I bought 4 new KYB shocks on ebay and I am trying to put them on the freaken idiot didnt send the right ones.

The holes where it attaches to the lower control arms do not line up correctly.

I hate this every time I try and do something nice to my ride something like this happens... Im so frustrated hes lucky he is anywhere near me.

 

Why would you buy them from eBay when Summit Racing has them for ~$30.At least they will provide quick replacements.Sometimes penny wise pound(dollar) foolish.Good luck getting them returned and replaced.

 

Well that didnt help the situation

 

You got the part #s? If you do I'm sure you can go here and verify fitment. Good luck!

 

send pics... define not lining up?

 

I already put the old POS Gabriel shocks back on that the previous owner had decided as his brand of shocks.

I just bought new wheels the Gunmetal Grey and I could not put them on the car because the upper control arm was touching the inside of the front passenger side wheel. So I decided to replace the shocks and see if that would fix the problem, because the driverside front wheel works fine and I couldnt see any difference in the control arms.

Tonight after I got my KYBs in the mail I decided to spend the evening putting in these new shocks. After I took the old ones off, and could clearly see the old shocks were no longer operable, I tried to put the new shock (front passenger) on the car.

The two bolts that hold the bottom of the shock to the lower control arm would not line up. Meaning that once I got one bolt in there was no way in hell I was going to get the other bolt in. The two holes for the bolts did not line up with the two holes in the lower control arm.

Once I discovered this I went to the HYB website and found out that the shocks I received are not for any Corvette, but they can go to Camaros and Firebirds.

Well I guess I should have looked up the part #S on the KYB website before I bought them. I have made contact with the seller and will call him tomorrow.

 

I found somewhat of the same with the Monroe matic Sensa-trac's I ordered. The bushings did not sit correctly in the sockets,so I had to use the old ones. In fact,a lot of the stuff I have ordered from all the Corvette parts dealers does not quite fit or work as good as GM parts,so now I only order from the after market whatever I can't get from GM dealers. In tucson we have a good dealer {watson chev} and they seem to be real car guys. Another problem I have with the after market is waiting for your refund or credit,14 to 21 days,after they receive it, like Ecklers policy is! I did return some wires to Summit,and they had them back in three days,and credited my refund the fourth day,which I was happy with. Check their prices on shocks,I'll bet their close to what you paid on E-bay,............Good Luck......BOB

 

i don't know what to tell you about ebay. if it is a seller that runs a store, send him an email and request replacements. if it was a one time seller, try the same and good luck.

i have developed a list of internet parts stores on my browser's favorites list. i have a directory filled with them. whenever i need a part, i check the stores for prices and part numbers. when buying on ebay, don't assume you have found the best price. only buy when you can verify the part numbers (when specfic), and the price from an independent source. if the part numbers aren't listed on the ebay ad, send a question to the seller asking for them. also, before buying from any ebayer, check out their ebay feedback and number of transactions--check out what they sold to who and how they liked it.

here are a few reasonable parts stores to get you started.

summit.com
jegs.com
rockauto.com

these places are more expensive and corvette specific.

tld-corvette.com
ecklers.com
madvet.com

you can do a forum search for parts stores too.


good luck, froggy.

 

Michael, what # shocks are the KYB's. Our vettes use KG 5579 for 1988-1996. What part # are yours?

 

Nothing like a little salt...

 

I don't think that installing new shocks will change the clearances between the wheel lip and the control arm.

What brand of wheels did you buy and what is the offset and backspacing measurements of these wheels??

 

Sounds like either the right side wheel they sent you had a different offset then the left or you have problems in your control arm somewhere.
My KYB's fit perfect and I got them Summit for $21.99 and free shipping.

 

Well, I sure know what to tell you about ebay:

Hope for the best, but expect the worst.

Something as readily available and inexpensive as KYB shocks should be purchased locally so you can return them easily if they aren't right.

Good luck, my friend, I hope the seller will refund your money or replace the units.



Larry
code5coupe

 

The part #s I received were 2 KG4515 front shocks , 2 KG5521 Rear shocks.
I found the correct part #s to be KG5570 and KG5571. I got these #s from KYB.com and from Summitracing.com.

 

I bought OE wheels.

I checked the offset again and they are both 56mm and they are both 17x9.5.

What could be wrong with my control arms?

When I took off the shock last night, I noticed that the lower control arm had light marks where it had traveled to high and touched the piece of metal that is stationary. Obviously it was able to travel that far from having dead shocks on and hitting a bump at a high speed.
I cant tell if they are bent or not.

Would this be worth taking a closer look at?

 

Let me clarify incase I was unclear in previous posts.

The distance the upper control arms go into the wheels are the same. The length of the upper control arms are the same...

The only difference between the two is that for some unknown reason the passenger side control arms rest higher that the driverside control arms thus causing the passenger upper control arm to touch the inside of the wheel.

 

Shocks have nothing to do with how it sits at rest.You have other issues that are causing this mabey alignment or worse.Does the car sit level at rest?

 

Agreed. Something is bent... we need some pictures.

 

Besides something being bent, I think that your car is trying to say to you, "I'm a Corvette, buy me some Bilsteins".

 

Pictures will definitely help.

Is the frame bent at all?
What about wheel bearings/hubs....are they the same size? (I know, this might be pushing it)