Are Gabriel struts any good?

[La94PGT]

Car Quest wants 62.43 for Gabriel front struts and Napa wants $53 for Regal Ride brand. Are these any good?

[leska]

In my humble opinion, don't even bother with Gabriel, Monroe or Napa's struts. They are the same or more expensive then KYB's and not nearly the quality. Many Japanese manufactures (Mazda, Nissan, Toyota, Isuzu) use KYB on the production line because they produce very consistent quality products that last.

I've replaced many OE struts for people with Gabriel or Monroe (sensatrac being the worst for durability) by their request (usually be cause they were cheap and easily purchased locally) and had them complain in under a year that the ride is terrible again. When inspecting the struts, I found most often that they had a piston seal failure and leaked out...usually Gabriel faster than Monroe, but not by much.

Whenever I have installed KYB, Koni or Tokico for people, the ride consistency has lasted for YEARS longer than Gabriel/Monroe. I've inspected a few when doing brakes and found only light oil residue "weeping" around the piston which is normal. I've yet to see an oil covered "blow-out" on a KYB or Tokico unless someone tackled an open man-hole cover with their car.

Most local brake/strut shops use Gabriel or Monroe because they are very cheap in quantity and ensure "out the door" satisfaction with a guaranteed repeat customer in a year or two.

[lemanskr]

I agree with your assessment...if you go with nothing else, at least get a set of NYBs which I believe are the equivalents to the OEM struts that came with our cars. The struts you listed are crap from what I have heard.

[La94PGT]

Thanks for all the advice. Y'all have really helped make the decision alot easier. I will go with the KYB's.

[La94PGT]

BTW, a shop put Sensatracks on my car just two years ago and they are already shot. the front end will bounce twice before stopping. A guy at a different local shop who I trust told me they are crap as well and that he stopped selling them. He said they just dont last.

[Michael Longley]

i bought a set of the Monroe Formula GP's for my old Camaro. They are still on there and are goign strong. I purchased them about 7 years ago...

But I would also recommend spending about the same cabbage and getting KYB's from Summit or Tirerack..

[lilredprobe91lx]

On Tuesday June 19, 2001 6:47 PM, leska wrote:
. . . Whenever I have installed KYB, Koni or Tokico for people, the ride consistency has lasted for YEARS longer than Gabriel/Monroe. . . .

Oh most experienced one . . . In my quest to find performance struts for my 1G Probe I have been stymied by these 3 seemingly insoluable questions . . . .

1) How long would you expect a quality strut like the KYB GR-2's to last for a ride that is only used on the street? (My OE's have been in for 100k.)

2) How different are the struts/inserts from the 1G to 2G Probes? (Very few of the performance shocks (Tokico's blue/adjustables) show 1G variants at this time.)

3) Can the performance adjustments on a strut be used to compensate for the wear of the shock? (This is particularly in reference to the Koni's (listed at tirerack.com) since they are "infinitely" adjustable, even though you must remove them from the vehicle to adjust them.)

I humbly beseech your input on these matters . . . :grin:

Dave

(with the intent of adding Eibach pro-line springs with the strut replacement soon . . . )