Shock and Strut Replacement -- Cheap, OEM, or Upgrade?

158 messages, Last post on Nov 04, 2009 at 7:41 AM

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What is this discussion about? Performance Mods, Suspension

This forum is to discuss shock/strut problems and how to best deal with what is becoming a rather expensive replacement item on cars approaching 60K-80K miles. Are products sold by chain stores just too cheesy to give decent performance? Is it worth upgrading shocks and struts if you are a more or less docile driver? Is OEM a rip-off for what you get?

Let's hear your ideas and experiences.

Outline

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#70 of 158 bad mechanic by wpatters Sep 16, 2007 (10:35 am)
I would take the car to AAA station if you belong to them and they will honestly diagnose the problem and tell you what is wrong...part of the road side insurance. If you do not have that then just take it to a good mechanic and get another opinion and then take that info back to the first guy and ask them to fix it...if not take them to small claims after you get the repairs done so you can show the judge what it costs. Even if they lifted the car wrong the extension of the shocks should not have frozen them. If they used the bottom of the shock/struts connection to the chassis to push on for the lift it should have not harmed them. I use a car jack all the time and place it directly at the bottom of shocks so I don't have anything "hanging" down when lifting to work on a brake or wheel. Do you have struts on all four wheels? If only on the front then take the rear shocks off and try getting them to move. Have you looked at anything else that might be holding the car frame from allowing the chassis to move? It might not be the struts or shocks at all and something else keeping the chassis from moving in relationship to the frame. Just a thought. Something this strange you have to start thinking outside of the box....look for anything not what should be but anything. No one can tell me that all four shocks are acting the same exact way from failure. Something other than the shocks is going on....take that approach. Replies to this message: burdawg (Sep 17, 2007 8:39 am) kiawah (Sep 17, 2007 9:13 am)
#71 of 158 New question about Jeep shocks etc.. by wpatters Sep 16, 2007 (10:38 am)
I have a 93 jeep GC with about 135k miles and the orginal shocks. There seem to be two shocks at each wheel...one that looks like a regular shock and then another that looks like a backup if the jeep comes crashing down. Anyone know if both need replacing or just the primary. The jeep seems to not need shocks but with that many miles I wonder if the ride would be different and I just don't know it since I have nothing to compare it too.
#72 of 158 Re: bad mechanic [wpatters] by burdawg Sep 17, 2007 (8:39 am)
Replying to: wpatters (Sep 16, 2007 10:35 am) I would be real interested to hear what the problem really is. This is quite strange. Replies to this message: kiawah (Sep 17, 2007 9:13 am)
#73 of 158 Re: bad mechanic [burdawg] by kiawah Sep 17, 2007 (9:13 am)
Replying to: burdawg (Sep 17, 2007 8:39 am) I agree, very strange. Maybe he/she "forgot' to mention they did a weekend Baja road trip.
#74 of 158 Re: All four struts frozen (mechanic caused?) [kennyd1] by kennyd1 Sep 18, 2007 (5:54 pm)
Replying to: kennyd1 (Sep 14, 2007 4:39 pm) Update: Took the car to another mechanic and he said that because the shocks were weak (80000 miles) when the car was lowered from the lift at the other shop all of the springs were binding on a tapered part of the strut. (my understanding) If the first shop had put the car back on a lift and really looked at the problem he should have found it. He just quoted the $800 price tag. The second shop replaced all four shocks\struts with Mcpherson's for just over $500. Thanks for the responses this one had me stumped. Replies to this message: burdawg (Sep 18, 2007 7:06 pm) kiawah (Sep 18, 2007 7:58 pm) burdawg (Sep 19, 2007 5:45 am) kiawah (Sep 19, 2007 6:26 am) dag5 (Jan 22, 2009 7:33 am)
#75 of 158 Re: All four struts frozen (mechanic caused?) [kennyd1] by burdawg Sep 18, 2007 (7:06 pm)
Replying to: kennyd1 (Sep 18, 2007 5:54 pm) For that to happen they must have been real bad.
#76 of 158 Re: All four struts frozen (mechanic caused?) [kennyd1] by kiawah Sep 18, 2007 (7:58 pm)
Replying to: kennyd1 (Sep 18, 2007 5:54 pm) This is still puzzling. Have you not had any work done to this vehicle in a REALLY long time, where they would have for instance changed or rotated a tire, or checked/replaced brakes? You can put a car on a lift where the ramps lift the tires up, just as if it was sitting on the ground. Good for basically getting underneath it. Or, you can lift the frame up, so the tires extend down and allow you to work on each of the wheels. I guess it is conceivable that if you have NOT had it up on a lift for a long period of time, that each shock could have gone completely bad over that timeframe, and when they lifted it as each wheel dropped down somehow because the shock was internally broken that it bound up in a fully down position. I guess it is possible, but I would have thought that you would have noticed the shocks/structs bad....making a racket everytime you went over any little bump. Replies to this message: burdawg (Sep 19, 2007 5:45 am) kiawah (Sep 19, 2007 6:26 am) dag5 (Jan 22, 2009 7:33 am)
#77 of 158 Re: All four struts frozen (mechanic caused?) [kiawah] by burdawg Sep 19, 2007 (5:45 am)
Replying to: kiawah (Sep 18, 2007 7:58 pm) I don't think I've ever heard of anything like this happening. I've seen broken springs, shock mounts, any kind of suspension parts, and who knows what else, but for this to happen on all four corners at the same time is quite unusual. It must have been bouncing down the street like a lowrider, or there's something else fishy going on..... Replies to this message: kiawah (Sep 19, 2007 6:26 am)
#78 of 158 Re: All four struts frozen (mechanic caused?) [burdawg] by kiawah Sep 19, 2007 (6:26 am)
Replying to: burdawg (Sep 19, 2007 5:45 am) I agree, seems way too weird. I'm coming back to the theory of a teenager running it in the Baja......or they have one tremendous set of speed bumps at the homestead. I just can't imagine all of those coincidentally going bad at the similar timeframe, and not recognizing any problem along the way. Edit....I wonder if someone had previously replaced the original mfg struts, with an incorrectly sized strut that wasn't the right length, and because not the right length they went bad.
#79 of 158 another thought by wpatters Sep 19, 2007 (6:37 am)
I just wonder if the lift dropped suddenly and jammed the shock/struts? That would be like the whole car being throw out a window. That could cause all four since it would be perfectly parallel to the ground and bamm! The whole car hitting the ground could have done the damage and he certainly would not have told you. Replies to this message: burdawg (Sep 19, 2007 7:19 am)