Was wondering what the consensus is (if there even is one!) as to what brands of struts and shocks to use or avoid.

For clarity's sake I would humbly suggest including year or generation of van.

I have a '94 Plymouth Grand Voyager SE front drive long wheelbase which as I'm sure you're all well aware, is essentially the same as the Caravan.

At present I have Monroes on the front and even under threat of grave bodily harm I'd never use them again. The rears are NAPA heavy duty, and if I intended to haul a team of elephants then they'd be great, but they ride stiffer than corpse who died from a Viagra overdose.

Was thinking of trying out KYB GR-2's which although are gas charged are a lot softer than their Gas-Adjust line.

I recall hearing somewhere that genuine Mopar are the best, might this be the case? Thanks!

 

I'd run Penske or Bistein's

 

I run Monroe SensaTrac on my '96 and they work well. remeber, MOPAR does not make its' own shocks or struts, they are outsourced.

 

Penske nor Bilstiens are available for my 2nd gen. That Penske website is hands down one of the absolute WORST I've even seen as it sends you in an endless circle in some areas and is completely contrary to the level of excellence I am used to from a Penske organization. Someone needs a severe bitch slap over that mess LOL Besides, from what I can tell neither they not Bilsteind offer struts for these vans, and shocks would have to be custom ordered.

I wouldn't use another Monroe strut on this generation van unless it was to launch it out of a cannon at some terrorist. Perhaps they're better on the Gen III's but they are TERRIBLE on my Gen II.

Yes, I know that Mopar doesn't make their own shocks, but the VALVING they specify is unique to them.

Allow me to clarify and restate the question:

What OFF-THE-SHELF COMMON EVERYDAY BRAND struts or shocks for NORMAL use would you recommend. Thanks

That should eliminate the esoteric uber expensive race oriented stuff. I'm talking real world here.

 

For the $ I would go with KYB. Every one I talk to using them have no complaints. Pretty decent pricing on Ebay for a set. I have had quality problems with Gabriel and Monroe... I bout a set of front shocks for my Ranger and the Rod on the shoock was smaller than the OEM shock I was replacing, WTF..... I want at least as good as is coming off the vehicle, I took them back and all my calls to Monroe asking abut that were never returned......

And with all that , I am now changing my struts on my (early)95 caravan and I went with Gabriel struts from Amazon. I was tapped out the struts were bone jarring dead and the struts were $26 each with shipping included...........being broke I couldn't pass it up. If ya can afford it KYB for sure.

 

I run ONLY Penske shocks in my car. They are rebuildable and easy to change valveing.

 

Good for you!

 

a 92dak post wouldnt be a 92dak post if he didnt have atleast one word in capital letters you know... i would go with KYB there a good OEM brand if not a lil better than OEM. I use them on my lowerd 2.4 neon n she rides n handles like a cloud. also there priced out really well on ebay. thats where i get mine from. 4 new struts for 170 CAN shipped...really dirt cheap considering 1 new monroe goes for 100 here.

 

Yup, got me a set of GR-2s...slapped the rear ones on in 15 minutes, too bad the fronts will take a little longer ;-)

Still rides a little firmer than I was hoping for but better than the Car Quest Bruisers. These are gas but one was low on pressure and wouldn't extend fully. I wonder who actually made them.