My integra still has the original stock suspension and although they haven't leaked i'm wondering how much a difference a new set would make? The car doesn't have any noticeable bounce, what I notice more is the rough riding over bumps and cracks, which makes for a choppy ride, although I'm not sure how much of that is related to the bad roads in this area.

How often do you change your shocks on your cars?

The current shocks have about 90 000 miles on them.

Thanks

 

At 90,000 your shocks have experienced some wear. But so have a lot of other parts in your suspension. Replacing bushings is more expensive in labor than shock replacement in an Integra but may yield bigger improvements. The question to ask yourself is "does the car ride or handle noticeably worse than it did earlier in its life?" If the answer is no and you do not need or want any improvements in handling then its perfectly ok to leave well enough alone.

regards,
alan

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ex_crxer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The current shocks have about 90 000 miles on them.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you are thinking in a performance response and control frame of mind, I think going to a good set of dampers from your stock units would be up to a "night and day" difference. They may not ride overly bouncy now but I think one can safely say that the stock unit were past their peak in the 30,000-50,000 mile range. I work for a shock company so I am trained to notice them specifically and an essentially a shock snob but I could tell at 10,000 miles the stock shocks on my '98 Civic were on the way downhill.

If you were to get non-performance shocks like Monroe, etc. then you may not notice much difference but if you get a performance unit you will. They higher up the food chain in the perforamcne unit you get, the more you will be able to tell that the car is once again being more responsive and paying more attention to the road.

 

Interesting thought about the bushings, I didn't think about that. I find it kind of difficult to compare how the car handles now compared to before given that we get used to the handling, even if it does deteriorate. Overall I would say that it is not a significant different from how it was before, so I figure I could leave as is for now.

Thanks for your help

 

When you suggest "dampers from your stock units", unfortunately I am unfamiliar with this stuff, what exactly is this ? Is this an add-on to the existing shock?

Thanks,

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ex_crxer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When you suggest "dampers from your stock units", unfortunately I am unfamiliar with this stuff, what exactly is this ? Is this an add-on to the existing shock?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

dampers = shocks in this case ... so his statement can be read like:

"going to a good set of shocks from your stock units would be up to a "night and day" difference"

A good set of dampers in this case would be Koni

 

Nonsense is right.

Dampers is the inclusive term of motion controlling suspension components of which McPherson struts and shock absorbers are the two primary parts.

 

CRX Lee,
I have a 120K miles on my Integra and I'm facing the same issue as ex_crxer, ie. the ride is pretty rough over little bumps on the road. I didn't own this car new, but I'm pretty sure it's handling a lot worse than when it was new. It's particularly bad when I'm driving at freeway speed (70mph). I've been wondering myself if it's the shocks that are not working well.

I always thought that when shocks blow or don't work optimally, they fail to dampen the bouncing motion of the car. How is it that a shock that is not working optimally can cause a harsh or bumpy ride? Wouldn't it just cause a bouncy ride?

I've been considering upgrading to something like KYB AGX but I'm not sure if it would make a difference (sticking with stock springs as I don't want to worsen the ride, or go with H&R OE Sport at the most). What do you think?