KYB Strut Plus
I’m going to give you the straight scoop with this KYB Strut Plus 
If you’re looking for a Cadillac ride, don’t buy KYB’s. Get Monroes or Bilstiens. The great thing about the KYB Strut Plus is you not only get a new strut, but you also get a new spring and strut mount bearing assembly and it’s fully assembled so all you have to do is swap out the whole unit. Unlike previously where you had to have a spring compressor to replace the strut only.
For High Mileage Vehicles
This is the perfect setup for a vehicle that has over 100k on the clock because I can pretty much guarantee you the springs are dead. While replacing the struts is a good thing, doing it with dead springs is only fixing it half way and the quality of the ride will reflect that. If the springs are worn-out the vehicle will still bottom out even with new struts.
How do you know if you should buy the KYB Strut Plus or just install a strut cartridge? My rule of thumb is if the vehicle has over 100,000 miles on it I recommend to my customers to go with the Strut Plus. If the the car only has 50 to 70K I’m good with only installing strut cartridges. Between 70 and 80K is a grey area for me and I recommend on a case by case basis.
I’ve been installing KYB’s for over 25 years and for the most part I think they’re worth every stinking penny. They are one of the few things that after you install them on your vehicle that you actually feel like you got your moneys worth. I’ve been telling customers for years that I’ll buy them a steak dinner and give them their money back if they don’t like them after I install them on their vehicle. They’re that good.
My Own Personal Results
When the KYB Strut Plus first came out, I installed them on a 91 Dodge Caravan that was a taxi and had over 200K on it. My customer was ecstatic afterwords because he’d already replaced the struts before and while it rode better it just wasn’t “right”. After installing the strut/spring assembly he said it drove and rode better than it had in the last 100,000 miles. You just can’t go wrong with a strut, spring and bearing plate assembly.
Buy or Don’t Buy?
Yes, buy them, they’re great! And you can order the Kyb Strut Plus
About The Author
I had a tire shop replace the front struts 2 years ago. They replaced the strut cartridge with monroes and the strut mount but not the springs. 1998 toyota camry now with 143,000 miles. The rear tires are now cupping and i want to replace them with the KYP strut plus or the monroes. Should I replace the front springs or just replace the whole unit with strut plus or quick struts when i do this? What do you think?
My opinon is the ride height is lower than it should be even in the front. I was a little upset when I found out that they did not replace the springs the first time, but now I have the chance to correct it.
Thanks for your feedback
Hi Bill,
Mileage wise, your front springs are done. I’d be inclined to replace front and rear with KYB strut plus and be done with it. I don’t think it’s worth it to just replace the front springs because in another 2 years you probably would have to replace the front struts again. So I think in the long run it would be cheaper to just change all four struts now and be done with it.
The other problem with just changing the front springs and keeping the old front struts is the chance of the car sitting level is not very good from my experience. I went looked over Rockauto.com to see what is available for your car and there are lot of different springs available for your car, the chance of being screwed up height wise, after installation is excellent. The KYB Strut Plus and the Monroe Quick Struts are matched spring wise front and rear, that means when you install them the car is going to sit the way it’s supposed to. I learned the hard way years ago to install matching front and rear springs after a couple of cars I put springs in just the front looked like you could hunt squirrels at night with the headlights.
They don’t make KYB strut plus for my car but I wish they did! This is also surprising since KYB is the OEM strut for my car.
Isn’t Bilstein on the firm side as well? I thought they were even moreso than KYB.
Bilstein’s always feel mushy to me. But a lot of people like them. And you can’t buy them fully assembled like the strut plus.
Hello,
On other websites I have read two/three recent posts from long-time KYB users who claim that the struts made in the USA (as opposed to Japan), are definitely of inferior quality. Would anyone who has used both please comment on this?
Hi John,
You’ve peeked my curiosity too.