I carry 40 psi now and have used 80 lb for my 320 lb of tooling in the trunk. Worked fine.

 

Great thread manxman. Have you made any changes up front? Any recommendations for the fronts to go with the Monroe rear for someone planning to do a little towing like yourself?

 

Not yet--- I don't have enough choices for shocks, and don't want coilovers. I'm hoping for more manufacturers to come out with adjustable shocks and will buy one of those for the front. The changes in the rear with the Monroe Air shocks are very pronounced, and make up a little for the lack of firmness up front.

Thanks for the thread appreciation. This is a very good investment of a measly $75.00.

 

I was wondering - I was driving today with my wife and kid in the backseat and went over a dip in the freeway (it was a gradual dip) and upon coming out of the dip - it sounded like something rubbed. I too have the monroe's in the rear. When we got home I crawled under and couldn't see anything that obviously rubbed. The only thing different from the monroe install was I charged rims from a 45mm offset to a 38mm. I can fit 2 fingers from the top of the tire to the fenderwell-area - it's not lowered. Any ideas???

 

it was from the Cavalier small bushings being cut almost in half!!! I originally used them in lieu of not being able to get the sleeve off the OE shock. So after reading this post - I decided to jack up one side of the rear and pull-down the shock to check the bushing and I almost had a heart attack! Luckily - I saved the old OE's, installed the sleeve(s) and OE lower bushing and resinstalled and it rides much cleaner... DAMN if it wasn't for this forum - my shocks would've blown thru that bushing w/in a matter of weeks!!! THANK YOU MANXMAN!!!You're my hero!!!

 

You are more than welcome! I hope that the other members who used the Monroe mounting components do the same thing before the Monroe rubber pads go away and let the top of the shocks hammer the hell out of the wheel wells.

 

Cheers and BRAVO to Manxman!

 

Thanks radar- good luck with your own installation.

 

Actually, these shocks are a major performance upgrade for those of us competing in stock-class autocross. I've run four autocrosses with these air shocks so far and I can tell you they have dramatically changed the handling balance of the car -- in a good way. The stock classes do not allow you to change springs or add a rear swaybar to eliminate understeer. The air shocks accomplish something similar by increasing the rear roll stiffness. Now I can get my Fit to drift through corners nicely, especially while trailbraking. They have also dramatically reduced (but not eliminated) the wheelspin problem I was having when accellerating out of corners. That tells you how much flatter the car is now during extreme cornering.

As Manxman recommended, I also went back and replaced the Monroe bushings with the Honda units stripped off the OEM shocks. I found that the Monroe bushings had already been cut nearly in half by the bodywork after just a few hundred miles. The OEM bushings also eliminated a knocking noise that I was getting with the Monroe bushings. So as Manxman said: Don't skip this step!

 

Skimmer-
I figured that you would re-think your installation after a short period of time. One last thing for everyone- tighten the stud hex nut ALL THE WAY DOWN until it bottoms out against to top of the metal stud bushing. You won't over-distort the OEM rubber pads, and you may remember how tight the stock hex nuts were when you removed them the first time. Again, this is part of the Honda design for the shock mounts.

 

P.s.
For those who are attracted to these shocks because of their reviews from AutoX'ers, but who do not intend to race their car, the combination of these shocks with the Progress anti-sway bar is REALLY nice! The sway bar is not allowed in the racing class of most AutoX participants, but for those of us who are in pursuit of "perfection" for street or canyon carving, the combination of the shocks and bar is GREAT. With the stock shocks and sway bar, hitting freeway expansion joints produces an annoying little "dance" and vibration in the rear. The air shocks are more heavy duty in dampening both compression and rebound. The freeway "dance" goes away, and sharp curves with a dip at the apex don't make the car want to fly off the road. $75.00 is a ridiculous price for so much positive effect.

 

I'll second that!

Monroe must be starting to wonder why these shocks for a 15-year-old rattletrap Chevy/Pontiac are suddenly vanishing from their warehouses.

 

I was thinking the same thing! Monroe says WTF????

 

I plan on putting them on tomorrow morning at work. I also have 2 autocrosses to attend this weekend(after a long, unintended hiatus), so I'll have some feedback to offer as well.

 

Congratulations! I hope that your times are cut by enough of a margin to demonstrate the added performance of the shocks. Let us know!

 

is anyone using these shocks with the stock 45mm offset wheels? They look a little larger and was wondering if there would be a clearance issue between the shock and the tire.

Thanks,

Bill

 

stock offset is 55mm. I have aftermarket 45's and just got these installed today. Looks like no problems. Had to add some bushings at the bottom shock mount position because the Monroe's aren't as wide as the stock shocks as specified by manxman previously. I didn't drive my car much at all but I'm so happy for now to have a new suspension in place. I'll get around to driving the car on Friday.

 

You're right I misspoke when I said 45 on the offset. I'm guessing if you are running aftermarket wheels with a 45 offset and probably a wider tire than stock, the inside of your tire is in pretty much the same spot as my stock setup. I guess i'll find out since i ordered the monroes and they should be on my car by Friday. It sounds like they're a great way to add some badly needed rear damping. Hopefully no clearance issues though.

 

I have the Monroe air shocks and 3 sets of tires/wheels for my car. Here's how they work:

--Stock Fit Sport wheels/tires: no rubbing anywhere.

--16x7 Enkei RS5, 40mm offset, 205/45/16 Yoko HS4 tires: no rubbing on the shock, but light rubbing on the rear fender lip when going over bumps with a heavy load in back.

--15x6 Saturn 'sawtooth' wheels, 50mm offset, 205/50/15 Kumho V710 autocross race tires: rubbing on the shock, but only in hard cornering when the tire flexes.

 

thanks for the info on rubbing issues. I took the Monroes out of the box today and they're obviously way bigger around than the stock units so I thought there may be some clearance issues. No worries I guess. I should have them on by Saturday.