Shocks & Struts

Fluid leaking and worn bushings are obvious reasons for replacement, but most shocks and struts will gradually deteriorate internally without exhibiting any external signs. When you consider that a shock metering valve can flex several thousand times in just a few miles, it’s easy to see how such parts can be completely fatigued at 50,000 miles. Judging shock or strut integrity by vehicle performance is a more accurate barometer. If your vehicle rides harshly, the nose dives when braking, the body rolls excessively in corners, the suspension bottoms out, or your tires are cupping, you need new shocks or struts.

Worn upper strut mounts are common causes of noise, poor steering response or binding, and improper alignment. The upper strut mount retains the coil spring and connects the strut to the body. It has an insulating layer, and front strut mounts often have a bearing where the strut pivots as the vehicle turns. The insulating component is usually rubber bonded to metal, and the rubber can split, crack, harden, or otherwise deteriorate and create excessive clearance and metal-to-metal contact, and the bearing can wear as well. Struts also have boots or bellows covering the shaft and these can tear, allowing dirt to score the shaft and ruin the upper hydraulic seal. A bumper surrounding the shaft prevents the suspension from bottoming out, and this can split and allow the strut to be damaged.

We offer struts mounts, bearings, bellows, bump stops, and struts without springs, but if you’re replacing struts you should consider our complete strut assemblies. These come with a new coil spring and upper strut mount installed. You save time, there’s no need for a special spring compressor, and all common wear parts are replaced for a thorough repair. Our replacement shocks and struts are engineered to deliver OE quality ride and handling, so your car or truck will have the level of suspension performance it had when it was new. But if you want better performance, we can offer you upgraded shocks and struts for a firmer ride and more responsive handling. And if you’re restoring a classic, we have authentic reproduction shocks and related components with original equipment appearance. With us, you know you’re getting quality parts from trusted brand names, including Bilstein, KYB, Monroe, TRQ, ACDelco, and many more!

OE and ordinary replacement shocks and struts are compromises, with damping that is usually biased toward a smooth ride. When a vehicle is driven hard with such components, the rapid movement of the pistons within the dampers causes the hydraulic fluid to foam and overheat, drastically reducing their ability to control suspension movement. This can result in excessive body roll and dive, unequal tire grip, and poor vehicle control. In contrast, our performance shocks and struts are designed for spirited driving, especially when paired with higher rate performance coil springs.

If your vehicle is equipped with regular hydraulic shocks, you can get an improvement in performance by switching to gas shocks. Gas shocks contain nitrogen gas under pressure, which helps prevent the foaming that results in reduced damping force and poor road holding. And if your vehicle is equipped with twin tube shocks, switching to monotube shocks is a significant upgrade that will give you the benefit of the monotube’s larger piston and increased valving area, for increased damping and better handling, and better heat dissipation through the single tube. The high-pressure nitrogen gas in a monotube shock is in a separate chamber isolated from the fluid by a floating piston, completely preventing aeration. This all adds up to consistent fade-free performance.

Although monotube shocks do a great job of getting rid of heat, for severe conditions like racing and off-roading we offer shocks with external reservoirs, which increase fluid capacity and heat dissipation. We have shocks with reservoirs that attach to the shock body and reservoirs connected with a fluid line that can be mounted remotely. If you want the ability to dial in your own damping rate for performance driving, we have shocks and struts that are externally adjustable without lifting the vehicle or removing the tires. And if you have a front strut equipped truck and want to make it level for an improved stance and the fitment of larger tires, we have struts that allow the lower spring seat to be raised in one of several positions, so you can get the exact ride height you want.