I just pulled of my front shocks and springs. I had the usual rusty nut issues, but I got everything apart. I looked at the shock mounts and other than surface rust, they look ok. The rubber is what you would expect after 13 years. Its still in good shape, other than a few rubber cracks from age. The bushing/bearing insert looks ok also. I had no known issues with them. I am upgrading my shocks and I don't want to buy new mounts if I don't have to. I can spend that on other goodies for the Z. Other than what I inspected, is there other things I should look at? I don't want to do this job twice so If I need them, I guess I dont have a choice. They arent cheap- thats for sure. It is a 1996 with 120K. What do you recommend?

 

IMO, If it all looks good, just clean it up(remove as much rust as possible)and give all the exposed metal a good coat of grease, or anti-seize.

 

I just got mine off and after inspection I decided to buy new ones.

If they look good then you should be fine it is a 13yr old part though and they are not that expensive. I think Autozone has replacments for $47.99. Strano Suspension has higher quality replacments for $88.00.

I decided to replace mine because just about everything touching the front cradle was rusted to something else.

Dang Chicago.

~Jim~

 

The GM design of the part of these things isn't good as it allows the water to puddle in there. I had the piece that goes between the shock tower and the body sand blasted and powder coated so that this won't happen a second time.