diitto

Hi, they were quoting you, correct me if I'm wrong, something close to $4900 for four shocks, labor and an alignment if I recall. Do you recall how much the shocks themselves were??? Must have been pushing $1,000 apiece for that overall cost I would guess. The reason I ask is some are saying the cost of these shocks has come down in the past year. I was quoted something like $750 per shock a year ago and I will know in a few hours what the price is NOW as I am about to take my car in and will ask.

Also, I see it appears you chose NOT to replace your's, right??? Just to clean and monitor???

And I did go get a full copy of that pdf you mentioned that was over on the thread about your mag shocks. Thanks for pointing me to that.

Appreciate the help. holler back... thanks..

BadToo

ACDelco 580-1050 GM Original Equipment Rear Passenger Side Shock Absorber shows $265.03 at Amazon and Walmart shows $443.82 for the LH side (part # 580-1052). Cost me $75 labor to install both at a tire shop.

diitto

Hi, So I took the car in today for an oil change and other stuff. While up on the lift, the service guy took me out to the car and we all looked at the magnetic shocks. All were ok, certainly not in need of replacement. They concurred that there is a TSB that seeks to differentiate between "seep" and "leak" and that mine were either not seeping at all (rears) or at most, seeping some (fronts).

My two rear shocks were just very dirty. The left front was dirty and maybe a tad of oily-ness. The right front was the worst with a clear wetness of oil but still nothing that they thought needed to be replaced. So no new shocks required today.

I did ask for and got a quote just to see how much new mag shocks would cost, at today's prices. The rear shocks were two different prices and I even asked him if that was really the case and he said yes. He didn't say which was which (left, right) but they were $510 and $607. The two fronts were the same price, $762 each. Amazing... Plus a new 4-wheel alignment. Total labor of about $430 and a small Hazard Fee and you total out at $3,075 for four new mag shocks.

But they also told me the following. They said THEY could do an install where they would do away with the Mag Shocks, replace them with a set of Z06 non-Magnetic shocks and they would also install a set of F55 Simulator/Bypass devices that plug into the electrical connectors that would convince the computer you still had magnetic shocks and hence negate the 80 mph limiter that would otherwise be in force after removing the magnetic shocks. And with a 4-wheel alignment, all for a total price of $1,300.

And though I didn't ask I would hope that maybe I could do the two fronts only for maybe something like half of that??? Unless it might be a "do all four or nothing" deal.

If that becomes more serious in the future I will ask if I could do just two that way.

Bottom line is the fronts were seeping some, the right front more than the left front. The two rears appear to have captured a lot of dirt but really didn't appear to be oily. No need to replace any of them at this point. Car is a 2012, bought new with 16,500 miles.

A little over $3000 for a new set of four. $1,300 for a new set of non-Magnetic Z06 shocks and the hardware needed to tell the computer to still let you drive fast.

I did take pictures of all the shocks today. I doubt they are of much interest to folks here but if anyone wants to see any or all, holler and I will post them.

thanks for all the advice and input. bob

cclive

If you do ultimately decide to do the simulators and non-magnetic shocks, don't do any of the oem shocks as replacements...almost any aftermarket is better...Bilstein and Koni come to mind but there are others also. GM put Bilsteins on the C7...they should have done it on the C6.

diitto

Good input. I've heard often about the Bilsteins. If I ever do away with the mag shocks, I will certainly research non-OEM shocks as you suggest.

Any idea why the dealer said they would suggest putting on Z06 shocks on my Grand Sport?? Is that just the dealer thinking THOSE particular OEM shocks are good???

thanks for the help. bob

cclive

Dealers will always push oem stuff as that's where they make money. They figure that if they can't make the huge money on the replacement mag shocks, at least they can make some money on the oem Z06 shocks. Likely the service manager thinks that the Z06 shocks are the best replacement since they come on a Z06, the top of the line C6 that comes with regular non-mag shocks. Stiffer, yes...better, no....but oem!

AORoads

As to the Z06 shocks recomm. by dealer, not sure other than they think the GS is more closely related to a Z than a base Corvette since it comes with some Z51 sport suspension components.

As to the question you raise, can you just replace 2 front shocks with conventional shocks and leave the MSRCs in the back--no.

And finally, Evan on here has found the MSRC shocks for $1600; your dealer is giving you a current-today price of $2600+, not incl. alignment, labor, etc. $1600 seems pretty close to the overall charge of replacing all shocks with Z06 or any other brand*, altho if you go with another brand outside of the dealer doing it, the final charge might be less than even $1600 (one can hope).

Supposedly, the MSRC are the most sophisticated shocks out there except for the newer version on the C7s. You have time to read up some more on various types of shocks that will fit your car. You can wait and consider your options but unless cost of new MSRC shocks IS an issue for you at $1600, you do have a choice to make. Good luck.

* Edit: I'm wrong. Bilsteins are not that costly, per cclive's post, nor are most of the other shocks at betw. $500-$900 per full set of four. I'd suppose the Z06 full set bought at say, a Rock Auto, would also be less.

BadToo

Did no one read my above post? Why bypass when for about the same amount you can replace? If I had to do it over again, I would wait until you can feel a problem. When my "leaking" shocks came off they didn't look bad at all. There was barely any oil on them.

billyboy47

I agree, I wouldn't bypass my MRSC for anything.

cclive

I would agree with you but my Bilsteins were only $300 for the set of four...this is less than most people pay for one replacement mag shock.

BadToo

For $300 I agree with you, but I was remarking to the $1300 number above. In any event, I believe too many are being told to replace their shocks because they are leaking when a little seepage might be normal.

cclive

I agree 100%...whether it's called weeping, seeping or sweating, it's a cash cow when the owner is unsuspecting...

Evander Holyfield

Sorry hadn't been on here in a bit. I didn't go back to the dealer that quoted me $4,900 or whatever (a scan of the estimate is on the thread) for the 4 Mag shock replacements- so I never gave them the opportunity to review the TSB. My car rides absolutely fine. If yours is riding fine I wouldn't worry about it at all. If a shock goes out- you'll generally know it.

Bruze

A shocking story:

A few lives ago after I got divorced I needed wheels, so I headed to the local Chevy dealer and bought a (well-used) '66 Chev panel truck, 283 stick. Like all 283s, it was fairly snappy.

My best buddy ended up with the truck some time later. The front shocks were totally shot so he ended up taking them off and for whatever reason never put any new shocks on.

He would gas it, let off, gas it, let off, kept doing that to get it bouncing and it actually pulled the front wheels off the ground an inch or two. Somebody (not me) took a picture of it and he used to have it on his toolbox. That was a long time ago, the pik is probably gone now. This is what we used to do for fun, lol.

HOXXOH

So if you decide to pull the mag shocks and replace with standard, I'd offer $400 for your current ones and the position sensors. New Bilsteins and simulators are easily under $600, so your cost to do the switch now is only $200 plus labor.

LS WON

dr_gallup

I had a '61 Corvair I stripped to turn into a dune buggy when I was in high school. When we took the stock worn out shocks off, with someone standing on each side of the front end you could dribble it like a basket ball. Took a couple of bounces to get it going but the front wheels would come a foot off the ground. Unfortunately, took out the transaxle on a stump, end of that project.

Bruze

Ha, my first car was a '61 Corvair!

I beat it pretty bad and ended up snapping the tranny input shaft. A new one was, as I recall, about $10.

The "Summer of Love":