The Monroe has more travel both ways and because it has lots of valving (compression and rebound control) you won't likely need to worry about a bump stop as much. My car is in storage from winter so I can't go look at it at the moment. I have pics on an external hard drive but don't have it handy at the moment. I'm ordering these Monroe's right now on line. I can utilize one of a regular lowering coil springs with these. The benefit here is you get a longer, full length, fatter coil spring instead of using one of these "adjustable height" springs with a sleeve that is always a ride compromise.

 

What's everyone paying for a pair of these and where's the best place to order from?

 

I got mine from Pep Boys for about $70 for the pair. Had to be ordered and took about a week to get them in the store. Again, the Monroe part number is MA811.

Here's another pic of my install, showing the air hose routing on the driver's side. You have to make sure the hose fitting on the shock is "clocked" so it points toward the rear of the car, ensuring no tire interference. In my case this required only a very slight twisting of the shock:

 

Richard,
That's an excellent question. I just received a full set of Fit shocks/struts/springs that I'm going to use for experimental purposes, but I haven't yet taken the rear shocks apart to see if the bump stop is internal or external. My ASSumption was that the bump stops were internal - but only because I couldn't SEE the stops. The front struts have the elastomer bump stops on the shaft, so I need to just pull the flimsy plastic dust shield off the shock to see if it's there. I would really like to keep the same bump stops front and rear on my new shock setup, whenever that finally gets done. Obvoiusly it's not an option to swap those pieces on to most mass-market shocks, but some of the "race" shocks I've been researching can be disassembled to the point that the bump stops could be installed. More research to do now, but at least I have my parts.

HF

 

Hello, I've been watching this thread for a while and have a couple of questions. Are the monroe air shocks single or twin tube? Also, I was doing a search for Cavalier rear shocks and came up with the monroe sensitrac and the kyb gas adjust shock which are supposed to be a heavy duty mono tube shock. I'm wondering if there's a way to figure out if the diamiter of the outer tube would be too large on these shocks. I have an interest in improving the rear damping on my fit but don't really see the need for an air shock in my case.

Thanks,

Bill

 

Bill: Monroe Max Airs are not conventional shocks as you looked up Neither of those will work. The MaxAirs are single tube shocks with an internal air bellows so the air pressure sets the ride height somewhat but the load allowed by a great deal. A load leveling shock is not the same as a 'heavy-duty' shock.

 

Wait a sec... If the maxairs for a first gen GM J-body will work, why wouldn't another replacement shock for that same application work just as well? I think a good high-pressure monotube would be fantastic. My biggest concern is that many higher quality shocks use position sensitive damping and that the Fit's static ride height might not put these shocks into their "happy" zone. Outside of this zone one can expect a harsh, overdamped ride.

 

I did just look up the Sensatracs for the J-body rear. 13.125" compressed and 22.125" extended! That's more travel than a stock TJ Jeep Rubicon! Why did the Cavalier need that much travel?

Anyway, the lower loop and upper stud mount is commonplace and there are a ton of shocks we could use that approximate those measurements. We'd just need to be careful not to get a shock with wildly inappropriate damping characteristics. For example, shocks for the front of the aforementioned Jeep TJ would fit onto the car. However, on something as light as the Fit, you might as well just weld crowbars in there and call it a day as it would ride something awful.

 

Yeah, there are a lot of options for the early J-body that would probably work, too. Problem is there don't seem to be any adjustable performance-oriented shocks available for those cars anymore. They've all been discontinued by Koni, Tokico, KYB, etc. The Monroe air shocks provide some of that adjustability. And my theory is that they also increase the overall spring rate, unlike a conventional shock that only provides transitional stiffness. So these benefits of the air shock might help reduce understeer for those of us confined by the rules of stock-class autocross. Again, a few runs through the cones should tell the tale!

 

Great thread guys. I'm ordering my MA811s tomorrow and will offer some feedback in a couple weeks.

 

In the meantime, what would be useful is a measurement of the rear shock's compressed/extended lengths. On a stud-top loop-bottom shock such as ours, manufacturers seem to express these dimensions from the center of the loop to the base of the lower bushing. With that info, we can dig around in the Monroe catalog and perhaps find something similar.

 

Richard,
I forget where I posted these previously, but here are my notes on the rear shocks:

extended = 20-13/16"
compressed = 17" @ bump
lower loop = 0.409" id, 1.565" od
Upper stud = 0.381" threads
upper sleeve = 0.554" dia
upper washer = 1.910"

Still need to pull the dust cover off and check those bump stops... we just had another hail storm run through, and the Fit, the Pilot and the Valiant are all stuffed up under our 2-car carport. Yet another advantage of the Fit... it FITS!

HF

 

I ordered mine earlier today from Florida. Priced per pair:

Monroe shocks and struts for cars and trucks - Shockwarehouse.com


Also ordered front Tokico struts today from shox.com:
©2008 Shox.com
1300 Hill Street
El Cajon, CA 92020 - USA
tollfree: 800.683.2890
voice: 619.444.9766
fax: 619.444.8261
Price won't be known until tomorrow when they arrive from Tokico to Shox.

 

Holy dampers, Batman. Do you mean the Tokicos are finally out? Are they adjustables? This is the OEM replacement strut, right?

 

The TOKICO upgrades have landed!!!!!!!!
They are not adjustable. They have to be a ton better than stock.
I just got a phone call from BOB at Shox.com and my front struts are going out the door!!!!!!!!
$99 for each front strut
about $40 for rear shocks - he didn't get them in yet so he couldn't confirm.

 

For those that have wondered, see the note above.

 

That's great news. You ordered just the fronts, right? I may have to get my order in pronto.

 

Yea, I'm going to try the Monroe airshocks in the back because of my weight in the back of the car.

 

My reason for weight!

 

When you do receive the front Tokicos, can you confirm that the spring perch heights are identical to stock?(I'm sure they are.) This is crucial info for anyone competing in SCCA H Stock.