[rkjjeep]

So the Belle Tire genius told me my Michelin Defenders with 29,000 miles had gotten noisy even with their 5K rotations because the back shocks were bad (car has 79K mostly highway miles). I stopped at O'Reilly's on the way home from the game ( Go Blue!) and all they had was the monroe matics. As cheap and easy as this is I thought I'd give em a try........and they are BLUE!

The upper mounting is completely different. The stock shocks have an "external" bump stop, a complicated isolator on top that fits into the hole in the body and a fancy isolator on top of the body (and of course a nut).

The monroes come with two standard bushings and shock washers. Don't try to reuse anything from the old shocks.

Stack one washer onto the top of the shock (makes a cup like nest for the bushing) and one bushing. The bushings are the same but have two different sides - the circles that fit into the body hole are different. The big circle is too big for the hole, the small circle is too small. I used the small circles. Anyway, with one washer and one bushing on the shock it goes thru the body hole (make sure the small circle on top of the bushing is inside the hole in the body), add one more bushing (small circle towards body), another washer (cup down this time), and the nut. I tightened the nut so that the bushing I could see expanded to the same diameter as the washer. Keep the shock centered in the body hole until tight.

Start the bottom bolt (you may have to push up on the shock to get it lined up) but do NOT tighten it all the way until you have the car off the jack and stands. You want the bushing "relaxed" at curb......probably won't make a lot off difference but it's standard practice.

The slight clunk we had before is gone and the car rides fine. Subjectively the old shocks FEEL fine........but you really can't tell without running them on a shock dyno.

So the cheap monroes fit and work.

 

[felixthecat]

I'd change out the struts too, w/ the miles you have.

 

[a car nut]

The Monroe Matics haven't held up well, at least in my experience. The Monroe Sensa trac shocks are much, much better for the Focus and I use those on my own DD. I cannot speak for the 07 you have, but the two bushing set up that is on the Monroe for the upper mount is a joke.. I took the original upper mount retainer, enlarged the hole slightly to allow for the difference of the diameter of the upper threaded shaft mount and secured it with a small spacer and the nuts. This has kept the shock in the correct position and eliminated the shock movement that the stock Monroe set up has.

I have not installed the Monroe Matics on a Focus, so I cannot speak for how they ride or handle, nevertheless, I can tell you that the Sensa Trac perform as well or better than the Motorcraft replacement shocks sold by Ford (at least in my opinion). Also, given the miles on the vehicle, I'd also replace the front struts as suggested by Felix in the previous posting. You'll be surprised by the difference in ride and handling after replacing all four shocks/struts.