Mcpherson strutts were a cheap alternative to 'other' systems as there are less moving parts to the whole system making them cheap for manufacture.
In the UK 90% of our cars are Mcpherson and they can be death traps if the install is not done correctly. If anyone tell you to just cut the top of the strutt off and slide your cylinder into the strutt slap them
You need to have the bearing machined to run at the correct castor angle in the strutt mount and the strutt body needs to be replaced by the cylinder - kind like making a new strutt, dont bodge the old strutt and new cylinder together - its dangerous.