James Woods Posted September 22, 2015 Report Share Posted September 22, 2015 Installed new front struts today in my 2002 Deville DTS. Just wanted to give a few tips I learned the hard way to anyone else doing this. I used Monroe preassembled struts with springs. I replaced the factory electronic adjusting struts with passive struts and I am quite pleased with the ride. I don't drive a luxury car like a race car so I might have lost some of the sportiness but nothing huge that's noticeable to me. The preassembled strut saves a lot of headache and time of using a dangerous and bothersome spring compressor. And the price was actually cheaper than buying a strut and a strut mount/bearing. The Monroe replacement struts are slotted/elongated at the bottom bolt hole to the knuckle to allow for camber adjustment which stock struts are not adjustable. I did not know this until I had the passenger side reassembled and looked at the tire and it was extremely cambered out. After some head scratching and comparing the removed strut to the uninstalled new strut I could see the bottom hole size. Basically to match the camber angle I used a phone level app and put my phone against a 2 foot level and read the angle. When installing the new strut I snugged up both bolts to the knuckle and then put level on wheel hub with my phone and used a small pry bar to get correct angle. Tightened bolts and torqued to spec. I also cut the wires for the electronics at the old strut and soldered in a 4.7k ohm 1/4 watt resistor and covered it in water proof heat shrink then reinstalled wire into the holders it was originally in. Seemed a lot easier than cramming my hand into a small space between inner fender and the engine to unplug the wire and then jam a resistor in the plug. I got an alignment afterwards and the camber was within spec so my method worked for me. Only the toe was out a bit on the left side. But that's nothing install related. I've driven about 200 miles on new struts and have no complaints. The ride is smooth and it's so quiet now with out a noisy strut mount and 1 strut was clanging/banging due to all fluid leaked out and strut was blown. Good luck to anyone who does this install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barczy01 Posted September 22, 2015 Report Share Posted September 22, 2015 A complete quick strut with the spring is the way to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Woods Posted September 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2015 A complete quick strut with the spring is the way to go! So true. I don't trust any spring compressor but a wall mounted style shop unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceCold Posted October 16, 2015 Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 A complete quick strut with the spring is the way to go! Yeah, I did both struts about 4 months ago and the front end raised about 1-1/2 inch. Rides and feels great. The only way to go.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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