I am trying to figure out what is the best strut to buy for my money. I am thinking about getting Gabriel from Autozone because they have their 20% off deal if you order online. Or are all of them about the same.
I would think twice about Tokicos. They are rather stiff, and they were worn out (actually blown out) within 20K on one of my cars. I did not drive aggressively and didn’t hit many potholes and/or ruts, so I was rather disappointed.
what is your vehicle? nothing wrong with OEM. i assume you do not have elec struts? or auto level control? front or rear?
Monroe, Gabriel, and KYB are good struts.
Tester
My Monroe struts came with a lifetime warranty on parts. Any struts that come with any lifetime warranty should be good in my opinion.
nothing wrong with OEM.
Except the price. When I bought new shocks for my Pathfinder some years ago…the OEM shocks were made by KYB. Buying them through the dealer was over $1200 (NOT INSTALLED). I bought the KYB shocks from a independent - installed for less then $600.
I haven’t bought Gabriel in over 30 years…so can’t say much about them. Monroe…shocks/struts gave me problems after a couple of years. They never failed, but ride became very stiff. This was for a pickup-truck, so for a car it might be different.
Never had a problem with KYB, Koni, or Bilstein.
Of course having ZERO info on car brand makes this recommendation a little hard?
2008 chevy cobalt LT.
Gabriels or Monroes are pretty common and should last just as long as anything else. My opinion of Bilsteins is not as favorable because on 3 or 4 occasions customers have brought their self-sourced Bilsteins in for installation and one or more units failed prematurely.
In one particular case, a customer had all 4 units on his near new car replaced with Bilsteins and 2 of the 4 went belly-up in less than a month. Needless to say, this creates an uncomfortable situation when someone has laid out that much money for what they felt was a superior product.
This is not to be taken as meaning that a Gabriel or Monroe can’t have an early death also.
I’m curious that a 2008 Cobalt needs new struts. Where do you drive this car? My son has my 1999 Accord with 205,000 miles with factory original struts and shocks. It still rides fine and does not eat up tires.