must have some other issue besides the struts, they dont make noise(unless you got some weird shield interference thing going on). mounts/control arm bushings, sway bar end links/ engine mounts

No "clunks" from the Monroe quick struts. I did have a clunk on the SSEi, it was a broken sway bar link, would clunk on speed bumps, etc.

Late followup but - I had issues driving it so far out of alignment when you could noticably hear the tires scrape. I used the tape measure approach to set the toe (personal note to self - do camber first, it affects toe). 3.5 inches delta between front and back side of wheel. 5 full turns and I got it within an eigth of an inch and it was in spec when it got aligned. Camber another story. I measures 3.5 degrees positive camber. I looked at the old struts, where to bolts sat and eyeballed them on the new struts. You were right - things move easily and with one hand I was able to synch bolt tight enough to hold. Then tightened to 137 ft lbs. My eyeball was 1 degree out on both sides (positive). I am learning.

In terms of how it rides - so it does sit higher but I do expect some settling. based upon 13 year old struts, it rides lots better even though the struts would probably be considered softer than what came with SLE (Been a long time since I bought so I can't remember). I can say the classic shimmee at 72mph is noticably decreased with nothing done to the tires. that was goodness. and unexpected.

Thanks everyone on the forum. Great having a place an engineer who has a decent amount of car experience can turn to, because I don't have a any experience working on suspensions.

thanks for updating