If you don't want to spend much, you aren't going to like my answer. From personal experience, KYB is the best of the best for this generation Explorer/Mountaineer. DO NOT BUY THE MONROE QUICK STRUTS....they are absolute garbage....I made that mistake, biggest waste of money i think ive spent in many years. I went with FCS quick struts for the front of my 05, and they perform about what I expected for the price...they are smooth as can be on most roads and on the interstate, but when you hit potholes the shock is transmitted fairly hard to the cabin, and big dips in the road the front end will sometimes dive down/bottom out. Theres cheap chinese ones that are sold all over the internet under different brand or no names names (pretty much all of them are made by the same company), KYB, Gabriel, Monroe, Sensen, and Rancho. Ive been very impressed with Gabriel shocks, but never used their struts so i cant put in my 2 cents with them. Every Monroe shock/strut ive ever bought was total garbage, i finally learned my lesson with them. The Monroe struts for our 3rd gens are so terrible id rather run a chinese no name strut any day. Just a heads up though, i firmly believe KYB's are necessary for the rear struts - if you get any of the chinese ones or Monroe, they are constant rate springs (OEM is variable) and they cause the rear of the vehicle to bounce wildly over the slightest road imperfection, pothole, dip, etc - they are VERY unsafe and the ride is unbearable. KYB quick struts have the OEM style variable rate springs, they provide a very stable and comfortable ride. If you want to save money, I'd say go with KYB for the rear (get them off amazon, cheaper than anywhere), and go with chinese struts for the front (get them off Rock auto). If you dont need to save money, go KYB all around.hey i need to replace my shocks and struts and i am not sure what to go with but i also dont want to pay a arm and a leg. Do you guys have any suggestions?
hey i appreciate your advice would i be fine getting the already assembled ones?If you don't want to spend much, you aren't going to like my answer. From personal experience, KYB is the best of the best for this generation Explorer/Mountaineer. DO NOT BUY THE MONROE QUICK STRUTS....they are absolute garbage....I made that mistake, biggest waste of money i think ive spent in many years. I went with FCS quick struts for the front of my 05, and they perform about what I expected for the price...they are smooth as can be on most roads and on the interstate, but when you hit potholes the shock is transmitted fairly hard to the cabin, and big dips in the road the front end will sometimes dive down/bottom out. Theres cheap chinese ones that are sold all over the internet under different brand or no names names (pretty much all of them are made by the same company), KYB, Gabriel, Monroe, Sensen, and Rancho. Ive been very impressed with Gabriel shocks, but never used their struts so i cant put in my 2 cents with them. Every Monroe shock/strut ive ever bought was total garbage, i finally learned my lesson with them. The Monroe struts for our 3rd gens are so terrible id rather run a chinese no name strut any day. Just a heads up though, i firmly believe KYB's are necessary for the rear struts - if you get any of the chinese ones or Monroe, they are constant rate springs (OEM is variable) and they cause the rear of the vehicle to bounce wildly over the slightest road imperfection, pothole, dip, etc - they are VERY unsafe and the ride is unbearable. KYB quick struts have the OEM style variable rate springs, they provide a very stable and comfortable ride. If you want to save money, I'd say go with KYB for the rear (get them off amazon, cheaper than anywhere), and go with chinese struts for the front (get them off Rock auto). If you dont need to save money, go KYB all around.
i was thinking about going kyb all the way around bc its only 250Thats what "quick strut" stands for, already assembled and ready to put in. Definitely go with the quick struts. Just make sure you go with KYB for the rear. Fronts, it doesnt matter, they are all pretty decent. If i had to do it all over again, Id go with Gabriel for the fronts over the FCS ones, I only bought the FCS quick struts because they were on sale for 30 bucks each on amazon at the time.
i was thinking about going kyb all the way around bc its only 250
