1) Diagnoise the problem:

You will know when your rear shock absorbers are going or gone as the car will feel bouncy and unstable at the back, aswell as making loud bangs and rattles when driving over pothole or rough grounds. If you grab the side of the car and rock it side to side you will also notice the back end is very bouncy when compared to the front.



2) What WILL I need?

Very little tooling is required, which helps if car maintenance isn't your forté. You will need:

New rear shock absorbers.
(purchased mine online for about £38 each. I chose the gas charged KYB type. They do come with new rubber bushings incase you were wondering)

A car jack
(Actually you could do it without, however I wanted to take the wheels off and check for rust and the condition of the brakes. It does make access a lot easier though)

A 19mm socket with extension & a 19mm spanner.
(The wheel nuts and the shock eyelet nuts are the same size)

Large flat screwdriver or prybar.
(The rubber in your old shock bushings will have expanded and gone brittle making them a little tight to remove)

WD-40 or similar releasing fluid.
(For future reference a product called Mouse Milk is the best in the business and works a treat on any rusty bolt or nut - every time)

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These are all the things I had at hand. I've not listed them all because you don't neccessarily need them all - they do help though :)



3) Ok I've got everything - lets do this!!

Jack the car up and take the wheel(s) off using your 19mm socket. Be careful with the locking wheel nut - if you have one - they can be a little fragile so don't overtighten them or stress them.

Spray the nuts that hold the shocks on with WD-40 or similar. They shouldn't be ceased too badly but this will help anyway.

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Undo the shock eyelet nuts with your 19mm socket or spanner - which ever fits best. Remove with the washer and keep somewhere safe.

Then, using a prybar or big screwdriver lever the old shocks from the mounts.

Here the rear suspension arm will drop a little which will give you a chance to check the movement, spring condition and rubber pucks etc.

Next - offer up the new rear shock (this means hold it up and check it will fit). You might notice they are a little shorter than the old ones - as mine were. Don't be put off thinking you've bought the wrong ones as they are probably designed for lowered cars like mine. I must admit it scared me for a few seconds as I thought I'd bought the wrong ones........duh :)

Now place the bottom shock eyelet of your new shocks onto the mount. Only the lower one for now - unless your new shocks are exactly the same length as your old - in which case they should slide straght on.

Put the nut and washer on. Should look something like this -
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Now if you have lowering springs or your new shocks turn out to be shorter or what ever the reason. You will find that it is impossible to push up the rear suspension arm untill you can get the top shock eyelet onto the mount.

So!

Put the your wheel back on again using 2 wheel nuts and lower the jack down untill you can slide the top shock eyelet onto the mount

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Check that the shock is sitting happy on it's mounts before finally fitting the washer and nut on the upper mount and tightening up with a 19mm spanner.

Put all your wheel nuts on, nip them up in an opposite manner and let the jack all the way down.

Job done :)

These were my old shocks. All the oil and gas had gone from them aswell as the rubber bushes being cracked in half and perished.

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Happy shocking :)