Stock rear shocks / struts gone at only 40,000 miles?

[ayau]

@Black Tire, you could probably find a used/low mileage set of FRS OEM shocks much cheaper than Konis/Bilsteins. Stay away from shocks that were used with aftermarket springs as they're going to have a shorter life.

Might be hard to only buy the rears, but you could get a whole set and have an extra set of the fronts for backup.

[finch1750]

Originally Posted by ayau

@Black Tire, you could probably find a used/low mileage set of FRS OEM shocks much cheaper than Konis/Bilsteins. Stay away from shocks that were used with aftermarket springs as they're going to have a shorter life.

Might be hard to only buy the rears, but you could get a whole set and have an extra set of the fronts for backup.

Not necessarily true if the drop isn't crazy. I have 61,xxx miles on the car with stock shocks and have been on RCE Yellow springs for over 35,000 of those miles. I drive many rough canyons, bad freeways, and autox and my shocks are holding up just fine.

[12foot]

Just had my rear driver strut blow at 40k. I haven't hit many bumps.

[ZionsWrath]

OEM don't last that long under track use if you drive hard. As an instructor you probably just wore them out. If you liked the performance and lifespan I would just get OEM, rather I would get a lightly used set for cheap.

[Tristor]

Honestly if you generally like the performance of the OEM dampers, but you're willing to go slightly upgraded, my recommendation would be to run the dampers and springs recommended for SCCA SSC, as these are extremely daily driveable while still being a performance improvement over OEM and are low cost. Alternatively, the Bilstein B12 Pro-kit (B8 damper + Eichach Pro-Kit springs) is a fantastic choice as well which is still very daily driveable.


40k miles on dampers is about normal considering you've done some bracing and stiffening which would have made them do more work and you're likely on stickier tires. Running really sticky tires on the OEM dampers can be pretty rough on them as there's a lot more body roll in the chassis from the factory than might expect, and this also is expressed as some dive and squat. Sounds like you tend to "take off" from a stop a lot since the wear is located primarily in the rear, probably additional squat wear due to sticky tires and chassis bracing.


For the price the dealership charges for OEM dampers you can easily put some good quality aftermarket dampers and springs in without going full-on adjustable coilovers. Alternatively, I have my nearly new 2017 dampers complete unit I'm trying to get rid of from when I put on coilovers for track use, you're welcome to PM me.


Best of luck.