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I apparently just lost my passenger side rear shock. The car has 215,000 on it anyway so I'm going to get some new shocks. I know $150/strut/shock for the OEMs is ridiculous, but I love the way the suspension is balanced and am afraid of getting too stiff, too light, etc., which would be even more of a waste of money since the car is practically worthless other than my love for it. I just want new stockers again. Any reason that anyone can think of other than cost that this is not a good decision? Also, do replacements like the KYBs have the same technology as the stockers?

You can get Monroe’s for about $60ish each. They should be the closest to stock. KYB would be the next closest but are probably not exactly the same and I wouldn’t want to mismatch them. Any other aftermarket shock will have noticeably higher compression damping.

Well, I guess I should've been a little more specific. I was told when my jaw dropped a few years back when I asked Mazda how much replacement shocks were that they have a dual stage oil and gas cylinder, or something like that, and that they were uncommonly technically advanced for this type of car. Any truth to that?

I'm sure their no more technically advanced than any of the replacements. They make it sound very impressive but that sounds like it woul dbe the description of any standard run of the mill shock.

It's unlikely that you need new springs, so, I'd rcommend getting a set on Monroe, or Gabriel struts.

I'm going to park it in the garage for a while and start tearing the rear suspension down. There's a loud popping sound up at the top. I suspect it could possibly just be so loose that it sounds broken. Thanks for the feedback. I'll report back in when I start breaking it down.