Failed Monroe Quick-Strut mount bearing

[Bottom_Feeder]

I installed a set of four Monroe Quick-Struts a little less than three years ago on my wife's then-10 year old Corolla. Everything seemed solid and I had no qualms with the build quality of the Monroe parts. About two months ago something in the front end developed a rattling noise, and the steering started feeling a little stiff. My wife also reported a loud clunk when hitting a dip in the road while turning right at a light.

Pulling the top caps off I could see that the passenger-side bearing had a brown plastic shield over the balls but the driver's side did not, and it looked like one or two of them were missing. Not a good sign. I bought two replacement mounts from Amazon, KYBs this time, and planned on replacing them this past weekend. Unfortunately Amazon must have sent me someone else's returned parts because one of the mounts was not correct in the box and was missing the paper instructions. Not at all happy about that but all I really needed was one, so on it went. Luckily everything came apart easily and the new mount swapped on without issue. The alignment seems to be unaffected, the noises are gone, and steering effort is back where it should be. All in all a successful repair.

Interesting-ish thing I noticed. I bought a KYB part in hopes that it would be 'better' but it turns out that both the old Monroe and new KYB mounts use the same exact Japanese-made bearing from the same manufacturer so it didn't really matter in the end. Oh well...

 

[Wolf359]

Monroe quick struts have a lifetime warranty if you kept the receipt. You'd get a second set for free. I'm on my 3rd free set. Struts only last around 50-60k. The top mount going is pretty common, mine made a noise for years and I couldn't figure it out til I replaced the strut and the noise went away. I think it was only a year or two before it started to make noise. I actually had a set of rear struts put in at one point and found out that they were defective as the right height was somewhat on the low side. I contacted them directly and they sent me a new set of struts with a call tag to pick up the old ones so I just had to pay for labor and they were going to reimburse me for the labor too, but I think I paid my mechanic $80 to put them in as they had just been put in a year before so it went in and out easy. Remember many parts come with lifetime warranties which is why I like to buy online from places like rockauto or advance auto, I can always find the receipt in my email.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Interesting. I'm kind of curious if they would replace the entire strut for just a bad mount. Not that I would replace only one strut and not the pair, though. I guess I should investigate. Thanks.

 

[The Critic]

Most of the OE Toyota mounts have a dust seal over the bearing. It sounds like one of your units did while the other one did not.

I've had too many issues with aftermarket mounts myself (for one reason or another) so I usually use OE only now. And I've also found that most bearings last a very long time and do not need to be replaced, even at high mileage.

Definitely get the car aligned though. The car may drive fine but if you had done a before/after alignment check, you'll see that camber has been affected. Even a very very small camber change will cause the toe to change.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Normally I would, but the camber is non-adjustable on the Corolla and the knuckle bolts fit with next to no play. I only touched one side. The wheel is dead-on where it was previously so the toe must be where it was, which makes sense if the camber didn't change.

 

[Nick1994]

The toe could definitely be off. My grandmother's Trailblazer has Munroe Quick Struts that were replaced years back, I replaced them under warranty last winter and didn't get an alignment and it started chewing the brand new tires up (tires installed the next day after replacement). The old tires wore fine, it steered straight after replacement too.

A mount might not be as big of a deal, but you can't just go by steering wheel being straight.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder
Interesting. I'm kind of curious if they would replace the entire strut for just a bad mount. Not that I would replace only one strut and not the pair, though. I guess I should investigate. Thanks.


Shouldn't be a problem. When I bought mine at Advance Auto, all I had to do was buy a new one, then when I took back the old one, they'd credit it back to me. All I had to do was say it was making noise. Do you think they're actually going to check to see what's wrong with the strut? A bad mount is a defective strut anyway. All they want is the old one back so they can get credit from the manufacturer. As for my defective set, I sent them my receipt from rockauto and the tag number on the strut, they sent me the new ones and I used the call tag they sent me to send them back the old ones and I didn't get charged for them. Also I replaced the pair of struts, just brought both sets back to Advance to get credit.

 

[kxc262]

How many miles did you drive on the struts?

 

[Wolf359]

Anywhere from 50-80k. They weren't completely gone when I replaced them, they were just starting to feel a little tired so I felt that it was only going to be the cost of labor to put them in. Had a mechanic that installed a pair for $100.