Has anyone tried the cheap Autoride replacement shocks?

[Musicars]

I think after 170,000 miles the Autoride rear shocks have finally worn out. The pump is working but the bags don't hold air. I'm going to do a little diagnostic work on this but wanted to research shocks in the meantime. My '06 has the 20" rims which use a specific shock. I found one NOS one last year and figure I will see if I come across another. In the meantime I was looking at the cheap replacements I have seen on ebay and other places. You can get a pair of rear air shocks with built-in bypass resistors for under $150. I should be able to retain the air leveling but would, of course, loose the other features. This truck really does not ride that smoothly so I think the magnetic fluid in the originals has been shot for a while.

No doubt "you get what you pay for" applies here but I was still curious. I have spoken with others locally that claim replacements, like Arnott, have not worked well in the colder climate. One guy with a nearly identical truck to mine says after one winter they were shot and he went back to original GM shocks. I see Monroe makes replacements along with ACDelco but those are so expensive. Just thought I would look into the cheapies while I look for NOS replacements. Eventually I was hoping to replace with original stuff just so I can see what it is supposed to ride like. I rode in a similar truck with almost 300,000 miles on it, with a stability/Autoride warning on the driver information center, and it still rode better than mine.

 

[adventurenali92]

I tried the touring tech replacement autoride air shocks on my 2006. Got them off ebay for a decent price. They lasted less than a year. Passenger side air bladder blew out in a weird late spring snowstorm. Snow first, then heavy rain, then more snow created really bad snow ruts all across the streets. I crossed one slowly to turn to a new street, not knowing it was really deep and I think the shock over extended and that’s when the air bladder blew out. Sucked. I had ordered a set of arnotts to replace from an eBay and seller and turns out they were cheap Chinese knock offs. That was summer of 2017 and so far they’ve lasted. Ride quality is ok. But the arnott replacements are the way to go and they ride very very well from what I understand. Hopefully will be ponying up soon and buying the arnotts.