I have 2006 Monte LT.
Ordered new GM front and rear spring and struts to replace KYB drop ins. Have them installed for about a month now and the front still sits way too high.
I have about a 4-1/2 inch space between the fender and wheel and looks ridiculous. 30-1/2 from floor to fender. It also makes my steering wonder a bit while driving.



Has anyone had issues with new OEM spring and struts?
Could I installed the spring upside down or something? I might just have to get a junkyard spring to replace them.
Any ideas what could be wrong or how to fix?

GM GENUINE506600 Strut
GM GENUINE22133025 Coil

 

Welcome back! Haven't seen a post form you in a while (but I recognize the Moda MD8's, thanks to you I bought the same for my Monte and LOVE them).

As for the suspension not settling, I have not ran into that. I recently had to replace my Monte's front struts (recently being a couple years ago). They were factory original and still using GM ones to this day. I wish I had some ideas. I partially wonder if it is because you replaced both strut and spring. Hard to compare to another Monte, because all of these cars are aged. Perhaps @06mistreSS could weigh in.

 

The front struts and springs are different than the rears - I say that because you listed just one part # for each. So you bought the springs and struts separate and combined them as assemblies and installed yourself? Who did you order the parts through? Do you have any pictures of the car from the side as it sits now so we can see it? Do you have any pictures during the install of the fully assembled struts or can you take pictures of them installed on the car now? Is the 4.5" fender gap just the front? I would think that if you replaced with the correct OEM parts (whether they were ordered as assemblies or separate components) it shouldn't ride any higher than it did originally from the factory.

These cars seemed to sit ridiculously high from the factory like this GM stock photo below depicts however 4.5" does sound excessive especially on the front. Mine's been lowered for 13 years and I've never had an issue - car sits nice and level and the ride height hasn't noticeably changed during that time.

 

I seem to remember complaints like this in the past on this forum that came down to different parts having the same part number. I remember two instances. One with a mix up of FE3 and FE4 springs and one with a mix up of 6th vs 7th gen springs. Sorry I dont remember more however, I remember at least one of the issues were resolved by matching correct parts after finding the mistaken numbers.

 

I am wondering the exact same thing. So many of the OEM parts for these cars are discontinued now that it's really hard to find stuff especially OEMs. For example, when I look on GM Parts Direct for 2006-07, the fronts are listed only as a "strut assembly" and are shown in-stock while the rears are listed as both a strut and "strut assembly" but both show as discontinued - and all show as compatible across all trims (LS, LT, LTZ (06 only) and SS).

 

Sorry for not replying back earlier. I intended to .

I installed them myself as I do all the maintenance on my cars. Bought from rockauto to get rid of the harsh KYB. I should of never thrown away the stock springs. Those KYB made my rear ride high now my front rides high.

I'm thinking of replacing those and getting some moog spring that has variable spring. The specs show less stiffness than the oem I bought.

My car just looks ridiculous to me and it's something i cant stand now. It still rides at 30" from floor to fender. The rears are about 28"

 

Wow, youre not kidding - thats some serious femder gap up front!

 

@kingreyna this is a bit unrelated, but did you get rid of the Moda MD8 rims you had years ago?

 

Yes I did. I loved they way they looked but they were kind of gray and it seem to make the blue shine less. Like it made the blue color duller than when it has chrome or shiny wheels.

Hate it now cause finding any godd 5x115 18" wheels are next to impossible.

But love my Monte and wouldn't drive any other car...which also forces me to drive a 17 yrs old car. Need to redo the stripes and wheels. I need a new look though. This one is getting long in the tooth.

 

You could always have them custom drilled. Some wheel manufacturers sell blanks (wheel finished besides the Bolt pattern + sometimes the hub hole) that your local machine shop / wheel shop can drill to spec. Used to have a buddy in college whose parents owned a wheel shop south of Chicago that did this periodically for oddball applications. Certainly a bit more expensive this way (especially since it generally excludes all of the ultra cheap Chinese made wheels), but it does expand your options quite a bit.