[theophile]

I am concerned that my suspension needs upgrading. My ride quality is pretty poor and I feel pretty much everything I drive over. To make matters worse, I live in Mississippi and the roads are awful.

I've tried the test where you push down on the car and it's supposed to bounce back up and then come to rest, which it does just fine. But it still feels very rugged when I drive.

I still have the factory installed shocks and struts.

Is there a surefire, empirical way to diagnose my suspension and find out if and what I should replace?

How much should I expect to pay for shock/strut replacement?

What is the recommended brand of shocks/struts?

Assuming I can get my hands on a spreing compressor, is it something I could do myself with a socket set? I don't have a lot of mechanical experience.

Does anyone know of a place I could get the work done if I bring my own parts? I'd like to get the new parts as inexpensively as possible. Some places don't like to install stuff you bought somewhere else.

I had a local place quote me over $500 for Monroe shocks and struts. That seemed high.

Anything else I forgot? Thanks guys!

 

[jakerooni]

Well outside of saying use the search LOL! This really is something you can do by yourself.

I personaly went with Monroe Their a decent replacement set-up But not nessecerally geared towards performance. Should you want that I'd look into the KYB's

If your somewhat mechanically incline this whole precess will be a snap for you.

The rear shocks shouldn't take more than say 10 minutes each side. and their extreamly straight forward by just looking at them. You have one bolt hold the bottom on and 2 bolts holding the top on. Your new shicks should come with all new replacement parts so you shouldn't have to save anything outside of the bottom bolt holding it on.

The Struts however are a tad more complicated but definatly nothing to out of range for the average guy to do. You can rent a set of spring compressors from AutoZone or I think I've seen a set for as cheap as $15 if worse comes to worse. But again all straight forward by simply looking at it. You'll need to remove your tie rod end and your ball joint and have some pretty heafty sockets to get the strut bolts loose. YOu can pretty much follow the "How-To" Jason wrote up to the tee and he even has pics up to show you step by step..

The only thing is after you replace the struts you have to go get it aligned again so figure that into your cost. But I replaced my entire suspension for under $200 and doing it myself.

Good luck.

 

[theophile]

Hmmm...

If I do it myself I'm probably also going to need some jack stands.

The howto recommends air tools which I don't have. I do have a nice socket set. Is there enough clearance for me to get a big ratchet in there with an extension?

As far as Monroe vs. KYB, which would make a smoother ride? I'm not concerned so much with performance as far as extreme handling and such, but I would prefer that my ride feel like I was in one of the new luxury vehicles, or at least as good as my mom's Grand Voyager.

In that respect, is there a difference between the two?

Thanks for your help!

 

[jakerooni]

well the KYB's are just plain better all around. But if you just want an upgrade over stock the Monroes are a nice selection my monroes cost me like $16 for the shocks and $35 for the struts, Double that for KYB's

I did all mine without Air tools. They defiantly make it tons easier but are not nessacery at all.

 

[theophile]

Doesn't look like the KYB's are that much.

<LINK_TEXT text="http://www.pickproparts.com/PartsList.a ... oryID=7556">http://www.pickproparts.com/PartsList.aspx?AAIASubCategoryID=7556</LINK_TEXT>

Or is this not what I'm looking for?

 

[kaseobeer2585]

I swapped out all of my stock shocks and struts with monroes. I used a rachet and a really big piece of pipe, oh and vice grips. Took me a while but i got it done. Once you do one side the other side goes a lot quicker. I just got monroe shocks and struts and a set of sprint springs off ebay. Altogether it cost around like $275 i'd estimate. I dont know how it rides yet though. Still sitting up at my gram and paps until i get all my work done on it.

 

[jakerooni]

umm your link dosen't work right for me.

 

[theophile]

Try this:
<LINK_TEXT text="http://www.pickproparts.com/AddVehicle. ... E_ID%3dkyb">http://www.pickproparts.com/AddVehicle.aspx?url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pickproparts.com%2fpartsbylineselector.aspx%3fLINE_ID%3dkyb</LINK_TEXT>

 

[ridgerunner]

Nope! Linkie still no workie

 

[bezal]

I replaced my shocks before the bash, no more bottoming out for me. And my tires are doin better now too. I went with gabriel gas shocks.. just a replacement you can prob order from audozon or pep boys.