Picking the right shock absorbers

[fenda]

Hi there! I am new to the forum and couldn't find a board for maintenance/repairs so posting in the general one.

I have a Toyota Rav-4 2002 2.0 VVT-i 4WD auto (3dr) with about 80k miles and I have been hearing klunking at the front left tyre area. I took it into a mechanic and he said the shock absorber needs replacing. He said it would take a while to order in the parts.

I have an important trip planned in a couple of weeks and although he said its OK to drive as it is, I would rather be on the safe side and replace as soon as possible. I found these on eBay. Am I going to be OK to just buy these, take them in and pay for the labour time? Does anyone know if its going to be a simple job just to switch out the old ones for these?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-PAIR-OF-MONROE-FRONT...

[Krikkit]

For an extra £15 you could have a pair of Bilstein B4 shocks from carparts4less - no-brainer imo!

[fenda]

Krikkit said:

For an extra £15 you could have a pair of Bilstein B4 shocks from carparts4less - no-brainer imo!

Thanks for the quick reply! I entered my car details on carparts4less but it only came up with a front left shock that isn't in stock. Did I miss them?

Ebay has these but its for both front and rear and is a fair bit more.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bilstein-B4-Front-Rear-S...

[Horse Pop]

If you go here:
http://www.bilstein.de/en-uk/products/search-servi...

You can get the part numbers you need.

Or just ring. Anyone that stocks these should be able to point you at the right bits.

I make it:

22-151094 Fitting Position Front Axle Left

22-151100 Fitting Position Front Axle Right

19-151113 Fitting Position Rear Axle

But please check yourself.

[Megaflow]

Krikkit said:

For an extra £15 you could have a pair of Bilstein B4 shocks from carparts4less - no-brainer imo!

What he said. I fitted a pair to the front of my wife's car earlier in the year, really nice damper for the money, I don't see why anybody would risk an unbranded part for something so important.

[kambites]

Re. the simplicity of the job - it's usually easy enough as long as you have a socket set, some spring compressors and a hammer.

[robinessex]

They're not shock asorbers. They produce shock!! They're dampers.

[Krikkit]

Megaflow said:

Krikkit said:

For an extra £15 you could have a pair of Bilstein B4 shocks from carparts4less - no-brainer imo!

What he said. I fitted a pair to the front of my wife's car earlier in the year, really nice damper for the money, I don't see why anybody would risk an unbranded part for something so important.

Agree - I fitted them to my old 106 and more recently my MX5 and they're great - the perfect balance for the road and cheap enough.

[scarble]

robinessex said:

They're not shock asorbers. They produce shock!! They're dampers.

Any reason you don't want to just let the garage buy them in? Most garages will let you choose if you want to fit cheap s**t or decent parts, they have all the same suppliers you have, but they might get a discount you won't.
I'd have thought clunking is usually down to lower arm bushes or ARB drop link bushes, worn shocks will usually make it ridiculously wallowy and shaky over rough surfaces before they start making clunking noises, if they clunk then they're really fked and you'd have to be a bit special not to have noticed the handling deteriorating before now.
Unless RAV shocks have a tendency to bow or something? Maybe it's the top mounts.

Edited by scarble on Friday 22 August 09:48

[kambites]

He's right, you know. It's only a "shock absorber" when combined with a spring.

[scarble]

No.
Any damper absorbs shocks.. that's just what a damper is, it's a thing which damps forces.. to make them less.. shocking.

[kambites]

Hmm, I think I disagree with your definition of "shock". The spring absorbs the vast majority of the kinetic energy (which is what I would call the shock); the damper then absorbs the potential energy in the spring. I suppose you could say that the damper is a shock absorber in bump and a potential energy absorber in rebound.

Bit of a moot point anyway, everyone knows what he means.

[fenda]

scarble said:

Any reason you don't want to just let the garage buy them in? Most garages will let you choose if you want to fit cheap s**t or decent parts, they have all the same suppliers you have, but they might get a discount you won't.
I'd have thought clunking is usually down to lower arm bushes or ARB drop link bushes, worn shocks will usually make it ridiculously wallowy and shaky over rough surfaces before they start making clunking noises, if they clunk then they're really fked and you'd have to be a bit special not to have noticed the handling deteriorating before now.
Unless RAV shocks have a tendency to bow or something? Maybe it's the top mounts.

