Strut recomendations/ touring ride/ -the aura ride

[Askspot]

Has anyone actually replaced thier struts yet? I'm getting sick of the terrible ride in town. It shakes the whole car. If you go over a raised bump or a drop off going 25-30 the whole car feels like it's going to fall apart. I've been in mustangs smoother than this car. On the hwy is's great but, if you hit a bump you better hang on. I'm sure a lot of you know what I am talking about. Monroe has some sensa-track struts that are a dual stage valving so they are floaty over small bumps, but when it hits a big one they have the ability to stiffen up. Same goes to going around a corner or having to manuver quickly in the street.

Any idea's?

[Low Saturn]

How many miles do you have on the car.

Because I dont experience any of what you're describing.

[Askspot]

Originally Posted by Low Saturn

How many miles do you have on the car.

Because I dont experience any of what you're describing.

I have 60,000 on the car. If you go over bad road many bumps they do not recover and shake the whole car. Any drop offs such as a bump in the road they are super stuff. Where do you live? Any time it's below 60 degrees outside the car rides super stiff with barley any forgiveness. It has always been that way since I bought it. Just recovered enough now to upgrade things. All hwy miles. I bought it with 28,000 new jersey miles on it now it resides in Wisconsin. So I have put on 30k in the last 2 years now on the hwy 2 hours one way driving. Probably around 5,000 city if that! The guy I really trust has his own shop and he is not a high pressure sales person. Very conservative. He said that the Sena-track would probably make a noticable difference and they they stiffen up nice and tight for cornering. Am I right? Ah I see you live in Cali. See in Wisonsin we have raised cement from freezing water under it and it creates bumps large bumps in the road like little speed bumps on the hwy.

[nhlkent11]

Originally Posted by Askspot

I have 60,000 on the car. If you go over bad road many bumps they do not recover and shake the whole car. Any drop offs such as a bump in the road they are super stuff. Where do you live? Any time it's below 60 degrees outside the car rides super stiff with barley any forgiveness. It has always been that way since I bought it. Just recovered enough now to upgrade things. All hwy miles. I bought it with 28,000 new jersey miles on it now it resides in Wisconsin. So I have put on 30k in the last 2 years now on the hwy 2 hours one way driving. Probably around 5,000 city if that! The guy I really trust has his own shop and he is not a high pressure sales person. Very conservative. He said that the Sena-track would probably make a noticable difference and they they stiffen up nice and tight for cornering. Am I right? Ah I see you live in Cali. See in Wisonsin we have raised cement from freezing water under it and it creates bumps large bumps in the road like little speed bumps on the hwy.

Is yours an XE or XR? My XR feels exactly as you describe. The absolute biggest flaw with the car, IMHO.

[Askspot]

Originally Posted by nhlkent11

Is yours an XE or XR? My XR feels exactly as you describe. The absolute biggest flaw with the car, IMHO.

It is an XE but I swear it is sports suspension. The guy I go to pressed down on the fender and he goes WOW I bet you can feel everything you go over. He said they were awfuly stiff. They do have new tires on them too. So it's not the bad hankooks that came with them. I drove my cousin;s Mazda 6 and it rides so much smoother. and handles way better than my little XE. I wonder if the struts are so stiff on this thing because of body roll. Check out these Sensa Track. They are supposed to be great smooth ride then when you need the support they stiffen right up because of the dual stage valving.

http://www.monroe.com/products/sensatrac_struts.asp

Thanks for the quick responces I bet I have the sports suspension. They replaced my struts after I bought the car. I bet they put the wrong ones on LOL!

[Askspot]

AHHH Keep in mind... I have the 07 with the 3.5l engine.

[SaturnRaycer]

My 2007 XE was just fine. I live in MN so our road conditions are just as bad as WI. The frost heaves between pavement panels are always nasty.

I suppose it's possible that the factory pulled the wrong set of strut assemblies, but to get all 4 corners wrong is pretty tough. At 60,000 miles I'm guessing that you are due for struts/shocks all round.

I put a set of Sensa Tracs on my wife's Nissan. They are much floatier than the OEM, but the frost heaves come thru loud and clear. When she's due for a new set again, it won't be the Monroes.

[Askspot]

Originally Posted by SaturnRaycer

My 2007 XE was just fine. I live in MN so our road conditions are just as bad as WI. The frost heaves between pavement panels are always nasty.

I suppose it's possible that the factory pulled the wrong set of strut assemblies, but to get all 4 corners wrong is pretty tough. At 60,000 miles I'm guessing that you are due for struts/shocks all round.

