Shock Replacement

[nissangirl74]

I heard a radio ad this morning suggesting that drivers replace their shocks every 50,000 miles. Do you guys agree? We get a lot of advertising around here that preys on people to spend money they might not necessarily need to (the elderly, especially).

[flohtingPoint]

We have the valving on ours checked every year at Nationals since Koni is there. You'd be surprised how many are blown or valves are going, and this is without DD'ing and being subjected to potholes and poorly maintained pavement.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

It depends on the vehicle and the OE quality. I've seen ford vans with blown shocks under 30k, but Hondas that are still good at 180k.

[Kompresshun]

My Five Hundred has 146k on it with the original struts all around. They still even have the Ford label on them.

[Bubba1]

It depends on the vehicle and the OE quality. .

^

I'm guessing the sponsor of the ad sells shocks/struts.

[sx moneypit]

It depends on the vehicle and the OE quality. .

^

I'm guessing the sponsor of the ad sells shocks/struts.

Yep,its Monroe.I get their promotional s*** twice a year.

[stevesgarden.1]

Interesting topic. The roads are pretty bad around Tn. Our Rogue has always had a rough ride. With a little over 68,000 I've recently decided that upgrading the shocks needs to be on my to do list. Any suggestions for upgrading shocks on a 2009 Rogue ?? Pro's Con's Brands ??

[MinisterofDOOM]

I feel like Kaysville City and Rexburg City collectively owe me for a set of shocks for each of my cars. The roads don't have potholes in them. The potholes have some road around them.

[AZ89two4Tsx]

My shocks (struts) on my Maxima have ~167K on them. I can assure you that they should have been replaced a LONG time ago.

I would say 50K is pretty generous. Even if you want to stay on top of things, around 100K sounds more reasonable. There's also a difference between a Suzuki and a BMW. And of course the roads but a lot of people don't realize how fast they drive over speed bumps, up curbs, etc....

[the converted]

I bought my Maxima at 70k or so if I remember and the shocks were definitely on their way out. I'd say that road and environmental conditions have a huge effect.

[MinisterofDOOM]

LS8 is at 94k and the shocks are showing no sign of fade. My regular railroad crossings exhibit no bounce or undulation...everything still damps just fine.

[IanS]

We have the valving on ours checked every year at Nationals since Koni is there. You'd be surprised how many are blown or valves are going, and this is without DD'ing and being subjected to potholes and poorly maintained pavement.

Yep.

For the normal person, it's hard to feel the difference between a properly working set of dampers, and some that are worn, but not completely shot.

I've done demonstration drives in matching vehicles with new dampers, 25,000 mile dampers, and 50,000 mile. Back to back it becomes very apparent how the dynamics of a given vehicle change. At 50,000 miles the average damper has cycled as many as 250,000 times.

As someone who wants their car to handle as good if not better then showroom stock, I'm not sure I will make 50,000 miles before rebuilding the dampers on my car. The Wife's Maxima is about to roll over 100,000 miles and it is downright overdue for struts.

[Dattebayo]

I wish I had shocks sometimes, it would make that pavement-to-concrete joint south of River Rd on I-495 a little smoother when going over 50MPH...