tpz76

So today my front and rear OEM shock/spring assemblies arrived today! I was going to tackle the daunting task of the rears first, however, I took a look underneath at the rear suspension only to notice that the rears had been replaced, from what I saw, there was a label that read "spectrum", I'm guessing they are Monroe OE spectrums. So with 87k on the car (80k when I bought it in May), I'm going to guess that there aren't too many miles on the rears, so I went ahead and did the fronts instead. I'm sure a lot of you out there have already done this, but for those of you who have not replaced your front shocks and are going with OEM, here are a few notes on changing them. First of all, like the Chilton manual instructs... have both wheels off the ground, otherwise if you only have one jack and try to do them one side at a time like I did, you are never going to be able to get the shock fork off due to the sway bar adding pressure to the lower control arm!!!! Yes I know, total DERP on my part. Second is do make the job easier and remove the shock tower brace, I've read some posts of people not removing it and acting like they are a superior being by doing so, nope, you just obviously have more time on your hands to fart around getting that last top shock nut off. Some other key notes, um, be sure to torque to specs, per Chilton, the top Fork bolt is 32, the Fork to Control arm is 41, shock tower nuts are 44, and shock tower brace nuts are 21. After driving the car with the new Shock/Spring assemblies on the difference was as expected night and day. I am going to change the rears as well, even though they were replaced fairly recently, I want to have matching OEM's all the way around. From what I read in the repair manual, the rear seats and rear shelf removal is not too difficult, time consuming, but not difficult. I was instructed per the repair manual to also disconnect the negative battery cable to disable the SRS system as the sensors for the rear side curtain airbags are in the vicinity of the rear seat assembly. If you do decide to do the rears yourself and disconnect the battery, for the love of god make sure you have your navi and or radio lock codes!!! Thank god when I bought my car they were still in the wallet with all the manuals. So all in all, had I actually had both wheels off the ground the whole job prob would have taken me under an hour. First side took almost 2, and once I used a second jack to raise the other side of the vehicle, the second side took me 20 min!!! I'll post a review after I do the rears next week.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Glad it worked out and some self satisfaction by doing the job yourself, along with extra change left in your pocket.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

I'm curious, with only 87,000 miles on the car, why did you decide to do the shocks?

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

You had to ask!!!!!!
You'll also notice that the rears were replaced before he purchased the car at 80k miles.
Who knows.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Yup, noticed that, but I'm not able to ask the previous owner the same "Why?" question.

tpz76

I replaced them because I could tell the front were def worn, and if I'm gonna change the fronts, I'm gonna change the rears and be done with it for 50k or so. Like I said, just changing out the fronts made a huge difference, not only rides smoother, it corners better, brakes better, and tracks straight ahead better. Monroe advertises to replace shocks and or struts every 50k miles, while they may not be worn out at that time to be a cause for concern, it is a good idea to change them out to keep the car riding well. I have replaced shocks and struts on several of my friends and families vehicles only to have them all find it so amazing how much better the car behaves. They keep the wheels to the road, who doesn't want that? LOL

tpz76

I bought this vehicle cause I plan on having it for a long time, as a former Honda/GM mechanic, I know the value of routine maintenance, so therefore I don't mind spending a few bucks to keep my ride in the best shape it can be.

tpz76

And before you all ask if I was a Honda mechanic why did I have a hard time changing my shocks, at the time I was a mechanic I was an apprentice and my workload was limited to mostly oil changes and what not, and while I was only there a short while, I never got into any major repairs! Not to mention I was mostly a used car tech, I got to deal with all the crap trade-ins.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Not to belabor this point, we have another thread with lot of back and forth on the issue. That said, a few comments:

• Just because tires are worn does not in any way mean the shocks are gone
• Mileage is a very poor metric to be used for shock replacement. I always laugh when a company advertises their shocks with a lifetime guarantee only to see a comment form that same company OEM shocks (arguably superior to the aftermarket units) should be replaced at 50,000 miles.
• Side comment; my 2001 Accord has 195,000 miles on the original shocks. The current set of tires has over 40,000 miles on them; they are wearing very evenly and have an easy 10,000 miles of tread remaining.

BROlando

Aman

I don't think he mentioned tire wear anywhere. Driving habits and environment probably have a lot to do with shock wear, and it's highly likely we don't know exactly how the car was driven in its previous life.

OP says shocks replaced, car drives better. Who are we to question him?

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Good catch, I read "the front tires were definitely worn" when he actually said, "the fronts were definitely worn".

Lots of folks say new shocks feel different, however, shocks need to be broken in a bit; I submit if he had put say 5,000 miles on his new shocks and then put the old ones back in, he wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

I'm going to leave this discussion here, there is another thread which has lots more back and forthing in it on this subject.

tpz76

Yes I meant the front shocks were worn, the car was originally purchased in Texas then went to Missouri, now in Indiana.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

So my question is, by what metric can you say they were worn? Were they leaking oil?

thoiboi

I thought you were leaving the topic

I don't think you'll get an answer you'll be happy with nor will you be able to convince others of your side. It's almost become as charged a topic as fuel octane..

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Okay, done^2

tpz76

when shocks lose their "dampening" power, it is noticeable in a few ways, one is that the car will "squat" or "sit" upon braking and accelerating, which I found to be quite excessive. It also seemed to roll around corners. Did they need to be changed? Maybe? Maybe not! It is one of those things you just need to gage out yourself. So INMO, they were due for replacement