So, I notice yesterday that I'm driving one of those crapbox Lincolns with the busted air shocks. The air shock on the right rear strut finally gave out, so I felt like my Olds was riding on just the springs as that part of the car rebounded jarringly after hitting any small deviation in the road surface.

I take it to my buddies at Goodyear/Gemini and they run it up on the perch for me. Yup. Its the shock. Not only that, but the left rear is leaking. Not covered under my ValueGuard (of course) and they quoted me a price of $249 for a set of shocks, labor, tax, etc. I decided to just do it myself and enlist my father to help me (worked out the other way around :P ). I picked up a set of Monroe air shocks at Advance Auto for about $75 and we put my car up on ramps and did it today for the cost of our own labor, which was $0. A nice net savings for me.

I've got that smoooooth Oldsmobile ride back now and the rear isn't sagging like before. Here is just how bad those old shocks were...


Note the inch-wide gash in the air bag on the top (right rear) shock.


On the new problem side, I noticed my left rear center cap was loose. I removed it and broke one of the six retaining clips that held it in place, which left only two remaining as the other three were broken previously. That sucks since I never had to remove any center cap since buying the car.

I'd show you a picture of it, but its in pieces strewn across US19 after getting creamed by either a Quest or a Sprite delivery truck. I had my windows down and heard something striking the ground and getting run over and thought, "Ha! Some asshole lost his wheel cover."

Well, that asshole was me.

Off to eBay to get another one. Good thing today was payday.

Damn... my shocks look worse than that. I think they're rusted through... But they are not air shocks, of course. :P

A them are still good Fly.

Happy to report that the ancient air ride system in my Brougham is still 100% perfect shape. I can jack the car up so high the front bumper almost touches the ground. Seriously. Stil have not had a chance to install the air ride setup from Arnott ($650 delivered) in ym G/F.... STS. It needs them BAD. The car has been driven all of 50 miles in the past 2 months. I'll get around to it as soon as work slows down a bit and it finally stops raining.

While we're on the subject... Is it true that (GM) factory installed Bilsteins come with a lifetime guarantee from Bilstein?