I have a 97 accord ex 4d that I got a few months ago with 187k on it. The ride quality is ok but I am thinking about replacing the stock suspension. At that mileage point I assume it has been replaced at least once, but I can't tell. I can't see any branding on the struts. Nothing is leaking and it's not super bouncy, but after replacing the struts on the previous car I had, the change is amazing.

My plan is to get quick struts and do all 4 at the same time. I'm looking to keep it stock, no drop, nothing too stiff. The two main brands I see everywhere are Monroe and Moog. Any personal recommendations/experience with these or anything else I should take a look at? Also, all of the control arms are tight right now (amazing, right?) but will be coming up soon as well. Any recommendations for those? Thanks for any and all info.

 

OEM is KYB, these can be purchased through Rock Auto as an assembly with spring for ~$100 each.

But check your sway bar bushings and endlinks first, if these are worn or oil fouled they will cause handling woes more than a blown set of shocks.

 

had to replace front links for inspection, but haven't looked at the rest of the sway bar components. i'll take a look next time i take it in for an oil change.

 

they range from$103-$115 max, I know because I bought all four last month. The total came to $451 with free shipping (got luck on the free shipping).
Never heard or seen moog quick struts, monroes I passed on because of many bad reviews. In the end I chose the KYB quick strut, and I don't like 'em because the ride isn't smooth it's stiff and bumpy. I hear good things about bilsteins but they are expensive, so I'll live with my sub-par KYB's.

If your control arms don't need replacing I would leave it be, and personally I would go OEM. I bought moog control arms for my accord, and one of them has failed (only 40K miles) already

 

moog has quick struts listed on rockauto, basically the same price as kyb. if you could go back and choose something besides kyb, what would you go with?

i won't touch the front control arms until one of the ball joints goes, then i'll do the 4 in the front. i'm surprised to hear that the moog has let you down, 40k is pretty weak. i can get decent prices on honda parts through work, but for steering/suspension i didn't think the extra $$ for oem was worth it. is your accord modified as far as wheels/steering/suspension goes? i'm planning on keeping mine bone stock, i just want a comfortable DD.

 

I would try bilsteins but the price of the shock alone is as much as a KYB quick strut.

My accord is stock, and as for the moog contorl arm it does have lifetime warranty. The down side I have to pay for shipping to return it to Rockauto.

 

I love my Bilsteins. Expensive, but well worth it. Probably over damped for stock springs though. I'm on skunk2 springs, too. Huge improvement in ride quality over stock. Whole shebang was about $650-700. Much better daily ride quality than the other spring, shock, and coilover combinations I've experienced. I haven't autocrossed it yet, so I cant say for sure how much better the handling really is, but its much flatter, stable, and turn in is much better than before.

 

so i checked out my car today at work. pretty much all of the sway bar components are tight, r/r has a small bit of play but not enough to create what i'm feeling. after looking at the struts again i was able to find a part number on one - they are OE. at 180k mi + i'm guessing that they are probably original. there is a decent amount of corrosion on the bottom half of the strut housing.

so i will start saving some $$$ and plan to have them replaced by spring. as far as options go, i am looking at either going with kyb quick struts or the same strut (gr-2) with h&r springs p# 51851-55. i have been planning on keeping the ride essentially stock, mainly because i didn't think i could find aftermarket springs with less than 1" drop. on tirerack, the springs are listed as avg .75" drop all around.

i had koni str.t on my 89 ef hatch and the ride was a little harsh. if i decide to go with stock type struts and the h&r springs, are there any other brands i should consider? is the short drop an issue with stock struts? also if i decide to forgo quick struts, how much should i budget for additional hardware needed? i'm guessing about $35. quick struts or not i think i would want to replace the lower mount bushings as well, which are about $10 a piece.

one final question: i am hearing a rubbery kind of friction/squeak/kinda crunchy noise over bumps from the front, moderately loud. my guy at work shook it down and there is nothing loose. the front UCA ball joint boots are decently busted but there is no play. he greased everything on the chassis and took it for a spin and the noise is the same. he said that the ball joints might be the cause of the noise. any have some experience with weird front suspension noise? thanks for all the info from everyone so far.

edit: after doing some quick price shopping, the kyb quick struts look like they would cost pretty much the same amount as getting struts/springs/hardware separately, maybe $20 more/each. so cost is negligible.

 

so i drove to work yesterday and the noise is gone. still not sure which part is the culprit but everything is nice and quiet now.

after doing some more parts research, i am leaning towards going with the koni str.t and the h&r spring kit. it won't cost me much more than going with a quick strut and a small drop would close up some of the wheel gap, plus the handling will be improved. does anyone have any experience with using this setup on their ride?

 

Go Bilstein. I considered the str.t's, then decided against after reviews. I thought I wanted sports/yellows after that. Glad I chose the Bilstein HD's with skunk2 sport springs(similar spring rates to the H&R's, but less expensive) and its VERY nice. I've had koni sport/yellows in the past on other cars and I never felt the need to turn the **** on them. The str.t's are not worthy of the koni name, imo. Bilsteins are pretty much a revalve and schrader valve away from being a race shock. Koni's must be serviced by koni, nearly anyone can do a Bilstein revalve. Also, I do like H&R products for daily driving.

 

so it's time to do the UCAs... leaning towards moog. any experience with the rk vs. ck lines? the only difference i can see between the two is that the ck has a grease fitting to lube the ball joints. cost difference is about double - $31/62 plus shipping.

i've also done a bunch of searching/reading and i'm pretty sure that it is sway bar bushings, front and rear. i've found a bunch of comments about the noise being similar to a bad strut mount, and that the noise goes away when greased but comes back a few days later. i'm getting the oil changed in a day or two, and i think i'll ask my tech to just lube the SBB and see if it changes. last time he hit the whole suspension so i couldn't really troubleshoot very well.