I put a set of Sensa Tracs on my wife's Nissan. They are much floatier than the OEM, but the frost heaves come thru loud and clear. When she's due for a new set again, it won't be the Monroes.

Ok great! That's what I wanted to know. They are good and stiff so I don't think they are bad. Just wanted to know if there was a major difference.

Thanks.

[Deep6]

I didn't have a good experience with the Monroe Sensa-Trac.

I know it was like 1998- but at the time I owned a 1987 Chrysler LeBaron GTS Turbo. I replaced the front struts and rear shocks with the Sensa-Tracs. They were a serious upgrade from the worn stock struts/shocks but after about 5000 miles they started to bang and whallop over the bumps in the road. By the time I had about 10K miles on them, the ride felt like the whole car shimmied when traversing bumpy pavement, It felt like I needed new struts.

The next time I had an opportunity to replace struts was on my 93' Saturn SL2. I threw in a Set of the KYB GR-2 struts w/new mounts. Again at first they felt awsome, stiff controlled ride for handling, and sharp but smooth over the bumps. After about 10K miles though, the ride felt crustier and harsh again but not terrible. I still have them on my SL2 but the car is so old that it isn't worth it for me to replace them again.

I wish I could make a good recommendation for you. On my Thunderbird, the Thunderbird members SWORE by the Koni Yellows instead of replacing the stock Tokico shocks. I never got around to that upgrade.

I'm not even aware of what else is available for this car, but I will say this, 28,000 of New Jersey miles is like 60,000 miles in any other state. So you are most definatly ready for a strut replacement. And don't forget the mounts!

[Askspot]

Originally Posted by Deep6

I didn't have a good experience with the Monroe Sensa-Trac.

I know it was like 1998- but at the time I owned a 1987 Chrysler LeBaron GTS Turbo. I replaced the front struts and rear shocks with the Sensa-Tracs. They were a serious upgrade from the worn stock struts/shocks but after about 5000 miles they started to bang and whallop over the bumps in the road. By the time I had about 10K miles on them, the ride felt like the whole car shimmied when traversing bumpy pavement, It felt like I needed new struts.

The next time I had an opportunity to replace struts was on my 93' Saturn SL2. I threw in a Set of the KYB GR-2 struts w/new mounts. Again at first they felt awsome, stiff controlled ride for handling, and sharp but smooth over the bumps. After about 10K miles though, the ride felt crustier and harsh again but not terrible. I still have them on my SL2 but the car is so old that it isn't worth it for me to replace them again.

I wish I could make a good recommendation for you. On my Thunderbird, the Thunderbird members SWORE by the Koni Yellows instead of replacing the stock Tokico shocks. I never got around to that upgrade.

I'm not even aware of what else is available for this car, but I will say this, 28,000 of New Jersey miles is like 60,000 miles in any other state. So you are most definatly ready for a strut replacement. And don't forget the mounts!

Thanks for the advice, Just to clarify I did have them replaced by saturn at 28k. After driving this weekend it seems the frost heaves have mellowed out and it's riding a lot better.

[08AuraXR]

Originally Posted by nhlkent11

Is yours an XE or XR? My XR feels exactly as you describe. The absolute biggest flaw with the car, IMHO.

I completely agree, my XR is the same at 16K miles ever since I got the car.

[Seasoned]

Mine is an 07 XR. 98,000 kms (Approx 60k miles).

At this time of year with frost heaves and potholes, it can be noisy and embarrassing with passengers in the car, however the trade off is pretty damn good road holding.
Compared to how you describe yours, mine always recovers on the rebound.
Definitely worst around town, not so bad on the highway.
It's been this way since new, and, although annoying I can live with it overall.

I would be very careful about changing the struts/shock absorbers unless you have clear evidence that they are appropriate for your car.
The XR and XE came with different shock setups, the XE with softer ride than XR, the designers designed and set up each model with different attributes and handling characteristics, changing the struts/shocks may make some other things worse.

An obvious (Maybe not obvious) choice would be to go to Chev Malibu's struts/shocks as the Malibu uses the same chassis platform as the Aura. I rented an XLT Malibu and it rode softer than the Aura but still had acceptable handling characteristics. Take one out for a test drive and see for yourself.
This may be the cheapest option as they will be factory original and not aftermarket specialty parts

[Askspot]

Originally Posted by Seasoned

Mine is an 07 XR. 98,000 kms (Approx 60k miles).

At this time of year with frost heaves and potholes, it can be noisy and embarrassing with passengers in the car, however the trade off is pretty damn good road holding.
Compared to how you describe yours, mine always recovers on the rebound.
Definitely worst around town, not so bad on the highway.
It's been this way since new, and, although annoying I can live with it overall.

