Bilstein or Monroe, want my comfort ride back

Last year I noticed my rear OEM shock was leaking, so I decided to replace all shocks with DT3000 units. Now, I mainly do on-road driving on bumpy, pothole filled roads - and I just can't stand those shocks any longer. I feel those are too soft (or maybe too hard?) my XJ keeps bouncing all around, it's throwing me all over the place, I feel like my tires (1 year old BFG LongTrails) were inflated to 60 psi - no absorbing of road harshness. On my OEM, worn shocks I got twice as good ride comfort.
Please help me pick right shock for my needs (on road driving, comfort). I read, that OME too soft for bumpy roads, so I'm leaning to either Bilsteins or Monroe Sensatrac - which one would be better for stock height and oem-like ride?

My experience with Bilstein shocks is that they are stiffer than Monroe shocks and cause a harsher ride on the road.

I've heard good things about the Monroe Sensa trac's. When I need to replace mine, I was thinking of trying those.

I've got Sensatracs on my stock 89 XJ and it rides extremely smooth but is still rock stable on curves with very little body lean.

Also, I found that removing the rear sway bar softened the ride too, less side to side rocking motion. Keep the front one.

Kuasimodem said:

I've got Sensatracs on my stock 89 XJ and it rides extremely smooth but is still rock stable on curves with very little body lean.

Also, I found that removing the rear sway bar softened the ride too, less side to side rocking motion. Keep the front one.

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x2

OMEs are the best shocks I've ever owned. On and Off road.

I had a 92' explorer before i traded it for my xj, and putting on 4 monro sensatracs made a huge difference,, rode alot better, far less dive under hard braking,, and far less roll in corners. i havnt had this jeep long, and i plan here soon to put them on it also.

Sniggs said:

OMEs are the best shocks I've ever owned. On and Off road.

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X2, if you want a comfy onroad ride, Old Man Emus are the way to go.

I have monroe Reflex shocks on my 88 XJ.

I had the blue monroe matics but after 30K they were giving me a degraded ride. When i purchased the blue monroes the parts guy told me there no difference between monroe matics and the black sensatracks other than the price and paint color. He told the the sensatracks were to be sold to the local shop while the blue were sold over the counter to the do-it-yourselfer. I got the XJ from my dad's estate and at 115K I installed the blue monroes. It rode MUCH better than worn out stock shocks.

I then at 145K installed the Monroe Reflex and wow what a difference! I shopped around at that time time O'Reilly's had the best price in town. The Reflex is monroe's answer to the Edlebrock shock. When time comes for new ones I'll install another pair.

I recommend spending the few extra bucks and getting the reflex for your rig but I am not sure what you'd pay in Poland for any parts. Do you mail order parts?

Well, I bought Sensatracks (they should be in about 3 weeks in here) so I'll definetly post review of those in this topic. I hope shocks (and new bushings in LCA, UCA and rear springs) will give me better ride.
I was also informed, that Sensatracks should be only used in stock ride height application, because of their construction (they do have some spot, where the shock should 'rest', sounds weird), for the lifted suspension I've been advised with Reflex.

I also took a closer look at my DT3k shocks, those are rusted pretty bad, maybe that's the problem (we had our roads coverd with snow and salt for nearly nearly 6 months - and I didn't bought boots for those, my bad). But I'll know better when replace shocks absorbers.

The SensaTrac's are in - much better now, especially on the rear, it was 'kicking' and bouncing, now it's stable and soft, especialy on corners. Oh, it also feels alot better on 70mph highway driving. Great shocks I highly recommend those :exclamati
As for the old DT3000 - here are the pictures, you can see they are rusted (less than 1 year old), but the shafts are okay, so the harshness was just cause by nature of this shock absorbers. If you do more onroad driving and you car is a daily driver choose something else than DT3k.

Well I just ordered the reflexs based on Martins review and the fact that I need shocks. I got the GC # ones for front and Comanche # ones for the rear based on Rock Lizards recomendation for the Sensa tracks with 2" lift and the website had the cross reference to the Reflex's, at close to $200 for the set of 4 they better ride great. I'm sure they will ride better than whats on there now. Thats the thing about shocks anyway, they always feel great when they are new and make you think they are a whole lot better than the ones you had on there when they were new. LOL.

I love my bilsteins because of how much they improve handling, but their ride is on the firm side. Not harsh, but definitely firm. I like a firm, controlled ride though.

Greg_pl said:

The SensaTrac's are in - much better now, especially on the rear, it was 'kicking' and bouncing, now it's stable and soft, especialy on corners. Oh, it also feels alot better on 70mph highway driving. Great shocks I highly recommend those :exclamati

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For a comfortable ride for an OEM, the forum consensus was also the
Monroe Sensa-Trac.
Here is the thread:
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=60869&highlight=monroe+sensa-trac

I am definetly getting the monroe's. I hate my DT3000's!!!!
Of course ive had mine on for 4 years of beating the demon out of them and they kept up. Its just that I want that smooth ride back and the fact that i have a new youngling and i dont want to waky wake when im on the road.

I bet those Rubicon manufacturing twin tubes are no different than the DT3000's. Ive been eyeballing them because of the price but have now kicked sense into me and am going for quality!!!
Monroe all the way.

:sunshine:

i've got bilstein's on mine, which are a lot better than the crap my lift came with, but for on-road only i wouldnt recommend them. they're a little too rough for every day driving.