My daughters 05 Mazda 3 is in need of front struts. It is a high mileage vehicle that she will probably only keep for another year or two. Do you think these replacement units would be ok? http://www.ebay.com/itm/2004-2009-Ma...eec81a&vxp=mtr

 

they look ok, but thats awful cheap for the spring, upper mount and strut - i'd be willing to spend a little more to make sure there's some quality there.

 

Yeah, don't buy FCS struts! Now about 7500 miles later and the new struts are making all kinds of noise. Should have spent the extra money up front on quality struts. Now I have to do it again! What do you think, Monroe or KYB???

 

I put on monroe struts from advance auto a few months back & have no complaints. they perform better than the OEM ones with 55k on them.
your link went to a listing that said FCS brand - sure it was just a typo. & thanks for the feedback, there are a couple other posts asking about the cheap strut options... and now we have info from you confirming our suspicions

 

I just replaced mine with KYB and am perfectly happy. The spring itself should be fine and shouldn't need replacement. You should be able to get KYB struts/boots/bump stops (stops are included in the boot) plus monroe mounts (KYB apparently doesn't make one???) for around $200 on rockauto.