I would be very careful about changing the struts/shock absorbers unless you have clear evidence that they are appropriate for your car.
The XR and XE came with different shock setups, the XE with softer ride than XR, the designers designed and set up each model with different attributes and handling characteristics, changing the struts/shocks may make some other things worse.

An obvious (Maybe not obvious) choice would be to go to Chev Malibu's struts/shocks as the Malibu uses the same chassis platform as the Aura. I rented an XLT Malibu and it rode softer than the Aura but still had acceptable handling characteristics. Take one out for a test drive and see for yourself.
This may be the cheapest option as they will be factory original and not aftermarket specialty parts

Hey thanks for the tip. That makes sense. I think they are using a more like truck shock to keep it from some body roll.

[LamarD2]

I have a 2008 Aura XE and the suspension sucks. My main complaint about the car. However, the roads in Houston are not that bad and I have 40K on the car now. I going to start looking for tight sports type of struts and shocks.

I have and have had three BMW's - 3 Series - and I am used to the Bilstein shocks and struts. I can go over the same bumps in the road and my 1996 BMW 318i has a much smoother ride than the Aura! OMG!

So, I am looking to replace the OEM stuff. I know I don't want Monroe nor KYB stuff. I need to find something else.

I hope we can find some good quality parts from somewhere.

LamarD2

[Deep6]

I know this information applies to the L-Car, but I just replaced the original struts at 242,000miles with Monroe Sensa-Tracs. I know that I was not impressed by the Sensa-Tracs on my other car years ago, but another member on the L-Boards stated that his Sensa-Tracs were still going strong after a long time.

So I popped them into my L-car. Know what? I barely noticed any improvement with ride. The reason why I think? When I pulled the original struts off the car, they were STILL rebounding after you compressed them by hand!

Don't get me wrong, they were slightly slower than the Monroe's brand new, but all 4 of the struts rebounded smoothly to their full upright position. None of them were leaking. They were so old that I had to cut the retainer nut off the top of them because it was fused on.

So this is the reason why I don't see a huge ride improvement. The 2000 L-cars are known for very stiff springs so I guess that the springs really don't allow the struts to compress/rebound that much. Also I looked at the old struts and stamped into their body was the name "Arvin" and "Made in USA".

As far as the AURA is concerned, perhaps we could find something from the Opel Vectra that would work?

[Twenty4]

Originally Posted by Seasoned

Mine is an 07 XR. 98,000 kms (Approx 60k miles).

At this time of year with frost heaves and potholes, it can be noisy and embarrassing with passengers in the car, however the trade off is pretty damn good road holding.
Compared to how you describe yours, mine always recovers on the rebound.
Definitely worst around town, not so bad on the highway.
It's been this way since new, and, although annoying I can live with it overall.

I would be very careful about changing the struts/shock absorbers unless you have clear evidence that they are appropriate for your car.
The XR and XE came with different shock setups, the XE with softer ride than XR, the designers designed and set up each model with different attributes and handling characteristics, changing the struts/shocks may make some other things worse.

An obvious (Maybe not obvious) choice would be to go to Chev Malibu's struts/shocks as the Malibu uses the same chassis platform as the Aura. I rented an XLT Malibu and it rode softer than the Aura but still had acceptable handling characteristics. Take one out for a test drive and see for yourself.
This may be the cheapest option as they will be factory original and not aftermarket specialty parts

Wrong....
The part numbers for the XR & XE are exactly the same.

[1AuraXRfan]

I have my car in the shop right now getting new shocks and struts. There are some performance shocks/struts available for the Aura. If you look online, they are about 2x the price of Monroe struts. As much as I would like to try them, my budget made me stick with the stock ones. I'd also like to upgrade the brakes, which I believe to be the weakest point on the car. But that can be over 3x the price. I just stuck with Ceramic brakes for the durability.
The Aura XR should never have been put on 18" rims. It makes the car ride like a go-cart. The stock tires are also fairly miserable. This car has the ability and was designed to run at high speeds on the autobahn. Just not in the US configuration, built for US roads.
I have just under 100k on my 2007 XR. At about 20k I switched the rims to 17" and added the extra inch to the tire. I upgraded the tires to nice Pirelli's and the car handles and drives like a dream. I live in Michigan and the tires are fairly hard so in the cold weather it takes them about 10 or 15 minutes to warm up. Until then, the car rides exactly like many have mentioned. Once everything is warmed up I believe this car compares to an Audi A6 in almost all respects other than build quality, and long term build quality is probably much higher with GM products than Audi. I think this car compares well to almost any touring car in the world. With 17" rims and quality tires that is.