prevent studs from breaking? If so, how much under?

[robtco99]

I've had the monroe quick struts on my car for about a year with no problems. I tightened them with no problems at all. I used the original nuts for the studs on my car instead of the new ones provided. I think using the new nuts they provide is why you hear a lot about the studs breaking off because they're too tight/self locking nuts. I started to put a new nut on and it almost felt like the stud would break, so I just used the originals.

The rear end will sit up really high with the new struts for a couple of days until it settles.

[bax08]

I've had the monroe quick struts on my car for about a year with no problems. I tightened them with no problems at all. I used the original nuts for the studs on my car instead of the new ones provided. I think using the new nuts they provide is why you hear a lot about the studs breaking off because they're too tight/self locking nuts. I started to put a new nut on and it almost felt like the stud would break, so I just used the originals.

The rear end will sit up really high with the new struts for a couple of days until it settles.

Good to know about the self lokcing nuts. I'll just go ahead and use the originals then.

Does anyone happen to know the torque specs for the upper and lower strut mounts, both front and back? Also, for the front sway bar end links since I will be replacing those as well.

Also, this weekend I was going to investigate how to get access to the rear strut upper mounts but never got around to it. How much of the plastic has to come out? Will I have to remove the tray that the spare tire sits in? It seems like everything online shows how to replace the front struts on the vibe/matrix but not the rears. I'm really hoping it's not because it's a PITA to do the rears.

[vibrologist]

There are access tabs located just below the D-rings. If you need more room to maneuver you would remove the D-rings and pull the side panels out.

[bax08]

Well, got the quick struts installed on all 4 corners this weekend. Ran into a couple a problems.

1. My lug nuts are becoming rounded, making it harder to get them off. One in particular was too rounded to get off so I had to drive to a tire shop and have them remove it for me. My father-in-law has just abount any tool you could imagibe except something to get rounded lug nuts off.

2. The the driver side rear strut would not come off the lower stud. We evenatully got it off with a pry bar but the rubber bushing remained. We had to cut away at it with a knife. Once enough was cut away we were able to use vice grips to twist it off. We were worried other side would be the same way but it just slipped right off.

I'm very pleased with the ride. I don't think the struts were completly shot but with 172K miles it was time, especially since my goal is to make it to 300K. Also put new sway bar end links on and that got rid of the awful clunking sound coming from the driver side.

Just need to get an alignment and new lug nuts all around.

[vibrologist]

Thanks for the update!
After some time of driving, would you please report back if these springs are any more comfortable than the original springs?

[bax08]

Thanks for the update!
After some time of driving, would you please report back if these springs are any more comfortable than the original springs?

Will do.

[boomermsu]

Thanks for the update!
After some time of driving, would you please report back if these springs are any more comfortable than the original springs?

I have had the quick struts on all four corners of my vibe for 35,000 miles now and from day one I felt the monroe springs were softer (lower springs rate) than the factory springs. The shock valving is also slower than factory. So doesn't go kart corners quite as well as it used to.

[Salsa Guy]

Thanks for the update!
After some time of driving, would you please report back if these springs are any more comfortable than the original springs?

I have had the quick struts on all four corners of my vibe for 35,000 miles now and from day one I felt the monroe springs were softer (lower springs rate) than the factory springs. The shock valving is also slower than factory. So doesn't go kart corners quite as well as it used to.

Have Monroe Quick Struts in the front with lowering springs and Monroe shocks with lowering spring in the rear. So far no issues 1.5 years