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Thu 22 Feb, 2007 11:33 am
I'm debating whether it would be worth while to upgrade to aftermarket shocks for my 2006 Mazda 4x4 truck. More specifically whether or not that would produce a noticable improvement in damping on rough unpaved roads which are part of my daily drive. There is certainly nothing wrong with the original shocks and they barely have ten thousand miles on them but I'm wondering if Monroe Sensitrac, Bilstein, Rough Country, Tokico, Edelbrock or Gabriel etc. offer a genuine improvement over factory. Any opinions? Roger? Timber?
I've used off-road shocks (Rancho and Gabriel) on at least 3 of the trucks/SUVs I've owned.
They are stiffer then the stock shocks so you feel the bumps more than you do with the stock equipment. The purpose of the off-road shocks to tighten things up so you don't get as much axle travel and end up bottoming out and it also tends to keep the tires in contact with the ground more when going over really rough terrain at higher speeds. The result is that the entire vehicle bounces around more and you feel more of the road variances through the steering system. As a trade off you tend to get less wandering from the vehicle on unpaved roads.
"Off-road shocks" come in a lot of flavors so you can pretty much fine tune your choices for your specific driving needs.
Thank yoiu for that info. Since the last thing I want is to feel the bumps more maybe I better just stick with the stock shocks.
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