Bought new 2004 Buick LeSabre because of the smooth ride. At 80000 miles garage replaced struts with GM specified part and Monroe rear shocks. Car now rides like it’s riding on solid rubber tires! Any suggestions?
Replace the rear shocks with GM specified parts.
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You’re used to the old worn struts & shocks. Give it a few miles to wear in.
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Make sure the tires are inflated to the proper pressures.
Tester
You reused the old springs? Did they change the strut mounts?
**strong give them time to wear in like guy above says. if still not happy complain to the installer. somethings not right hear , they should be smooth as new could be the springs are worn. some you just get the housings and they use your old springs this is not good you need whats in the photo i attached
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I recently replaced the shocks and struts on my 230k mile daily driver with a matched set of Bilstein shocks and struts. It rode hard for the first couple of days but then settled in and rode just fine.
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I would first double check on the exact struts used. I’m not sure what “GM specified” means. Were they the quick struts? Delco? I have heard that the cheaper varieties of quick struts have harsher springs in them and not the same as OEM. I would beware of the $97 variety that includes the strut, spring, and upper mount.
That does sound a little too good to be true, for a high quality quick strut, that is
I recently was shopping around for kyb quick struts for my car, and the cheapest were $121
That said, kyb does currently have a rebate . . . get $100 back if you buy 4 quick struts
in my experience, KYBs have overly stiff ride for around 1-2 thousand miles, then they get to the “normal state”, where they stay for quite long. Sounds longer than Bilstein does on “wear in” time, was a little bit frustrating for me for the first time, then I just know one needs to give it some time
I found KYB to work better for me than Monroe, had Monroe to fail on me in Subaru Outback after a year, where KYBs were holding for over 3 years before I traded it. I have KYBs installed on 4 Nissans my family owns now, good results over years
I’ve used several brands of aftermarket struts over the years
Tokico were initially stiff, remained stiff, and only lasted about a year. And these weren’t even the sporty version
Monroe and Gabriel were average, no problems, they lasted several years. Nothing special. Didn’t improve or degrade the ride quality in any way
I’ve noticed store brand struts are often Monroes . . . the regular ones, not the sensatrac
Sachs, Boge and Bilstein were high quality, but also high priced
maybe my failure was due to installing Sesa-Tracks, not sure, but once the back became very bouncy, I’ve pretty much knew they were gone
I’ve heard mixed things about sensa-trac
Some say they improved the ride, while others say the regular blue monroe struts are more reliable and don’t affect the ride
I’ve also heard many people say the sensa-trac doesn’t last very long, compared to the regular blue monroe
this comment made me feel better, as I was writing off the entire brand for myself after the epic fail I had few years ago with Sensa-Tracs…
No he doesn’t need the springs as well nor does the rear of the car have struts. So no strut mounts to change, no springs to change only the shocks.
I agree with @oldtimer-11, replace with OEM, not Monroes. If thecar had the “soft ride” package, the replacement shocks are $155 each from Rockauto compared to $53 for a pair of Monroes.
_Bing you may have a good point there, some things on cars and trucks just have to be original to function properly. _ once on my Chevy convertible during an inspection they sold me on a new improved ball bearing steering Idler arm , well the car wondered all over the road ,so I took it back and requested put in an original Gm Idler arm , its sorta like a worm gear in place of the bearings and it was like driving a new car again. with the original GM Chevy Idler Arm.
Wondered all over the road. Is that when you wonder where it is going?
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yup I didnt know what tree was going to jump out in front of me,ha ha
As others have said, after several years of driving with worn struts and shocks new ones will feel stiff. The suggestion to check that the fronts are stock, and to put stock shocks on the rear, are good.