New Shocks

here's the prices:

gabriels - $200 (Pair)
ridepros - $368 (four of)
KYB - $216 (pair)
Ironman nitro gas - $330 (four of)
Ultima gas shocks - $275 (four of)
EFS enforcers - $145 (pair)

i realise that these are probably only the base models for each brand of shock, but for my useage any of them should be sufficient??

any advise considering quality:cost$$ ratio??

For what it's worth, I put brand new Ridepro's on my 105 prior to doing the Anne Beadell in 2006. They were totally stuffed by the time I returned. Got my money back on 2 of them and although the other 2 were pretty soft, they were supposedly within tolerance.

Others in the convoy were running standard shocks and a couple were using Monroe Gas Magnums. I was the only one who stuffed their shocks - and no, I didn't drive any faster than the others and adjusted tyre pressures etc accordingly.

Just my experience, I wouldn't use them again, but others may wish to disagree...

Cheers
Gerry

G'day to u,
If you cant afford Koni's then get yourself OME.
When I did the Canning and Anne Beadell in same trip my mate had OME on his truck and they performed very well compared to the Koni's I had on. My shocks were hot at times on the front coils but only warm on leafs at rear and his were hotter, but they didn't fail.
Spend little and you'll get less. Spend more and you wont look back.

Asked at the last Adelaide Off Road Show and was told that if I used OME shocks they came with a warranty that was really only valid if I also used OME springs. If I had a failure I would need to return the shocks AND my springs to undergo testing to ensure they were compatible with the OME shocks. Seems too much trouble to me! The person to whom I spoke knew who made the springs and agreed they were a good spring, but this is now their policy. If, in their opinion, they were not compatible the warranty was deemed invalid. I asked at another major after market dealer and they told me their warranty was valid for my springs - whatever brand was fitted. A third dealer and another shock manufacturer assured me my warranty was valid with their shocks and my springs. Guess who didn't get my business.

Having said that, I once had a failure on three of the four OME shocks fitted with original equipment springs and they simply handed new shocks over the counter (four) without any problem.

We put OME on the GU to do the CSR in 2005, we had to change the bushes on the back at the fuel dump but had no further trouble with them, however last year we put on a set of new OME to do the GCR, Tanami, and GRR and did in three shockies in on the Kalumburu/ Mitchell Falls Rds.
We had taken the old ones (the ones that we did the CSR with)as spares and put them on and had no further problems in fact they are still on the vehicle. We took the busted ones to ARB in Derby and they took a couple of days and a lot of chasing up by hubby to inform us that they were not going to replace them so when we got toBroome ARB there handed over three new ones straight away. We will never recommend ARB in Derby, they wanted to keep theirs for paying customers, So in short the old OME's were quite OK but the new ones apart from the one on the left front are cactus.

That's our experience for what it is worth.

Cheers

D

Why does not any one recommend Toyota genuine shockies. Is it the price or the failure rate? I have given the hilux a good shaking over the last seven years (the CT springs are sagging from the puishment) and nothing has changed since new.

Owen