Cat Man HHR

Just want to pass this on.
I had a noise in the back that sounded like something bouncing around in the rear storage compartment going over a bumpy road surface even though I had nothing in there.
I inspected the back axil area to find one of my rear shocks had gone bad. Compression was good on the right one but two inches from the top the rebound would snap up instead of the gas controlling it.
Bought the correct AC Delco shocks from Rock Auto and noticed before the install that the new ones where firmer than the original ones.
No more noise and back is definitely tighter.
Hope this might help other forum members.

RJ_RS_SS_350

Good info, Cat Man. By tighter, do you mean less body roll? Mine has more body roll than I would expect it to have. I'm thinking shocks, struts, LCA rear bushings.

Cat Man HHR

Yes I mean by less body roll and naturally more control of the car going over bumps.
I have a sweeping turn I go thru and knew about how fast I could take it. Up the turn by 5-7 MPH now.
Going to change the front struts because of a same type of noise that the back had on the right front, more heard in cold temps.
Have 50K on the car with really no abused road conditions also.
I went with Rock Auto because they sell the AC Delco shocks for the FE5 suspension and using the discount code helped.
I would, just because, replace with the correct shocks first to stop body roll.
The problematic LCA bushing causes more steering/alignment issues.

donbrew

I am amazed that no one ever looks at shocks anymore. The manufacturers life estimate for them is around 20,000 miles. Leakage is not the only indicator.

We used to sell them to every car that came into the tire store, that was when they only cost around $15 each + $15 labor.

Was that ACDelco 540-442/GM 15938031?

Cat Man HHR

Way back then (Thank you Mr. Peabody) it was easy to find a faulty shock being it had oil in it.
Did a lot of suspension work in shops that employed me, plus my own shop.
Tell me what car still uses that now?
Being that they are all gas type now, to my knowledge, it's remove and test unless you see physical damage.
The rear shocks I used were:
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...444899&jsn=435

Blue_SS

I have a pair of uninstalled FE5 shocks in a RockAuto box in my garage. Wife wants me to make space. I will write up an ad one of these days. I have a pair if you are looking.

aradmahogany

I replaced mine with some cheapo units of amazon. Still functioning fine a year and a hlaf and about 40,000 miles later. What prompted my changing is that the originals seems to function fine, a little bouncy but still had some spring, and one day on the highway i hit a pronounced dip and the rear of the car biunced so low it scraped the living hell out of my drivers side rocker panel, luckily only on the bottom. This was before my HHR of the month photos! So its one of those secret damages noone knows about LOL

Cat Man HHR

Too late,
What Mopar stuff are you working on ?
Worked on Chrysler stuff back in the day.

Cat Man HHR

I laughed when I read " Precision designed for a direct fit and restore factory ride height."
Springs make the ride height, shocks control the actions of the springs.

firemangeorge

Sometimes.
Put a set(4) of KYB gas shocks on my Dodge truck a couple years ago. Replaced the crappy Monroes that were on there for 60k miles. Being the "anal" person I am, I measured it before and after with 50 miles to let the new shocks settle.
The truck was a full inch higher on all 4 corners.
Go figure.