Does anyone know if the Monroe OE Spectrum strut assembly is any good? Monroe has a rebate running until the end of May; if you Buy 3 of their qualifying struts you get 1 Free. [Mail in rebate]

best bet is to google what other people with all sorts of cars make of these struts.

That's what i did, now i'm holding off on the struts to be stocked again.

I'm gonna give these Monroe OE Spectrum struts a shot. Monroe has been in the strut game for a long time...

I also picked up the OEM Yota/Lex strut mounts, bearings, insulators, bellows and bumpers. I'll snap some pics and post a review after I install them.

So I attempted to change my front struts today and everything went extremely smooth until it came time to assemble the original coil spring on to Monroe's OE Spectrum (front) strut. It seems like the Monroe strut's lower spring seat is angled slightly different when compared to the Lexus OEM front strut. The damper shaft itself is the same length on both the Monroe and Lexus strut however the Monroe damper shaft threads stop 3/8" shy of the Lexus OEM threads... they don't go all the way to the end like the Lexus OEM strut's threads.

Unfortunately I don't have a bench vise to hold the strut while compressing the spring or assembling the entire strut before screwing on the damper shaft nut so I'm a little hesitant to over compress the spring... I was under the impression that I only need to compress the spring enough to take the pressure off the upper spring seat to remove the damper shaft nut...

I easily disassembled the old strut without sending any parts flying but the problem I'm having is when I try to assemble the Monroe strut with the original Lexus spring correctly situated into the upper and lower spring seat grooves, all marks lined up and facing out on each component-- and I still couldn't get the flats on the bottom of the toyota strut mount to sit flush with the flats on the Monroe damper shaft-- so I couldn't get the nut on either...

It got dark so I had to put away my tools until I can take another crack at it tomorrow... Maybe I should compress the spring more? If it gives me trouble after compressing it more and it still doesn't want to sit right I think I'm just gonna go OEM...

Help? Lol

Any thoughts, ideas, tips, ancient Japanese secrets and/or sarcasm is welcome...

Oh and on a side note the bushings on the sway bar and bracket seemed to be holding up but the end links that connect to the strut were shot (I'll make a short video comparing the old to the new)... The link(s) were super easy to remove and are definitely getting replaced while I have the wheels off.

-Ryan

Without having access to a vice, it makes it much harder to do. I've also been afraid to over compress the spring, mostly because I don't want the spring compressor to snap obviously, a scary thought. What I do is compress the spring only so far, then press down on the upper mount by hand which gives me just enough thread to get the nut started. If you can't do that, then I'm not sure what else can be done?

Either way, resist to urge to stress the spring compress too much, it's not worth it. You may have to rig up some sort of device to hold the strut steady so you can lean on the top of the spring to get the nut threaded. What happens is the compressor only pulls on a part of the spring, so the rest of the spring has little tension on it, makes it fairly easy to press down on the whole assembly to get more compression.

Thanks bud.. Round 2!

you can borrow good spring compressors at Advance Auto (and I'm sure other places too) - pay an upfront cost for the tools and you get it all back when you return them when you're done. With good spring compressors clamping both sides of the spring equally you'll have no problems compressing the spring enough.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pics but I got it all worked out... had to find a good location on the spring (180 degrees apart from each other) and needed to compress the spring a little more.. I pushed down on the mount while my buddy started to thread on the damper shaft nut.. tightened it down, installed the strut assembly, then I took the car for a low speed test drive and there was a little noise because the damper shaft wasn't completely seated into the strut mate (located on the bottom of the strut mount), so I tightened the center nut a little more and now the front end suspension is virtually silent. Smooth and comfy ride again - now I just have to do the rears.

I've been riding around on these Monroes for 5 days now and I don't have any complaints, they might be slightly stiffer then the OEM shocks (w/o electronic assist) but in my honest opinion I think they're damn close. Tenneco FTW

Thanks for your help fellas,
Ryan