I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about my recent experience with Rock Auto and Monroe Shocks.

Now that I am back to working at the brick-and-mortar office, my miles are starting to add up (only 3 days a week vs 5-6 in the past) but even so, noticed a vibration from the rear. Not really bad but not normal either. So took my maxima to get the rears balanced and found that some cupping was occuring. Well, that will sure make some vibration and as we know, cupping is generally caused by suspension issues (usually shocks) so I contacted RockAuto on Thursday thinking to order some new. After all, I had put these on in 2015. I noticed in my history, there was a 10-year warranty. Gave it a shot. Not only did these get here by transporter beam, I put them on yesterday and couldn't believe the difference in the ride. Sure, I still need some new rear tires now (didn't want to put them on before I corrected the suspension issue,) but the ride is like day and night. Rock Auto made it very easy to ship the parts back too (as with most warranties, you need to send the parts back on your own dime) by allowing me to "purchase" FedEx return shipping for a very reasonable $8. All I had to do was tape of the box and get it over to FedEx with the label Rock Auto provided.

Kudos galore to Rock Auto and Monroe. For my Navy Vet brothers and sisters from another mother (I am USAF) this would definitely rate a Bravo Zulu (I wonder if that is still a thing today...but it used to mean an honor of significance for missions most exceedingly well done back in my day. Not handed out as a pat on the back.)

I really felt like an idiot for not noticing the ride quality before, but 8 years and maybe 250,000 miles on those same rear shocks deteriorating so slowly, I really didn't notice that much until the noise got so loud even my ancient ears with poor hearing heard the droning. I really thought I took better care. All I had to do was run my hand over the tires when checking the air pressure every other week. But NO, I thought my Mark I calibrated eyeball was good enough (so it wasn't so bad the eye could see it from miles away, but even so, dirty hands are an honor, not something to be shunned and are pretty cheaply cleaned!) Even the bounce test was fine (not perfect but good.) Fortunately, my hubris wasn't fatal. Just going to cost another $5-600 for the rear tires (only 3 weeks earlier I had the front's replaced (Michelin Pilot Sport AS4s) as I noticed uneven wear from an alignment issue (lots of road construction here.) : Listen to me gripe about only getting 65,000 miles out of a set of Michelins because of poor maintenance on my part (all the other Michelins were 90,000 mile plus before replacements) I remember when 30,000 was phenomenal! Will have another rant on Michelin no longer making the Premier A/S or Primacy MXV4s in sizes for our Maximas next week!

During the install I noticed the left rear hub was starting to grind ever so slightly. (No vertical or horizontal movement) and contacted the folks that sold me those so long ago. They are on their way! I will report back on that too in the near future)

For those interested, 462,500 miles now.

Lt

 

Kudos to you Lt. and your Max. You’ve taken that ride much further than others would dare. I’ve frequently mentioned to friends, “Yea, there’s a guy on the Maxima board with well over 400K on his car.” You and others on this board have inspired me to delve into suspension maintenance. I just bought a pair of spring compressors to replace struts on my two year-old Ford truck as the driver’s side is leaking oil. As long as that goes well I’ll replace struts and shocks on the Maxima next since they’ve given me ten years of good service. I appreciate you sharing your experience and knowledge with others.

 

Be very careful and wary of those spring compressors. They arent called widow makers for nuthin! I admit to using them, but only if I couldnt get a quick mount (which I couldnt back when I replaced my oems.) But i will also admit to needing a spatula to break the seal my rear had on the garage chair while using them....especially as I had to take two bites on the spring to compress it enough!!

 

As mentioned above, I replaced the shocks and as luck would have it, the TRQ wheel bearings I replaced 8 or 9 years ago were also under warranty so replaced those too (Cheers to AM Autoparts on Amazon and to TRQ)(although I don't think they were bad...the noise was from the parking brake shoes rubbing (with the cupped tires and subsequent road noise, it did sound like bearing) but as they sent them to me, an hour later both were replaced) and while I had the tire off, I replaced my rear sway bar links with some new from TRQ (the old rubber was beginning to deteriorate) and on to the tire shop. Got the rears replaced and what a nice ride again. No more old jalopy noises whilst driving thru the road construction sites that always seem to be there but never seem to finish! Got to make another trip to have the tires rebalanced (much better than it was but I can feel it between 60 and 70 (where I spend most of my driving) as it diminishes over 75 and under 55.

As promised, here is my rant on Michelin for dropping the best tires I had every used (the MXV4s) and then, after saying the replacements for the Primacy MXV4s where the Premier A/S (tread went from 11/32s on the MXV4s to 8/32s on the Premiers) they stopped making them in the 245/45/VR18 sizes I need for my SV. I live in Florida so wet performance is critical. Despite the ads claiming superior wet weather performance of the Premier, I was more satisfied with the MXV4s. Wet weather is on the way so I'll see if these asymmetric treaded Pilots are up to par. End of admittedly short rant.

 

Lt, I now understand what you mean regarding the spring compressors. By the time I had them cranked sufficiently to release the strut top cap the long screws on the compressors had a very discernibly bow from the pressure. Definitely scary to handle the springs once off the strut, but I did save myself some money. To be fair the F-150 springs are likely much heavier than a typical sedan spring. I think for my Max I'll go Monroe quick struts and shocks as the Max's springs appear to have significantly fewer windings than my truck springs - Might be hard to get a good "bite" on them.
I myself am a Michelin fan having used the brand exclusively for over 30 years. Latest set on my Max are Pilot Sport A/S 3+ as I shop primary for treadwear since we have fewer wet days here. I do hope to see 500K+ from your Max since you've come this far.