I read in another posting that someone bought Monroe Reflex. For what I have found so far is that they are not air ride compatable. My question is do I have to stick with an air ride style shock or can I buy a non-air shock.

THis is getting a little confusing. Why can't GM use parts that are easliy replaced?

Has anyone bought an air shock if so what where they and what are the best ones you have found to date.

scotishguy88
2001 Bonneville SLE

It'* not that GM can't use parts that are easily replaced, it is that the aftermarket always lags behind when it comes to replacement parts. The only ones that have the original designs are those that manufactured the OEM parts for GM, etc. I think the standard time limit on designs is somewhere between 5-8 years. That means that in that time frame, the designs are owned by GM, after that they are released to the aftermarket. Sometimes you could see an aftermarket supplier buy out the design early to service the market, but not always. It all depends on demand.

Onto the shocks and the original question/problem of this post. As I stated in another thread, if your problems are primarily when the temperature is below freezing, it may have water in the air assist side of the strut. I would suggest that you pull off the rear struts, take them inside (or someplace warm) and see if any water comes out of the air assist side of the struts. You may have to position the air inlet down and then use a vacuum or something to suck out any air inside the strut to make sure that you get all of the water.

Water in the strut could make them practically lock in below freezing temperatures and make your car handle like absolute crap. If this is happening to more and more people, it would seem like water ingestion into the ELC system is a concern for us all. It almost sounds like there may not be a moisture trap or any preventative measure in the ELC system to remove moisture.

It'* something to check out and since the rear struts aren't all that difficult to remove, it'* worth a try.

yes you can use a non air strut and still use the schrader valve in the trunk, you will just loose the ELC obviously

However, you will have to plug the hoses that run to the pump. You would also probably have to unhook the ride height sensor so it wasn't running the pump all of the time.

Well I gave in and bought the Monroe AirMAX Shocks. I will be putting them on this weekend. I will take pics and let you know how it turned out. I figure since it is still under warrenty for one more year I should use the existing system. I don't want GM to come back at me for some reason if I take the car is in for warrenty work.

Thanks for all your help.

I have the Monroe MaxAIR shocks on my Riv and they are really good shocks. The feature I like most is they're soft most of the time, but if you start to hit the corners fast and the car starts to lean the shocks stiffen up. It'* really cool. If you bounce the rear end of the car up and down it starts off pretty soft but then after about the 3rd or 4th bounce it'* pretty stiff. Never had shocks before that would do that and I really like it. Helps handling a lot. Right now as it is the Riv with the Monroe shocks will easily outhandle the SSEi. There'* really no comparison.
Here'* the stock shocks and the Monroes in comparison:

I used the Monroe Gas Magnums on both a 2000 SLE, and my current 2002 SSEi, and they work tons better than the stock rear shocks. The front struts were also a great improvement.

WEll I installed the Monroe AirMax shocks in the Bonnie over the weekend. Everthing went well. It was very easy and only took a little over an hour. What a difference, the stock shock which I took off was really bad.

THe new shock has corrected the fishtail and shimmy problem I had.

THanks for the info everyone.

AND for information..... You can replace the Air shocks with standard shocks but you will have to plug the air hoses so that the compressor does not run all the time. I suggest doing this after the warrenty is up, this way GM cannot catch you in some loop hole.

Thanks again.