April last year I bought OME shocks all around. They looked like nice shocks. Nitro charged, booted, piston rod as thick as your thumb--solid. Was happy with them until a couple of weeks ago when I was troubleshooting what I thought was a UCA problem. The truck had a light banging sound in the front when rebounding from speedbumps. Did a bounce test, and sure enough, the pass side started pogoing. I thought, well, maybe one bad one got through manufacturing. Priced out a replacment for one shock through ARB's distributor in the States, Rocky Road Outfitters. $135. Jeez, one shock. Didn't remember them being that expensive. Screw that, I ordered a set of KYB's. 2 for $80, that's more like it.

Got them in yesterday and pulled the OME's today. Turns out the other one is almost as bad as the one that was pogoing--another month or so and it probably would have too. The compression was practically gone, and the extension seemed pretty fast too. And they both gurgle. Having them both go in less than a year kind of pissed me off. OME's are supposed to be premium shocks! At that price they should last 10 years! Before I found out the other one was a POS also, I was thinking about seeing if the warranty was still valid, but screw it, I don't want to deal with the same issue a year from now. Thank God for this forum so I know what works on my truck.

The rears seem to be OK, but I'll be watching them carefully.

Oh, by the way, love the KYB's. Nice firmness, handles bumps well, and corners great.

Ship them to me if you dont want them.

I have had my KYBs for a few years now, still work great.

PM me your address and I'll ship them off. Just curious, why do you want worn out shocks? Target practice?

I think he meant get the warranty OME's shipped to him...

Yeah, send me some new ones. I need some for my Toyota PU.

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> Got it; I'll see about the warranty and let you know.

ARB doesn't think there is anything wrong with the shocks. I told them about the bouncing on one side and the rep said that's not a good test for OME shocks because they are multivalve shocks that are designed to be soft at low speed. They said as long as no oil has leaked from them they should be OK. I'm not convinced because the handling issues I was noticing before have gone away with the KYB's on. They're going to evaluate the shocks anyway.

Either way, I'm sticking with the KYB's. Sparkem, PM me your address and I'll have the OME's shipped to you afterward--either the originals that they say are OK or the replacements if they're not.

I run KYB gas adjust and have had them for a couple years, they've held up great! On road it improved the handling unbelievable, I can swing the back end out on dry pavement, want to take it to the track just for fun <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" />

And off road I've really beat on them and they hold up great, no complaints at all.

KYB <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

ARB USA contacted me today and confirmed one of them was bad, although they are replacing both with new ones. They said they're sending back the faulty one to Australia for quality control analysis, but they suspect a faulty valve.

They obviously stand behind their products! The shocks had a two-year warranty, but they never asked me to produce a receipt to prove when they were purchased, or even if I was the original buyer. I'm impressed with their customer service!

So Sparkem, you have new shocks coming your way. In a year let me know if they're still good.