My mom has a 1998 Toyota Camry with about 120,000 miles.

Unfortunately, I live too far away to be able to help her with car-related issues. She has a local shop that is fairly trustworthy. They do good work, albeit usually too much of it.

Long story short she had it in there for a noise and they recommended she replace the rear struts with Monroe Quick Struts. (The noise is completely unrelated to this.) I called and talked with the mechanic and he said just leaning on the car it drops significantly and the struts are definitely the originals. At any rate, their quote is pretty high (over a grand with an alignment), so I told my mom to go ahead and pick it up and wait on this repair. In the meanwhile she took it to Costco, where she bought her tires, and had them take a look at the tires. There is no unusual wear, which tells me that the struts aren't completely dead.

Thus, I'm considering replacing the rear struts when I next travel to see her. And while I generally despise Monroe, I'm intrigued by these quick struts. They are complete assemblies, with new springs and mounts, fully assembled, just plug and play (basically, I'm guessing a little over an hour a side).

I found them online with a coupon deal for $282 shipped (the shop would charge $598 for them, then $350 in labor which included the alignment). Assuming these Monroe products are not complete junk (they come with a lifetime warranty) I'm curious if anyone here has used them. They would make this a very simple (and much safer) DIY since the springs aren't involved.

Thoughts?

(Also, if anyone lives in Phoenix and wants to give me a hand at some point, I'd much appreciate it...sadly, I'd probably be doing this in early July...ugh.)