Edited by scarble on Friday 22 August 09:48

Yeah, I am also not convinced its the shock. I did the bounce test (push down on the front left) and it seemed to just return to the usual position straight away - no excessive bouncing. I've dropped it off at the garage again this morning for them to have a proper look because I don't want to splash money on new Bilstein B4's (as tempting as it is) unless that's really the cause.

[fenda]

Just got the car back in. Looks like it was some nuts on the top of the front left shock that was loose. They tightened it up for me and the sound is gone. Moral of the story is always get a second opinion if you're not sure! Saved me a lot of cash by not having to replace perfectly OK shocks.

[tr7v8]

Megaflow said:

Krikkit said:

For an extra £15 you could have a pair of Bilstein B4 shocks from carparts4less - no-brainer imo!

What he said. I fitted a pair to the front of my wife's car earlier in the year, really nice damper for the money, I don't see why anybody would risk an unbranded part for something so important.

Err he was talking about Monroe on the original post, massive OEM manufacturer hardly unbranded!
Edited to say $7.4Bn & these as OEM customers. OUR CUSTOMERS

Tenneco has a balanced customer base, serving original equipment manufacturers on a global basis, including:
• General Motors
• Ford Motor Co.
• Volkswagen
• Daimler
• Toyota
• PSA Peugeot Citroen
• BMW AG
• Chrysler
• Harley-Davidson • SAIC
• Nissan
• Honda
• Suzuki
• Mazda
• Renault
• Caterpillar
• International Truck
• Tata Motor

Edited by tr7v8 on Friday 22 August 18:35

[Megaflow]

tr7v8 said:

Err he was talking about Monroe on the original post, massive OEM manufacturer hardly unbranded!
Edited to say $7.4Bn & these as OEM customers. OUR CUSTOMERS

Tenneco has a balanced customer base, serving original equipment manufacturers on a global basis, including:
• General Motors
• Ford Motor Co.
• Volkswagen
• Daimler
• Toyota
• PSA Peugeot Citroen
• BMW AG
• Chrysler
• Harley-Davidson • SAIC
• Nissan
• Honda
• Suzuki
• Mazda
• Renault
• Caterpillar
• International Truck
• Tata Motor

Edited by tr7v8 on Friday 22 August 18:35

I didn't say Monroe was un branded, I was saying why people buy un branded when alternatives such as the Bilstien is available I don't know.

I am fully aware of who Tenneco are, I work for one of the companies on that list, and they are a long way down our best supplier list...

[scarble]

fenda said:

Just got the car back in. Looks like it was some nuts on the top of the front left shock that was loose. They tightened it up for me and the sound is gone. Moral of the story is always get a second opinion if you're not sure! Saved me a lot of cash by not having to replace perfectly OK shocks.

Sadly many garages just replace components willy-nilly until it goes away and charge you for the privilege. Odd that the nuts somehow loosened? Assuming "nuts on the top" means nuts on the top mount, I guess it could be the top mount on the way out actually, that causes clunking too.

Edited by scarble on Friday 22 August 20:18

[Riknos]

scarble said:

fenda said:

Just got the car back in. Looks like it was some nuts on the top of the front left shock that was loose. They tightened it up for me and the sound is gone. Moral of the story is always get a second opinion if you're not sure! Saved me a lot of cash by not having to replace perfectly OK shocks.

Sadly many garages just replace components willy-nilly until it goes away and charge you for the privilege. Odd that the nuts somehow loosened? Assuming "nuts on the top" means nuts on the top mount, I guess it could be the top mount on the way out actually, that causes clunking too.

Edited by scarble on Friday 22 August 20:18

My mk1 MX-5 had loose nuts on the topmount. This caused a clunking noise, but also, since the Top mount loose, it was free to move slightly and it managed to grind away the "D" shaped hole the top rod sits in, into an "O" shaped hole, so the rod would just spin in place so when I tried to change the suspension I couldn't undo it as it just span around in the hole! Nightmare, all because the nuts came loose and were left un-checked...