Friday, February 12, 2010

New Shocks for My Birthday

The Mustang rides well on smooth roads. When I drive down a road with even small bumps, the front of the car sound like a few bolts are loose. I originally thought there were loose bolts but after checking numerous times I've never found any. I later though it was the sway bar end links but was incorrect.

I know believe the cause is the shocks. The shocks were one of the few items I did not replace as they seemed to be in good condition. I decided it was time to replace them and my wife purchased a set of KYB GR2 shocks for my birthday.

I pulled the passenger side shock to compare to the new shocks tonight. The old shock is a Monroe Monro-Matic 33059. They are nitrogen filled to provide a smooth ride. The shock is a little larger in circumference than the KYB measuring 5.25".

There is something obviously wrong with the Moroes. The first half of the compression is easy to compress and then it stiffens to match the KYB. The opposite is true of the rebound as it rebounds quickly at first and then slows greatly. A total of 7 seconds is needed for the shock to rebound. If you compress it entirely, it sticks and does not rebound at all.

The new shock is a KYB GR2 343146. They are a low pressure gas shock produced to perform better than stock. The KYB is 4 7/8" in circumference. I can compress the new KYB shock but it requires a good amount of force. Once compressed, it rebounds back out completely within 2 seconds. The fact they are smaller makes me question them a little.

These are not performance shocks. I considered performance shocks by Bilstein or Koni but they are between $100 and $125 each. These were only about $100 for the entire set. I can then us the money saved to improve the car in other areas. Most recently my thoughts are on making it faster!s

No comments: