OEM shock life

Quick Q:
How long should OEM shocks last with regular spirited driving and fairly regular autoX use?
Application in question: 07 350Z

Normal DD use is 50k per my question for a Tenneco rep at some Advance Auto Parts managers shindig. Obviously, harder use shortens that service life. It also doesn't matter what kind of vehicle either, also per the rep.

I think you'll find the data to be all over the place. If you want top-performance then 50K might be a good rule of thumb. That said, I've had them last 2-3 times that long (90's hondas). Also, it seems like an easy answer for people in the business of selling you parts. For instance, I have 180K on the GSR chassis and the original dampers still work fine for dd use, but could definitely be better for competition.

I usually just buy new dampers when I want them, rarely when I need them.

Am I crazy to think that the day to day beating of DD use is going to do way more to eat up the dampers than any bouts of spirited driving or autox?

ransom wrote: Am I crazy to think that the day to day beating of DD use is going to do way more to eat up the dampers than any bouts of spirited driving or autox?

I've always assumed as much. I don't see where auto-x is real tough on dampers. On my DD/auto-x car, I always run the struts down to full soft after an event. I've been told (and it make sense) that they last longer on full soft than they do on stiffer settings.

As for OEM dampers, it seems to vary a lot in my experience. I've had some seem like they were ready to go away after 60 or 70k. But I just took the factory shocks off the rear of the '84 Celica, and I have to say, they seem to work just fine after 220,000 miles.

In reply to ransom:

No. According to the same rep, your dampers are moving roughly once every foot you travel at varying degrees of shock travel for daily driving. But then again given the much higher total loads placed on the dampers during a "spirited" event...... Also do you want to run 11/10ths or not?

i changed the oem shocks on my f150 at 100k after about half of that run with stiffer springs from a lightning. one front was nearly like new, still extended when unloaded from the gas charge, the other still had all of its oil and damped fine, but had lost the gas charge.

Ranger50 wrote: In reply to ransom: But then again given the much higher total loads placed on the dampers during a "spirited" event...

That's my point, I think. Unless your autox venue has horrible pavement for such an event, you're mostly asking more of it in terms of "low speed" damping (body roll/pitch). Hitting expansion joints and chuckholes at 20-50mph seems like it would generate much greater forces than anything you can do on smooth pavement regardless of your vigor with the control inputs.

I'm trying to create a mod roadmap, so this is somewhat good news. I just hit 45k miles on it.
I think I'll keep my build order intact:

built rear diff (winter this year; LSD tbd)
coilovers (hopefully winter next year)

I had seen the 50k thing somewhere, but my experience was more like 80k in my last car.

My 1999 Miata shocks were worn out at 36k. Looking around that seemed to be a lot of people's experience. I put KYB AGX's on and was very pleased with the restoration in ride quality!

Just replaced the oem shocks with a set of konis on my GF's DD/auto-x car. They had 65k on them and were still in great shape. That's with a lot of potholes and auto-x too - I was impressed.

I've had shocks / struts on cheap domestic cars (GM J-cars) go out at about 50K....and you definitely knew it as the front end got light and each bump produced a wavy motion at the front end. Then, I've had fairly beat Japanese sedans (my Integra) where the shocks / struts were "decent" for well over 100K. In between there, I owned a 280Z and now my current Civic where the ride just felt.....tired? I'm sure with 200K on the clock, the Civic is on it's 1st or 2nd set of shocks as it just doesn't ride like I think a newish car (or one with newish shocks) should / would.

50K -60K is a good rule of thumb, but you would be amazed at how well the new gas-pressure units hold up.

My first set of rear shocks on my Astra was replaced at like 33,000 miles. I'm at just a few miles shy of 50,000 miles now and they need to be replaced again.

I simply won't go OEM for dampers at all anymore.