Thread: Struts now - where are they made?

I went to replace the upper strut mounts today and learned that my struts are OEM from '99 and are shot. I'll replace the whole assembly and had a mind to do the Monroe Quickstruts, even though I know that's a taboo subject on this board. I have been told they're made in the USA. Can anyone verify this before I order a set. If not, then are the KYB made in the USA?

My first choice is Bilstein, but I'm not sure I want to put out that kind of money right not on a set of them.

with a company as big as monroe, they could be made anywhere.

Personally not a fan of monroe though, bought rear sway links... shot within a week.

I'll just have to verify it on the box, I suppose, when I pick them up. I've turned away many a part for it saying "made in china". I have used Monroe for many years and the last thing I installed a Monroe product on was my wife's Suburban. We've put +120,000 miles on them and they're still good today. In fact, I was going to replace them since the upper shields are rusting away, but when I removed them, they were still as stiff as they day I put them on about 8 years ago.

Does anyone know if KYB is American made?

Monroe Quick Struts for our cars are made in Arkansas, USA. KYB for our cars are made in Japan. I called both manufacturers today.

KYB GR2 or both gr2 and agx?

Actually, Matt, I didn't ask which one, specifically. I asked both companies where the struts were made for a '99 Grand Prix. I guess I did, specifically, ask about the Quick Strut from Monroe, but I'm unfamiliar with the names for the KYB models and didn't ask about any one, in particular. I guess I would assume both were from Japan, but I'm not positive at this point.

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

Couldn't care less where it's made as long as it's a good product. Monroe is typically a good replacement strut.

One thing to keep in mind though....and I found this with Bonnevilles, so it may apply to the GP world as well. The spring they put on the quickstrut is the SE or base model spring and it is sold under the SSEi (aka performance model) as well. Therefore if you swapped out you could potentially be downgrading your springs. Although after 11 years..the springs may be better than your stockers. Tough to say.

I do care where they're made. I would rather see my money going toward an American's working hand than the chinese guy hoping to put the American out of work.

On the springs, though, how did you determine this? Did you measure the diameter of the coil, load test, have factory information people wouldn't normally have? I'm curious because I don't want to put an inferior part on if that's the case.

I love how japanese = chinese to americans...

Monroe does, indeed, use the same Quick-Strut for the SE, GT and GTP models. The guy I spoke with in their technical department said they typically lean toward the firmer ride side when there is a range on models from the factory.

Basically, I guess I'll measure the coil diameters and try to measure the length of the coil (as if it was unrolled and laying flat) before I install it to try to get some comparisons from the OEM parts to the aftermarket one I've chosen.

However, I did call the local dealership I do business with and the parts guy checked and found that the front struts are the same P/N from 1997-2003 for all three packages (SE, GT and GTP). The rears are different, for some reason on the '99, exclusively. He was unaware of what the difference was, though, and I didn't want to press the issue for parts that he knew I had not planned to buy from them.

Originally Posted by matt5112

I love how japanese = chinese to americans...

I hope you're not referring to my comment, Matt, because what I said is not that at all. My comment was directly to the comment that BillBoost said of "Couldn't care less where it's made". I avoid chinese products at all costs when I am able to do so and japanese is not the same as chinese in any fashion.

The Japanese KYB struts aren't a part of my return comment at all. My comment was a general one in that I DO shop for made in the USA products on everything from car parts to food.

Although, I do see what you mean and see how my comment could have been misunderstood when I said "I do care where they're made". I didn't intend to say that I believed chinese parts are the same as japanese parts and know they're two different sides of the spectrum on quality.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Glad you guys posted in. Sometimes it's worth questioning and putting heads together to come up with a good solution or just having the information out there, so that someone can make an educated decision. The way I look at it is that threads like this will, hopefully, help someone else out in the future.

My GM guy has made the comment before on other parts I've bought that GM will have one specific P/N for one specific part for a model when the aftermarket might use one P/N for covering an array of models because it's close to a number of them.

and just to follow up, I picked up the set I ordered and all four boxes say "Made in the USA"