I purchased a used 2002 Honda Civic which has a leaking front shock on
the right. I would like to get the full strut replaced. I've looked
around and found wildly varying prices for both the strut as well as
labor involved in the replacement.

The OEM parts are liquid struts and are priced at ~ $118 a piece at
the Honda dealer. A Monroe shock is priced at $169 while the part
offered at a Midas is priced at almost $230 a piece. The Monroe and
Midas struts are both gas struts and have a lifetime warranty in
comparison with the OEMs which provdes only a 1 year warranty. Again,
Sears (Monroe supplier) is charging abour half hour of their labor
rate, Midas about 3/4th and the dealer more like 1.5hours for doing
the replacement (per side). Adding up the the price for both parts/
labour and accounting for both sides, the price differences are on the
order of $100-$200 and I'm looking for additional information before
deciding which one to choose.

Here are some questions which come up -

1) what is the difference in performance between the liquid strut vs
the gas strut ? how long does each one last ?

2) what is the difference in performance of the OEM vs an aftermarket
like Monroe or that provided by an independent shop like Midas ?

The car has less than 60k miles on it - which I'm using as the
benchmark for how long the new struts should "at least" last. I've
read posts on this newsgroup that some have seen OEMs last over 100k
miles.

3) Does anyone have any inputs on the price comparison between the
parts ? Are the OEMs lower in quality compared to the gas struts or
do the Monroes/Midas struts just have a very high markup ?

4) Any inputs on how long it should take a skilled tech to do the
replacement ? I've read 2-3 hours is standard for someone doing it on
their own (ie 1.5 hours per side).

I've browsed through previous posts on this forum and the autos.honda
forum and the only thing I can gather so far is that different people
have had a different experience with Monroe/KYB/OEMs. There is both
positive and negative feedback regarding Monroe/KYB but cost
comparisons with the OEMs. There is also no discussion on gas vs
liquid.

I imagine that the car will be with me for at least 5 years/80k more
miles - so am willing to put in quality stuff if it makes sense.

Cheers.