MECHANIC PUT WRONG AIR SHOCKS ON? HELP!!

[jimmmmay]

Well my mechanic tells me my rear air shock mounts were bad and he was replacing them, I tell him while your at it, Oreilly's sells the replacement Monroe air shocks for $64 bucks, so he says he will pick them up. Well I have been noticing my rear is low and i'm not hearing compressor go off so i look underneath and I see an air stem mounted to my underside!! He bought the kit and didn't run them to compressor. I asked him why and he says they would not work with the fittings from the compressor. Now I went online and saw that they carry 2 different Monroe Air Shocks, obviously I wanted model MA822 Monroe Air Max, I think he installed part number 30140 Monroe air shock made for the conversion kit!! Those also cost less then the $64 I told him my shocks cost!

Can someone verify for me that MA822 Monroe Air Max will directly connect to stock compressor fittings? I think he bought the cheaper Monroe's and also bought the conversion kit. Now I have to pump my own air in and i'm not happy, I want OEM ride auto adjustment, theres nothing wrong with my compressor. Personally he already has hinted to me that I told him to buy the Monroes from Oreilly's, which I did tell him to get but you would think as a mechanic you would ask if they are a straight fit or are there options?? Am I off base here?

[harofreak00]

I can verify that the MA822 will fit directly on the stock fittings, just like I told you on the phone. I've installed dozens of these shocks, I know what I'm talking about. Don't trust me?

[jimmmmay]

Annnndrrreeeewwwww, buddy i totally believe you!!! Seriously do not take offense to this post, I just thought I would throw it out here and see what types of feedback I would get and maybe options!! I swear buddy I totally trust in every word you say! I just noticed on Oreilly's site that the Air Max's are white? If that picture is correct, I have black air shocks, he bought the wrong ones!! Are Air Max's white????

This has just been a battle with my guy, I warned him about the ride height on the quick struts, he didn't believe me, he thinks these forums are a bunch of people who aren't mechanics and don't believe everything you read type stuff. I have been hammering him that HE has no clue, this forum and the people in here know these cars better than most!!

[harofreak00]

No worries, just giving you a hard time.

They are black.

You need to find a new mechanic, or start doing the work yourself. The shocks would have been a super easy starter project.

[jimmmmay]

So Monroe Max Air MA822 are black? They show them as white? I would do a lot of this work but went through divorce, lost house on the golf course with the big garage and all the tools!! Tough to do stuff in cold and snow, not for me!!

[harofreak00]

They are white in pictures, but always black in person.

[jimmmmay]

Well I guess I need him to confirm what part number they gave him, either he got the wrong shocks or like you said the fittings have been changed before but I find that hard to believe because it looked like the original struts and shocks are what came off the car? Was there more than one type of fitting from OEM? I think he screwed the whole thing up. I don't want to bash him too much because he does great work at about 30% less than regular shops.

[crash93ssei]

I went with KYB SR1002 and have been very happy with them, got them online as well, direct replacement. http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... 39750.html we need to work it out soon it sounds like to get you up here to get that car some proper attention!

[jimmmmay]

Ryan, I am building my list for you buddy. I went back and took my old struts back to get the original springs back, I bought the GXP spoiler from Andrew because I have a crack in my stock one, I need to get it painted, I need to fix my heated seat, I'm gonna get the radio buttons for my steering wheel (paint peeled off mine) or find a black GXP steering wheel, I found a decent dent on the underside of my front bumper, looks like a shop accidentally tried to lift car from the front and dented my underside! You can see yellow scuff looks like from a lift! I tried to go through wheel well today but the bumper is just too hard right now, I think when it warms up we might be able to push dent back out. My moonroof needs adjustment, doesn't sit perfectly flat, sometimes won't vent right. I got plenty of work for you Ryan!!

[jimmmmay]

Here is the dent Ryan, you think you can pull this out? I'll come this weekend, I'll kick you a few bucks to do heated seat and this dent, driving me crazy!!

[crash93ssei]

This weekend is pretty packed and looks to be cold, but next weekend looks much warmer so that might work to stop out to take a look at it. Some patience and a heat gun with some pressure should be able to work that back out smooth then polish the scratches out and be good to go.


We will get your car fixed up better then any mechanic could, the knowledge here is amazing with these cars!

[jimmmmay]

Thanks Ryan, can you paint too??? LOL I will need to have rear GXP spoiler sanded and gotta get matching paint before it goes on? The bumper isn't bad, a few spiders but if dent comes out its the underside, buff out the yellow scuffs and its fine by me, theres no paint chipped at all. One more thing I was gonna pay my guy to do is the valve cover gaskets, he wants to charge me like $150 to do both front and rear gaskets? You want to do that for less, its all yours??

[rustyroger]

I bought a bunch of air shocks from O'Reillys several years ago for a Dodge Mirada, Buick Riviera, AMC rebel and a few others.
Mostly the fittings were correct, the Rebel one were fabricated from an oddments box. I think one of the cars turned out to have the wrong type of fitting but it was simple to make up an adaptor kit.
Incidentally the Mirada shocks are still good after 8 years and 30k miles.

Roger.